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Forbes
31-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
This Rum Can Help You Make Trader Vic's-Style Mai Tais
There's more than one way to skin a cat, the saying goes, and there's also more than one way to make an authentic Trader Vic's Mai Tai. I won't get into the cat-skinning details, never having attempted to skin one myself, but I've made — and consumed — plenty of Mai Tais over the years, and have been an avid student of how to make a proper one. For me, and many a rum enthusiast, a 'proper' Mai Tai is synonymous with that made by 'Trader Vic' Bergeron. The original, most famous, and perhaps most unknowable of all its iterations is the original, created on the fly by Vic for a couple of Tahitian friends in 1944. Nowadays, it's probably cheaper to create a time machine than it is to buy a bottle of the now-legendary J. Wray & Nephew 17 Year Old Jamaican rum used to make the original Mai Tai. Appleton Estate, where Wray & Nephew 17 is said to have been produced, released a one-off recreation using the identical marques, or distillates, in 2023. It was, predictably, snapped up by rum nerds and cocktail geeks in a matter of nanoseconds, and a bottle on the secondary market will run you well north of $1,000 nowadays. Not, therefore, exactly a viable option for whipping up a Mai Tai. My crushed ice game is not great but this Trader Vic's-style Mai Tai was delicious. Photo by Tony Sachs Today's Mai Tais served at the remaining Trader Vic's locations are, while tasty, a far cry from the original, employing multiple 80-proof rums of unknown provenance — unknown to us, at least, if not to Trader Vic's insiders and higher-ups. So what's an aspiring Mai Tai-ologist to do? Believe it or not, Trader Vic himself encountered the same problem. The original 1944 Mai Tai proved so popular that Wray & Nephew ran out of 17 year old rum to sell to Trader Vic's. Bergeron rejiggered the formula with W & N's 15 year old rum; once supplies of that started running low, he blended it with other Jamaican rums like Red Heart and Coruba. Eventually the 15 year old, like the 17 before it, became completely unavailable. It was at that point, in the mid 1950s, that he reworked the recipe again. According to Kevin Crossman, who runs The Search For The Ultimate Mai Tai website, 'problems with consistent quality in the other Jamaican London Dock Rums caused Trader Vic to make private arrangements, in the interest of high quality, to blend and bottle a Jamaican rum under his own label and control. Consistent quality was maintained in both a 15- and 8-year aging.' Joy Spence, master blender at Appleton Estate, has said on the record that the blend was made by Wray & Nephew at Appleton Estate at least until 1981. But wait, there's more! Vic Bergeron himself wrote a 1970 treatise, Let's Set the Record Straight on the Mai Tai . In it, he says, his blend, 'though excellent, didn't exactly match the end flavor of the original 17-year-old product. This desired nutty and snappy flavor was added by the use of a Martinique rum.' Martinique rum (or rhum, as the French spell it) is equated nowadays with rhum agricole , which is distilled from cane juice rather than molasses and has its own, very distinctive flavor. Back in the '50s, though, rhum agricole was all but unknown in the States. The rum exported from Martinique was distilled from molasses. (Props must be given here to the great rum writer/historian Matt Pietrek, whose research on the topic can be found at his Rum Wonk blog and, frankly, throughout much of this very article). I managed to find a vintage 1950s bottle of Rhum Negrita, a Martinique molasses rum mentioned by name in Trader Vic's books of the era (today it's a bottom-shelf Caribbean blend that's nothing like what it was back then). It's quite dark, doubtlessly through the addition of caramel coloring, and it has an intense, burnt-sugar flavor that's more reminiscent of a Guyana rum than a rhum agricole. Today, the tables have turned, and in recent years it's been all but impossible to find a rum from Martinique that isn't a rhum agricole. But Holmes Cay, a New York-based independent bottler that's been hunting down and releasing great rums from around the world since 2019, has given us the next best thing. Its recently released Réunion Island Rum Traditionnel comes from the French island of Réunion, in the Indian Ocean, whose molasses rum is a close cousin to that which comes from Martinique. Holmes Cay has released two other rums from Réunion, but this is the first aged expression. Holmes Cay's Réunion Island Rum Traditionnel is an essential piece in the Trader Vic's Mai Tai puzzle. Photo by Tony Sachs Tropically aged for three years in ex-cognac casks, it's bottled at 46% ABV, a touch above the 44% of vintage Negrita. It's lighter in both color and flavor than the Negrita, but it's got the same basic vanilla-cinnamon-burnt sugar notes to it. To give it a little extra 'oomph' in my Mai Tai, I added a touch of Guyana rum — coincidentally or not, also bottled by Holmes Cay. Guyana 2018 Versailles was distilled on the legendary Versailles wooden still — it intensifies the flavor of the Réunion rum without altering it, and it's well worth drinking in its own right. Thanks to Holmes Cay, we've ticked the box of the most difficult ingredient to find for our genuine 1950s-style Trader Vic's Mai Tai. So what else do we use for our liquid time machine? According to The Search For The Ultimate Mai Tai, the recipe calls for: 1 ounce