Recorded July 1, 2022 at Tiki Kon, we’ve combined the professionally recorded audio with the slides so that you can experience it at home. There are a couple bonus slides during the Q&A.
Everyone is familiar with the iconic Hawaiian Mai Tai that features pineapple juice and a dark rum float. This version of the Mai Tai is quite different from the original 1944 Mai Tai created at Trader Vic’s. When did the Mai Tai in Hawaii become the “Hawaiian Mai Tai?” It wasn’t in 1953 when Trader Vic brought the Mai Tai to Hawaii and is later than you might think. Learn more about this iconic cocktail and how it evolved over the years based on contemporaneous reports and published recipes.
The iconic Mai Tai at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki was introduced by Trader Vic Bergeron in 1953. During the 1950s the reputation for this cocktail built such a following that it was described as the “top tourist tantalizer” in 1959. But the Mai Tai you get today at the Royal Hawaiian differs considerably, since it uses the Pineapple Juice and Orange Juice commonly seen in Island-style Mai Tais.
Mai Tais being served at the Royal Hawaiian, June 2022
1956 Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai
The earliest known recipe for the Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai comes via a letter written to a customer by Trader Vic himself. This is still substantially similar to the original 1944 recipe, though with different proportion of sweeteners and notably using both a Dark Jamaican rum and also a light rum. It is light and refreshing and a good dark Jamaican rum does punch through in this recipe. Try Worthy Park 109.
1956 Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai Juice of One Lime Dash of Rock Candy Syrup Dash of Curacao Dash of Orgeat 1½ ounces Trader Vic’s Puerto Rican Rum ¾ ounce Myers’s Plantation Punch Rum Stir and decorate with fresh mint
1972 Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai – Classic Recipe
The use of Pineapple Juice became common in Mai Tais in Hawaii starting in the 1960s, but The Royal Hawaiian seems to be a late convert. There’s a published recipe from their sister hotel The Moana Surfrider in 1968 that’s substantially similar to the 1956 version. However, there must have been pressure to include Pineapple Juice from many tourists.
This recipe comes from Drinks of Hawaii, 2nd Ed. 1972, by Paul B. Dick. The entry describes this is “now being used by the Sheraton” implying a recent change. The recipe included in the book did not specify an exact amount of Pineapple or Orange Juice except to say that they should be used in equal parts. The recipe is notable in that it describes using 3 ounces of rum, including two flavorful dark rums. But a rum float is not specified.
This recipe was later used in many books by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, who designated 1 oz each for the Pineapple and Orange Juice. This seems like the correct choice, keeping the balance with the other ingredients.
1972 Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai ½ oz Lime Juice ¼ oz Lemon Juice 1 oz Orange Juice 1 oz unsweetened Pineapple Juice ¼ oz Sugar Syrup ¼ oz Orgeat ¼ oz Orange Curacao 1 oz Demerara Rum 1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum 1 oz Light Rum
1990s – No Pineapple Juice
This recipe comes from a 1997 Honolulu Star-Bulletin article, and curiously doesn’t include any Pineapple Juice.
1990s Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai 5 oz Mai Tai Mix 1 oz White Rum 1 oz Myers’s Dark Rum Fill glass with ice, add mix and rums
Mai Tai Mix 10 oz Orange Juice 4 oz Orange Curacao 2 oz Orgeat 2 oz Rock Candy Syrup 2 oz Sour Lemon Combine all ingredients and add water to make 1 quart
Mai Tai Mix (single use) 1½ oz Orange Juice ⅔ oz Orange Curacao ⅓ oz Orgeat ⅓ oz Rock Candy Syrup ⅓ oz Sour Lemon Juice 1¾ oz Water
2010s Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai: Headscratcher
This devolved “secret recipe” was published on the Royal Hawaiian’s website, and includes some curious ingredients. The use of almond-flavored Amaretto liqueur in place of Orgeat syrup is sadly not uncommon in Mai Tais. Amaretto is fine elsewhere but doesn’t add the right flavors or body to the cocktail like Orgeat does. The use of Cherry Vanilla Puree, even in a small amount, is also a noteworthy head-scratcher.
2010s Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai Build in shaker with ice: 1 oz Bacardi Rum 1 tsp Cherry Vanilla Puree ½ oz Amaretto di Saronno ½ oz Cointreau 1 oz Fresh Govinda Orange Juice 2 oz Fresh Govinda Pineapple Juice ½ oz Whaler’s Dark Rum Float
Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai, 2019
2022 Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai Returns to Normalcy
In mid-2022, the Royal Hawaiian updated their website to include this updated “secret recipe” and thankfully it’s much more of a standard Island Mai Tai. It is nice to see Orgeat coming back, though I don’t find Old Lahaina rum to be particularly good. Nonetheless, I did very much enjoy the cocktail in June 2022 when I sat looking out at Diamond Head.
