Trader Vic's 115th Birthday Cocktail

     This month Trader Vic’s in Emeryville, CA celebrates its founder Vic Bergeron on his 115th birthday, December 10, with a very rare and special Rum Old Fashioned cocktail, Vic’s favorite! The cocktail is made with 50-year-old Appleton Estate Rum and served in a limited edition glass created just for the occasion. Each of the keepsake glasses is numbered along with a letter of authenticity to make it that more special.   The cocktail is currently only available at the Emeryville, California location for a mere $1210.00.

 

Victor Bergeron

    December 10, 2017 marks the 115th anniversary of the birth of Victor Jules Bergeron, the creator of the Trader Vic’s chain of restaurants that originate in San Leandro, California.  This entrepreneurial restaurateur who is indelibly linked to Polynesian-themed rum drinks, including the Samoan Fog Cutter, the Tiki Puka Puka, and the Zombie. But Trader Vic’s most original and internationally celebrated libation is the Mai Tai, even though he had some help in naming it.

     Victor Bergeron in November 17, 1934, using $500 in borrowed money, opened a small bar and restaurant across from his parents' grocery store at San Pablo Avenue and 65th Street in the Golden Gate District in Oakland, California.  He named it Hinky Dink's, as its popularity spread, the menu and decor developed an increasingly tropical flair, Soon the name was changed to Trader Vic's.  By 1940 the first franchised Trader Vic's opened in Seattle, Washington.    In 1950, Bergeron opened a Trader Vic's location in Hawaii and in 1951 in San Francisco.

Emeryville, California Headquarters

    The legend of the Mai Tai and of Trader Vic had its beginning in 1934, when, during a trip to Havana, where he discovered rum, or more importantly, rum cocktails.   Upon his return to the rollicking saloon he owned in Oakland, California called Hinky Dink’s he started making daiquiris, mojitos, and Planters Punch, but often with a little extra rum-tweaking.