vegas mai tai should be drunk at trader vics - by Mike

Vegas Mai-Tai

Vegas Mai-Tai is a fruit and rum drink that you can get just about anywhere in Las Vegas. A real Mai-Tai can give you an out-of-body experience with its powerful alcohol effect and enchanting fruit taste. This is an official IBA cocktail, meaning it is one of a few cocktails chosen to be included in the World Cocktail Competition held every year. The pineapple and rum drink you call a Mai-Tai is not the complex, sublime concoction that Don Beach dreamed up in the warm summer of 1933 launching the whole crazy Tiki Bar and furniture phenomena.

The rum drink in the photo is in an original glass from Don Beachcombers. You can still find them at auctions and reproduced by shops specializing in Tiki items.

Maita'i is a Tahitian word for good. But in breaking the word apart it takes on another meaning, a greater meaning, it means "out of this world." And that's what Don Beach had in mind when he started knocking together rum, fruit and liqueurs, he was going to create a liquid escape.

The former bootlegger from the Prohibition era opened his first bar, Don Beachcomber, in 1930 in Hollywood on McCadden Place, just off Hollywood Blvd, near Highland Ave. He made a name for himself and a small fortune selling drinks that provided a potent escape from everyday life. Is seems there was Beachcomber's and there was Hollywood.

The inventor of the Mai-Tai in 1930's Don Beach is pictured in his Tiki attire. Note the wicker chair, safari clothes and deep tan. All the elements of an adventurer just back from a cruise to the enchanted Marquesas Islands.

No dreamer, Beach won both a Purple Heart and Bronze Star in WW II. Don's only other competitor was Trader Vic's started by Victor Bergeron in the late 30's. It is still very much alive today. Call it Trader Vic's or the "Tiki Bar", you can find it at "Planet Hollywood," formerly the Aladdin across from the Bellagio fountains.

A Mai-Tai made the Don Beach way is served without ice. It's made up of 6 parts white rum, 6 parts dark rum, 3 parts orange Curacao (an orange liqueur), 3 parts Orgeat syrup (sweet syrup made from almonds, sugar and rose water), and 2 parts fresh lime juice. Try making this at home and seriously impress your friends. Shake up all the ingredients with ice except the dark rum. Strain, now pour the dark rum on top and garnish with pineapple spear, lime peel and mint leaves.

Inspiration for Mai-Tai and Tiki culture comes from a real place. The enchanting Marquesas Islands in the photo as we look over its valley. Herman Melville wrote his first book here, "Typee." No one believed the islands existed at first, but it soon became his best selling novel.

You have just created one of life's great escapes. Trader Vic's does not make their Mai-tai like this way. Everyone drinks it on ice now-a-days anyway. I just wanted you know how the original drink was made so you can impress your friends. Anyway Trader Vic's has gone upscale; it has its own "MySpace" page and "Ultra-lounge" and it is kind of lite on Tiki factor. If you are in the mood for Tiki kitsch wander over to "Tahiti Joe's", it is more of a Polynesian experience.

Want to have fun? Put on your Hawaiian shirt and head over to Planet Hollywood. You are going to down a few Mai-tai's or Zombie's. Order some really great food. Try Trader Vic's Bongo Bongo, their famous spinach oyster soup. Or Cocanut Chicken and fried rice that is on the top of everyone's list. Hula dancers will entertain you in this "Vegas Trader Vic's" that is 11,000 square feet and has an outdoor patio for 200 people and an Ultra-lounge on the 2nd floor that can serve dinner to 120 hungry diners. Heck, you might even meet Eve, Vic's granddaughter.

Buy or build your own Tiki bar like the one shown in the photo. Tiki bars come in styles from simple to elaborate with rare woods and marble counters. Start your own Tiki club today.

Want to experience an upscale Mai-Tai? Cross the street, take the circular driveway, croon with the sappy songs and the 150 foot dancing fountains, and enter the lobby with the Dale Chihuly hand-blown glass flowers. You are now in the Bellagio.Find the pool area, lie on a lounge chair, watch the scene: escorts, milfs, eurotrash - order your Mai-Tai. The powdered sugar on top is a Vegas touch. Now you are having a true Vegas experience.

Ever wonder what's in a Zombie, or why it's inventor Don Beach set a house limit 2 per customer? See our "Zombie page." In the meantime get yourself to Trader Vic's and experience your Vegas Mai-Tai.