2022 Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai 2 oz Pineapple Juice 1 oz Orange Juice ½ oz Orgeat ½ oz Orange Curacao 1 oz Old Lahaina Light Rum 1 oz Old Lahaina Dark Rum (float) Shake all ingredients except the Dark Rum with ice. Pour in a large “bucket” glass. Float the Dark Rum, garnish with a parasol with cherry, pineapple and lime wedge.
When Trader Vic Bergeron included the Mai Tai on his cocktail menu for the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Moana Hotel in 1953, he never knew the cocktail would become one of the most famous in the world. The cocktail’s exotic name surely helped get the drink ordered, but the taste is what made the tourists rave.
This style of Mai Tai was similar to the original 1944 recipe, but was adjusted to omit the long-aged rums that had been the featured spirit in the cocktail up to that point. The use of light rum in combination with a flavorful dark rum was common across all published recipes of this era, including in the recipe that Bergeron provided to a guest in a letter in 1956. This affords a lighter style to the cocktail, likely considered more refreshing and approachable for the average hotel guest.
The dark Jamaican rum of this era was not as ester-forward as what you might find today, and funky rums wouldn’t have been a good choice for tourists. So, think of something like Coruba or Myers’s rather than Smith & Cross. The commonly seen Demerara rums you find today would be a fine substitution. Rum floats were not common during this time-period, but more than two ounces of rum was often seen. So wonder the tourists loved those “tummy warmers.”
Though the recipes of this era vary, there are some common elements. Besides the use of both light and dark rum, the sweeteners were included in equal parts. Before pineapple and orange juice were added to the Hawaiian Mai Tai in the 1960s, we did see that citrus juice was used in healthy amounts. Lime was common, sometimes used in combination with lemon juice.
Looking at the recipes and how they varied, we taste tested some variants and came up with a generic version that is both representative and also easy to prepare. Not too boozy, not too tart. Just right.
1950s-Era Hawaiian Mai Tai (Generic) 1 oz Lime Juice ⅓ oz Orgeat ⅓ oz Rock Candy Syrup ⅓ oz Orange Curacao 1½ oz Light Rum 1½ oz Dark Jamaican Rum or Demerara Rum
Shake with crushed ice and pour into a double-rocks glass, topping with more crushed ice. Garnish with mint or orchid, and either a pineapple spear or a speared pineapple chunk with a cherry.
Leading up to Mai Tai Day (August 30), we are sharing five Mai Tai myths.
While there was a great deal of secrecy around cocktail recipes at Don the Beachcomber locations, there was a different practice with Trader Vic’s. While the original 1944 Mai Tai recipe wasn’t published until the 1972 Bartenders Guide Revised, it also wasn’t a trade secret known only to Trader Vic. He had already published many of his Trader Vic’s recipes in the 1947 Bartender’s Guide.
A customer wrote to Bergeron in 1956 requesting the recipe for the Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai and Trader Vic himself signed the letter sent back to the customer. We know because letter went up for auction in 2010. This remains the earliest documented Hawaiian Mai Tai recipe and is similar to the original 1944 Mai Tai.
This recipe and others like it were published in newspaper articles and books, but Trader Vic’s didn’t sue or publicly complain about the recipes being shared. It was only when the Sun-Vac corp tried to copyright the Mai Tai for their commercial Mai Tai mix that lawyers got involved. Vic won the out of court settlement.
Want to learn more? Check our essay The (De)Evolution of the Hawaiian Mai Tai, or view the article in Issue 15 of Exotica Modernemagazine. Or join us at Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Day event on August 28 for a special seminar on the Hawaiian Mai Tai.
Leading up to Mai Tai Day (August 30), we are sharing five Mai Tai myths.
First up is the myth that when Trader Vic introduced the Mai Tai to Hawaii in 1953 that it was created with pineapple juice. We continue to see this in mentioned in articles, or see the 1972 Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai recipe that contains pineapple juice to be attributed to the earlier 1953 date as well.
The Mai Tai on the original Royal Hawaiian menu did not call out pineapple juice as an ingredient. And we saw several published recipes including one attributed to “a bartender at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel” from the 1950s that also do not include pineapple juice. Trader Vic himself provided the Mai Tai recipe to a customer in 1956, and this didn’t have pineapple juice either.
