Category: History

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Original Home of Trader Vic’s – 2020 Update

The original home of Trader Vic’s

We swung by 65th and San Pablo Ave in Oakland on our way to Trader Vic’s the other day to go check out what’s happening. And like the past few years, there isn’t much. But starting in 1934, this was the home of the original Trader Vic’s location and where the Mai Tai was created in 1944.

Two palm trees used to flank the entrance, but sadly only one remains. The last time I visited in October 2017 one of the trees was still standing, though without fronds. It seems to have been cut down in the meantime. Someone is still maintaining the grounds here, though, as there aren’t tall weeds growing anymore and the graffiti is painted over.

The lot is still for sale. If you’ve got $500,000-750,000 burning a whole in your pocket you might still be able to buy it.

Historical photo of Trader Vic’s in Oakland
  • Trader Vic’s Original Location in Oakland
  • Palm Tree stump
  • Same lot in 2017
  • 2017 view including Palm Tree then standing
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Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Concentrate

Available for the first time ever from the Trader Vic’s online store, I had to get this. Back in 1998 I had a bottle of this gifted to me, and I loved Mai Tais made with it.  Opening it today, the fragrance of this mix is the same as I remembered. The Concentrate basically replaces the Orange Curacao, Orgeat, and Rock Candy syrup in a 1944 Mai Tai. So, you supply the 1 ounce of Lime Juice and 2 ounces of Rum. Note that this is very different from the Mai Tai mix you normally find in retail stores.

In year’s past this was what made the standard “Trader Vic’s Mai Tai” at the Emeryville location, and is still used for large batches and at high volume events. It is also used in other cocktails such as the Mai Tai variants Menehune Juice and Pinky Gonzales, Tiki Grog, and the Drum of Ku.

My Mai Tai is made with Hamilton New York Blend, a blend with rums from Jamaican and Guyana. This was my last pour of this very nice rum (now known as the 1670 West Indies Blend). The Mai Tai with the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Concentrate is pretty good. The recipe calls for ¾ oz, but I’d up it to a full ounce next time. The cocktail isn’t as good as a scratch Mai Tai, but this is an affordable value for those who don’t normally get to try Mai Tais made with this at the Trader Vic’s restaurants. It definitely would be great to use in a Mai Tai punch for a party.

Trader Vic’s is running a 20% off sale this weekend, just use promo code “MAY20” at checkout.

Thank you Trader Vic’s for making this available for purchase for the first time outside of an industry setting.

Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Concentrate Mai Tai
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Book Review: Easy Tiki by Chloe Frechette

While this book doesn’t break any new ground, it’s a quite accessible resource for people getting started. The book covers in light detail the history of tiki, basics of rum, and then presents fairly straightforward and simple recipes. No strange or unusual ingredients, like you sometimes find in these recipe books. It’s kind of like if 2019’s Minimalistic Tiki and Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails books got together and had a baby.

Too often when things are simplified in these books it ends up creating inaccuracies or the topics are so simplified as to be not understandable. Thankfully, Easy Tiki avoids these problems very well.

There are some good recipes here, including the Mai Sha Roa Na (from False Idol) and a very intriguing Breakfast Mai Tai. There is the Quarantine Order, Staycation, Carrot Colada, and a bunch of other interesting recipes.

The book is available now from your favorite booksellers. I bought my in Apple Books and the presentation in the app is pretty good. There are some very nice photographs too.

While this won’t replace the deep coverage you find the Smuggler’s Cove, Sippin’ Safari, or Minimalist Tiki books, Easy Tiki is a good resource and potentially helpful option for tiki newbies.

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The Old Way Mai Tai

This term has been the matter of some debate amongst tiki nerds. It has been used most recently to refer to a Mai Tai made with a 151 float, a practice developed at the now-shuttered Trader Vic’s location in San Francisco. The story goes that a long-time customer liked his Mai Tais this way and the name was adapted based on the patron’s age.

But as recently as the 1990s, the Old Way Mai Tai was how Trader Vic’s referred to the cocktail made with the original ingredients and not using the Mai Tai mix that was used in place of the orgeat and curaçao. You can see this on some press materials distributed through the late 1990s, and Trader Vic’s grandson Peter Seely used that term in an interview in 1998. Today, the “1944 Mai Tai” is the most commonly used term to designate a Mai Tai made according to the original formula and with scratch ingredients.

The Old Way Mai Tai recipe shown here is also notable in its use of the St. James Rhum from Martinique. This agricole-style rhum made from sugar cane juice differs from the Jamaican rum that is made from molasses and was used in the original Mai Tai in 1944. During yesterday’s Zoom webinar organized by Trader Vic’s, cocktail historian Jeff “Beachbum” Berry theorized that the use of St. James dated back to the 1960s at Trader Vic’s locations. Eve Bergeron of Trader Vic’s noted that the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Rum sold in the late 1960s-1980s contained 70% Jamaican Rum, 20% from Martinique, and 10% Virgin Islands.