The cocktail revival has solidified the Mai Tai’s status as a ubiquitous presence on tropical drink menus. Its no-nonsense blend of aged rum, orgeat, curaçao, and lime makes it revered for its simplicity, despite having long been a drink that’s often spoiled by cheap syrups, pre-squeezed citrus, and recipe confusion. “Unlike the Zombie and other classic ‘tiki’ drinks, the Mai Tai is easy to make,” says Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, tiki historian and founder of New Orleans’ iconic Latitude 29. Berry also appreciates that the Mai Tai’s straightforward ingredients complement its base spirit rather than mask it, an unfortunate tendency of many tropical cocktails.
The Mai Tai’s reputation as a beloved standby makes it easy to overlook its history of rivalry. Tropical drink enthusiasts debate who invented the drink, with some claiming Donn “the Beachcomber” Beach and others “Trader Vic” Bergeron, two founding fathers behind the first tiki bars of the 1930s.
Berry has served as a neutral third party on the matter, consulting friends and family from both figures to get to the bottom of the story. He notes that although Donn Beach may have offered a limited-time Mai Tai Swizzle at his namesake restaurant in 1933, it bears no resemblance to the version that Trader Vic conceptualized in 1944. “The two drinks have nothing in common except lime juice and rum, and not even the same rum,” says Berry. However, there’s speculation that Vic may have been workshopping a take on Beach’s Q.B. Cooler—a cocktail with similar components of rum, lime, and orange, but with a splash of passion fruit thrown into the mix. But the general consensus is that Vic deserves credit for today’s Mai Tai.
For more about the Mai Tai’s history as well as Berry’s best approaches to making one, listen to his episode on Radio Imbibe.