Martinique rum. For our purposes, let's make that Réunion Island Rum Traditionnel. I also added a splash, no more than 1/4 ounce, of Guyana rum. 1 ounce Trader Vic's Jamaican rum. We know that it was made at Appleton Estate and was a blend of 15 and 8-year-old rums. So it makes sense to go with Appleton for this component. Joy Spence says the 8-year-old is her go-to in Mai Tais; you can combine their 8 Year and 15 Year expressions to make your own Trader Vic's blend (personally, I like to use their richer, more complex 21 Year Old bottling). Will it taste exactly like what Trader Vic used? Probably not, but it will certainly have the same basic DNA. I would avoid the funky pot still rums from Jamaica, such as Smith & Cross, Doctor Bird, or certain rums from Hampden Estate. They're beloved by many a rum enthusiast, myself included, but their earthy, vegetal flavor profiles aren't appropriate for this endeavor. 1 ounce pre-mixed Curaçao, orgeat & rock candy syrup. What the heck do we do here? First of all, figure out proportions: based on common sense but no hard evidence in particular, I went with a half-ounce of curaçao and a quarter ounce each of orgeat and rock candy syrup. The modern-day Trader Vic's Mai Tai uses Leroux curaçao; I opted for Pierre Ferrand. Pretty much anything goes here, but bottom-shelf brands aren't recommended. As for the orgeat, I went with Latitude 29's, made by Orgeat Works. The famed New Orleans bar is run by Jeff 'Beachbum' Berry, a dedicated scholar of historic tiki cocktails. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me. I used Trader Vic's own rock candy syrup, but have since been alerted by drinks writer and fellow Mai Tai obsessive Dylan Ettinger that Vic's is a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water, where the proper old-school ratio is 2:1. This is also known as rich simple syrup, and it's probably easiest just to make your own. The juice of one fresh lime. Most Mai Tai recipes call for one ounce of fresh-squeezed lime juice. Based on personal experience, sometimes I get a full ounce from a single lime. Quite often, I don't. So is it an ounce or not? How about this: squeeze a lime. If it's somewhere in the neighborhood of an ounce, you're good to go. If it's considerably more or less, adjust according to your desired taste. But don't worry about precision here. Pour all the ingredients into a shaker with plenty of ice, shake it until it's pretty damn cold, and then pour it out into the glass of your choice (I prefer Trader Vic's own double rocks glass myself) filled with plenty of shaved ice. Garnish with half of the spent lime shell and a sprig of fresh mint, and you've got yourself a Trader Vic's Mai Tai. Is it an exact replica of the 1944 original? No. Is it totally legit, created and approved by Vic himself? Absolutely. Is it delicious? Oh heck yes.
Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Mums night out! Beatrice and Eugenie glam up to attend a restaurant opening in Mayfair
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie turned heads as they stepped out for a fashion event in London last night. The King 's nieces sported all black for the launch of Mr Porter Steakhouse, a new eatery by men's luxury fashion retailer, Mr Porter, situated on London's affluent Park Lane. Princess Beatrice, 36, stunned in a casual chic ensemble consisting of a black blazer, a black a line dress and a pair of flat black Mary Jane pointed pumps. The stylish mother-of-two and stepmother to husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi 's son from a previous relationship opted to leave the blazer open, which showcased a row of decorative gold buttons. She accessorised the look with a tan leather clutch bag featuring both a top handle and an adjustable strap. Meanwhile her only jewellery of choice for the occasion was a pair of miniature stone encrusted hoops. The royal's famous auburn hair was styled with loose curls and a middle part, and fell loosely around her shoulders. Meanwhile her younger sister, Princess Eugenie, 35, looked equally chic in monochrome, albeit her look depicted a more laid back fit. For the engagement, the fashionista, who shares two children with husband Jack Brooksbank, donned a black wool jumper, a black maxi satin skirt and a pair of chunky-heeled leather boots. Eugenie teamed the look with a large black leather tote bag, a gold necklace and a pair of stone encrusted hoops - almost identical to those of her sister, with the items differing only in size. The royal's nude wool coat made for the perfect dash of glamour, while its addition completed a striking colour palette also worn by that of her sister, Prince Beatrice. The sisters appeared to have planned their looks, as they both sported all black with just a touch of nude. And if they didn't plan to coordinate their fits, perhaps the coincidence can be put down to uncanny sister's intuition. Eugenie and Beatrice appeared to be in high spirits as they smiled for the cameras before making their way into the establishment. Prince Andrew 's daughters were among a list of celebrities who attended the lavish grand opening of the Mr Porter Steakhouse. Formerly the location of the popular Trader Vic, the steakhouse describes itself as 'extravagant yet modest', and a restaurant that 'fearlessly explores the borders between dinner and sinner'. Guests can expect to dine on premium steaks, lobster, chips and 'perfectly poured' cocktails. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are no strangers to donning their fashionable best, as they did for the Royal Family's traditional Easter Sunday service in Windsor last week. Princess Beatrice was seen making a striking fashion statement in a stylish gold patterned headband as she chatted with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in the grounds of St George's Chapel ahead of the seasonal service. The princess looked stunning in the gold and black headpiece, which kept her famous auburn hair neatly pinned back for the religious service. It also featured a black-coloured bow which was fixed towards the back of the accessory, and made for a stylish touch. The princess teamed the striking headgear with a form-fitting forest green midi dress that cinched at the waist courtesy of a wide-set belt. The dress was contrasted by a block of white pearl buttons placed across its front and along its sleeves. And the royal accessorised the look with a pair of green satin Mary Jane heels and a dark blue clutch bag with a decorative jewelled handle. She was pictured arriving at the Easter service hand in hand with her husband Edoardo, 41, who donned a suave blue linen suit and yellow tie. Meanwhile her younger sister, Princess Eugenie, looked elegant in all white and a matching veiled headpiece. Eugenie also opted for a bold choice for the engagement as the elaborate headgear, whose veil covered a large portion of her face, was sure to capture attention at the service. The royal fashionista completed the ensemble with a white longline belted coat, nude suede pointed pumps and a nude tote bag. She appeared to be in high spirits as she smiled and chatted away with her husband Jack Brooksbank, 38, and her mother Sarah, Duchess of York. At one point before the service she was spotted entering the grounds with her uncle, Prince Edward, along with his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and their 17-year-old son, James, Earl of Wessex. The sisters looked delighted as they were captured in various photographs with their family members. The presence of their father, Prince Andrew, at the service also turned heads. He attended the Easter service alongside King Charles, Queen Camilla and other members of the royal family.
Web Release
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Web Release
TRADER VIC'S JBR INTRODUCES TIKI CHICAS – A TROPICAL LADIES' NIGHT EVERY FRIDAY
Trader Vic's JBR has launched Tiki Chicas, a new weekly ladies' night bringing tropical energy and island vibes to Friday nights. Taking place every Friday from 9:00pm to 11:00pm, the experience invites ladies to enjoy complimentary cocktails in a lively and exotic Tiki setting. Set against the backdrop of Trader Vic's signature beachfront ambiance, Tiki Chicas is designed for those who love fun, flavour and feel-good moments. From colourful cocktails to upbeat music and vibrant décor, guests can expect a playful escape inspired by the South Pacific. The offer is perfect for unwinding with friends, kicking off the weekend, or simply soaking up the tropical atmosphere that Trader Vic's JBR is known for. What: Complimentary cocktails for ladies When: Every Friday, from 9:00pm to 11:00pm Where: Trader Vic's JBR, Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Reservations: Call 04 318 2319 or email
New York Times
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
America's Love Affair With Crab Rangoon Goes Supernova
During the first two days Sidedoor Bagel in Indianpolis sold its Mr. Krabs Rangoon special — crab-flecked cream cheese and a fried egg inside a spicy everything bagel studded with Sichuan pepper flakes, sweet chile sauce and wonton strips — there were more than 100 orders, making it the shop's most popular special to date. 'The creamy, sweet and spicy components make it so loved by everyone,' said Josh Greeson, the owner of Sidedoor Bagel, who grew up eating crab Rangoon from the Chinese American restaurant in his rural Indiana hometown. 'It translates well to experimenting with different cuisines.' The crab Rangoon is neither from Rangoon (present-day Yangon, Myanmar) nor reliably made with real crab. Imitation crab, also known as surimi, and cream cheese are tucked into wonton wrappers — perhaps the dish's only Chinese component — and deep-fried. That it first appeared on menus in California in the late 1940s at the vaguely Polynesian-influenced Trader Vic's chain only muddies the waters. But those details are mere trivialities to the chefs who have turned their love for Rangoons into mozzarella sticks, pasta, melts and more. 'It sounds like someone drunk on mai tais made it,' said Grace Lin, the author of 'Chinese Menu: The History, Myths and Legends Behind Your Favorite Foods.' She explained that many Chinese restaurateurs looked to American tastes to come up with appetizers, which are uncustomary in Chinese cooking except at banquets. 'Since crab Rangoon was popular and already considered Asian, they seized the opportunity and claimed it as their own in order to survive.' In Des Moines, King Ying Low, the oldest Chinese restaurant in Iowa, closed in 2008 and reopened the following year as Fong's Pizza, which serves Asian-inflected pizzas inspired by dishes like General Tso's chicken and banh mi sandwiches. But Fong's kept the Rangoon on the menu, albeit in the form of a pizza made with a cream cheese base, imitation crab, mozzarella and Asiago cheeses and crushed wonton strips. It's the restaurant's 'most popular pizza by four or five times,' said Chris Mendenhall, a managing partner. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