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel eventually did switch over to a Mai Tai with pineapple and orange juice, but we see no documentation that this took place until the early 1970s.
Pineapple juice is certainly the ingredient that changes a 1944 style Mai Tai to an “Island Mai Tai” and these are common in Hawaii and other tourist destinations. But pineapple juice wasn’t commonly used in Hawaiian Mai Tais until the 1960s.
My Official Mai Tai Number is 34 Mai Tais consumed in the State of Hawaii on my 11 day trip.
We had three correct guesses in the Mai Tai Contest (I should have considered a tiebreaker). Congrats to the winners: @we.shall.tiki, @farbrorfuzz, and @wishiwastraveling84. I’ll be sending out a prize package with coasters, cocktail napkins, and stickers (bummed nobody seems to be giving out swizzle sticks or matchbooks anymore).
You can see the chart with the plot of all the guesses. Thanks again to everyone for playing along.
Oahu: 19, Kauai: 14, Hawaiian air space: 1 23 different venues, some who served more than one type of Mai Tai, and others where I consumed more than one 1944 Style: 13, Island Style: 15, Original Riffs: 2, RTD: 4
Complete List
1. Aulani (Island style) 2. Monkeypod Mai Tai (Island style) 3. Splash Bar at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani (Island style) 4. Tipsy Tiki (Island style) 5. Tiki’s Grill and Bar (1944 style) 6. Deck (1944 style) 7. Mai Tai’s (1944 style) 8. Dagger Mai Tai at Skull & Crown (Original riff) 9. Maunakea Mai Tai at Skull & Crown (1944 style) 10. Vic’s ’44 at Mai Tai Bar (1944 style) 11. Casa Crista (1944 style) 12. ‘Awa’Awa Mai Tai at Skull & Crown (Original riff) 13. Halekulani (1944 style) 14. Halekulani (1944 style) 15. Trader Vic’s Bottled (RTD) 16. Koloa Bottled (RTD) 17. Arnold’s Beach Bar (Island style) 18. Arnold’s Beach Bar (Island style) 19. Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai (Island style) 20. Hawaiian Airlines / On the Rocks (RTD) 21. Bamboocha Mai Tai at Lava Lava Beach Club (Island style) 22. Hilton Garden (Island style)nn Welcome Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (Island style) 23. Trader Vic’s Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (1944 style) 24. Koloa Tasting Room (RTD) 25. Welcome Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (Island style) 26. Vic’s Top Shelf at Tiki (Island style)nikii (1944 style) 27. Vic’s Top Shelf with Denizen and heavy Orgeat at Tiki (Island style)niki (1944 style) 28. Tahiti Nui (Island style) 29. Welcome Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (Island style) 30. Trader Vic’s Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (1944 style) 31. Kalapika Mai Tai at Duke’s Kauai (Island style) 32. Classic Mai Tai at Oasis at the Beach (1944 style) 33. Welcome Mai Tai at Mamahune’s (Island style) 34. Stinger Ray’s Tiki Bar & Lounge (Island style)
Our hotel provided coupons for two free Mai Tais (or a soft drink) at Mamahune’s Tiki Bar each day during our stay, so of course we made sure to put them to good use. The Welcome Mai Tai is an island version, different than the excellent Trader Vic’s Mai Tai that’s on their cocktail menu. Which is totally okay by me and it wasn’t bad at all.
I saw them batching these: two large cans of Pineapple Juice, one bottle of Trader Vic’s Orgeat, one bottle of Sweet & Sour, one bottle of Triple Sec. Pour over ice in a small cup and float with Whaler’s Dark Rum. They say to tip your bartender generously, and one of our free Mai Tais was served in a very large cup by a bartender who recognized us from previous visits.
Mamahune’s is an interesting location. It is definitely attached to the Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay, but does have some signage off the front parking lot and from the county beach parking slightly down the hill from the property. So it can be it’s own destination as well. It is also just steps down from the hotel’s main pool, so serves as a defacto pool bar. The hotel’s lobby restaurant is only open for breakfast and that venue’s bar is not operational the rest of the day, perhaps due to COVID. There is a Ahi Uila Fireshow that includes a buffet on Tuesday nights.
The other cocktails we had at Mamahune’s were pretty good, as was the food. Not really enclosed, and with a large lawn for tables and chairs, Mamahune’s is much more than a typical outdoor “tiki bar.” The covered section of the venue does have some well-done decor by Bamboo Ben, which looks really great a night. There are also bar seats on both sides, and we did see some groups using this as a hangout place. Music is played on some nights, which is a nice component as well. Sadly, the little volcano does not seem to erupt anymore.
