The history of the Mai Tai is a story of the two most influential people in the world of tiki bars. Victor Jules Bergeron (aka Trader Vic) and Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt (aka Donn Beach, aka Don the Beachcomber). Donn Beach opened his first South Pacific style restaurant in Hollywood in 1933. He was a rum connoisseur and started making exotic rum drinks inspired by his many travels.

Trader Vic had his own restaurant called Hinky Dinks that he opened in 1934 in Oakland, California. After a trip to Cuba to refine his bartender skills and learn more about the world of rum, and possibly after visiting Don the Beachcomber, the Trader remodeled Hinky Dinks into a Polynesian-style tiki bar and changed the name to Trader Vic’s. This made it the first in a long line of restaurants around the world.

The Mai Tai was first made in 1944 for a couple of Tahitian friends of the Trader. They liked it so much that they exclaimed “Mai Tai-Roa A’e” meaning “Out of this world, the best” so the name of the cocktail was right there.

Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber fought over who had invented the Mai Tai for the better part of their careers but when Donn Beach launched his own Mai Tai mixer claiming the drink to be his invention the Trader had enough. Donn was sued and lost the court battle. Trader Vic announced “Anybody who says I didn't create this drink is a dirty stinker”.

It is most likely though that Trader Vic got his inspiration from Donn Beach’s Hollywood restaurant so without Donn we probably wouldn’t have the Mai Tai.

The glass was designed by Marco Zanuso in 1969 and is called Pitagora after its triangular base.