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Trader Vic — The Showman Who Built the Tiki Empire · Into The Barchive

• ITB: Into the bark eye where the past comes alive. Tails, let them die. Welcome to the bark. Hello, Bark of Vist, and welcome back to Into the Barkive, the podcast where we dive deep into the stories, the people, and the cocktails that shape the way we drink. The last episode we explored the wild, secretive world of Don Beach, the original architect of Tiki. But today, today, we're going to step into the world of his greatest rival. Arguably Tiki's greatest showman. ⁓ we're talking about Victor. Yes, Victor J. Bergeron. Who in the hell is that? Better known as Traitor Vic. Traitor Vic. Okay. And so today is all about the story of a one-legged barman from California who turned a small bar into an international empire. We're talking about a court-leg individual? Yep. All right. So I guess we're talking about more tiki culture. Yep. And we're gonna think about how Trader Vic helped define what we think of as tiki culture today. But before we do that, I guess we need to get shaking. Or blending. Let's go to the bar. The first Trader Vic cocktail we're going to make is the fog cutter. And so for the fog cutter, we're going to start with one and a half ounces of white rum. From there, we're going to go to one ounce of cognac or any sort of good quality grape brandy. After that, a half ounce of gin per especially if you can get it in the London dry style. So I've got some Sip Smith here. After three ounces of alcohol, let's add the juices. So we're going to do two ounces of lemon juice. Then one ounce of orange juice. And then finally, we're going to add a half ounce of orgot, which essentially is like an almond syrup. So think about like taking an almond milk and adding equal parts sugar to it. And then we're gonna get some pebble ice and we're gonna do what's called a whip shake. So I'm gonna take a small scoop of pebble ice, pour all my liquid in, and then I'm gonna give it a shape. And in a whip shake, what we're trying to do is get a lot of that pebble ice to dissolve. So we're listening for some cues about when it is mostly dissolved. And I think that's about good enough. That helps aerate the cut too. From there, we are going to take our proprietary Trader Vicks fog cutter mug, and we're going to party pour into the mug. And now this is a very large tiki vessel. And from there, we will add more of our pebble ice. until we fill our mug. And you may be thinking to yourself, but I don't want to water down my cocktail. When we're looking at tiki drinks, we want a lot of pebble ice. It will lengthen the drink over time, but the more ice we put in it, the more the drink will stay cold over time. The final thing is we're going to add even more booze and add a half ounce of Ola Rosso sherry on top as like a floater for the cocktail. So we're going to add that over the top. That will help dry it out and give kind of a nutty aroma when we put our nose to the cocktail. And finally, we're going to garnish with. A couple sprigs of mint and just take off some of those lower leaves. And then again, we want to give a little slap to wake up the oils and aromas and the mint and stick that right there. And we have our fog cutter cheers. The port light. I don't know why Blake always does this to me, but another egg white cocktail. But this one uses bourbon. We've got two ounces of bourbon into our flash blending tin. Next we have one ounce of fresh lemon juice. To our sweeteners, we have half ounce of honey syrup. Half ounce of passion fruit syrup. And the star of the show, egg white. For those of that are not ⁓ familiar with egg whites, feel free to crack in a separate vessel to make sure that if you do get some yolk in there, that you can start again. So we're gonna get some egg white into our ⁓ shading tin, and that's a good amount. We'll take this bad boy here and we'll dispose of it. And we'll take our egg white. into that flashing tube. Set it to the side. Add some pebble ice. Just a scosh and flash blend. Thank you, Hamilton, for ⁓ helping us out with this one. Great thing about a flash blending with this is that egg gets frothy pretty freaking fast without having to shake it for a good 30 seconds. And now we will party pour into a beautiful vessel. Blink, what is this vessel called? It is a port light mug. It was actually that glass is designed for this specific cocktail. So it's meant like on a ship. Yeah, port and starboard. So this is the port. light on ⁓ old vessels. And top it off with some pebble ice and then the garnish game is always strong. What we'll do is we will grab a sprig of mint. Get those oils and aromas going. Maybe take off a few of the bottom leaves so it can stick down into the glassware a little bit better. We're also going to add the iconic pineapple and cherry to go along with this. And then, as always, star placement is very important. Next to that, next to that mint. So when I go in for a sip. I get those aromas. You did a great job frothing that cocktail. That's all about that flash blend. Absolutely. And now we have our port light. Now that we built the cocktails, let's build the context. Who is Traitor Vic? Well, Traitor Vic, born Victor Bergeron in 1902 in San Francisco. I love how all these like tiki guys have serious names and they're like, Yeah, that doesn't meet the vibe that I'm going for. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't match the tropical escapism. And, you know, it's funny like He's born in San Francisco. His parents own a grocery, but his path to tiki legend isn't very straightforward at all. Okay, so he's not this he's not gonna be this guy that had oil money, then got to go and do rum running with his grandpa, and then like squander his college tuition to go and like travel the world. What's his story then? Well, Vic was a sickly child and He actually contracted tuberculosis. Okay. I just pitched that one up and that's kind of a downer. Yeah. Well, ⁓ even more of a downer as a result of his T B diagnosis, he lost a leg and had his leg amputated. And you would think like, man, that would end your like ambitions, whether owning a bar or anything. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so he takes this bad hand that he's dealt and then he flips it. Yeah, so you know, instead of it like keeping him down, it sharpens his personality. He's charismatic, resilient, maybe a little stubborn. I can relate. ⁓ I mean, in fact, Vic would later tell his patrons that he lost his leg in a shark attack. And then because he was such a showman, he would take a knife and stab it into his wooden leg. ⁓ and that was part of his Traitor Vic shtick. Yeah, like the the it's the allure, right? Honestly, until you just told the story, I had forgotten that he had lost it due to true medical. I vr only remembered the shark story about how he lost a leg because it was so much of the Traitor Vic story that the people that did understand the true history. It is history. Yeah. Well, and like Don the the beachcomer, Turtovic didn't go to college. In fact, he dropped out of high school. And so he tried to sell everything from paint to tire patching kits. So this is a a I d a I mean just a genuine salesman that now comes into a booze industry. Super entrepreneurial and what he decided to do is as prohibition is ending, he decides I'm gonna open a little beer hole barbecue shack across the street from his parents' grocery store, and he called this place Hinky Dinks. Wait, okay, so not necessarily 100% affluent, but his parents do have a background. Small business. Okay, so we've got this dude in like what 1938, 37? Or yeah, in the so after or in the midst of the depression. So in 1937 or in 1937, he Hinky Dinks is already open. He has this little beer hall barbecue shack. Okay. He vi he goes to Los Angeles and Trader Vic visits Don the Beach Comer. ⁓ so now we're going into this Am I trying to mimic or replicate or am I doing my own thing by Yeah, so his visit to Don's Beachcomber Cafe is like inspiration for him. He's like, I need to transform hinky dinks from like hunting lodge decor to tiki bar and restaurant. Again, that Polynesian flares appropriating, you know, fish nets and lanterns and ⁓ po totem pole or you know kind of wooden sculptures. Well and beyond just a bar, Trader Vic is one of the ones who popularizes Americanized Chinese food. In fact, Trader Vic not only invents a host of tiki drinks, he also invents crab rangoon. that story never caught on until we actually went there. And back at well, I guess it was Atlanta we went to okay. I love me a crab rangoon. However, the fact that knowing that that's where it is came from, like allegedly established, I thought was fantastic. Yeah, so Vic was it's not just about like being a bar, it's also being a restaurant as well. He's gone from this instead of me giving you a place to escape for booze, I'm now giving you a place to escape for a an entire meal. Absolutely. Okay. And so He takes hinky dinks, he redecorates it in Polynesian style, and he renames it Trader Vicks because he traded drinks and food for Polynesian artifacts to redecorate the restaurant. So to and so buying all this new decor, he's like, Hey, I'll give you a beer if you give me you know Yeah. A little bar system, a trading a Vicking system. Yeah. Yeah, and Trader Vicks. Quickly establishes a premiere reputation so much so that a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist commented about Trader Vic's quote, the best restaurant in San Francisco is in Oakland. That's referring to Trader Vicks. Yeah. Okay, so I'm guessing this ⁓ Pulitzer Prize winning article has to like put him on the spot, right? Like So won't what happens then? Well, this is the point where Trader Vic really diverges from Don Beach, where Don was very secretive and almost paranoid about his recipes. Vic was a brand builder. Yeah. So Trader Vic's wasn't just a bar, it was an experience. This curated fantasy about the South Pacific kind of filtered through the American imagination. And so by the nineteen forties and fifties, Trader Vic's locations were popping up around the United States. Yes. You mentioned San Francisco and Oakland, so we're definitely again the West Coast battle of who has the good tiki Polynesian bar over there. But hell, it's now East Coast as far as Atlanta. Yeah. So like today and I mean what Let me hold that thought for a second. Is that like Vic quickly built up like a restaurant chain? Yeah. Essentially. ⁓ not just in the US but around the world. Hotels wanted in. Vic partnered with Hilton Hotels and brought Tiki into a lot of their hotel spaces around the world. Celebrities showed up. Politicians drank there. Richard Nixon actually Frequently drank at the Trader Vic in Washington, DC during his presidency, and his favorite drink was Vic's riff on the Navy grog. Of course, of course. Why not Nixon enjoying something that was riffed off of someone else? ⁓ yeah, but like Kennedy drank there, so lots of prominent politicians drank at Trader Vic's, and he certainly was probably not just among Not just the most successful tiki bar owner of the twentieth century, but probably the most financially successful cocktail bar owner period of the twentieth century and made millions. When a cocktail bar can blend into restaurant area, or vice versa, there does seem to be a good balance, right? Like I do enjoy a bar that has a good food offering, or vice versa. Or a good bar that partners with somebody that can do the same. ⁓ we're gonna toss out a nod to a local chopper slash yeah, food truck. Yeah. Well, and I mean the thing is is Vic's financial success wasn't just about ⁓ his restaurant empire, it was also he sold recipe books, so where Don Beach wanted to keep everything. A secret. Vic is like publishing books, selling books. Here's the recipe for my drinks. ⁓ he sells bottled mixes. So here's my my tie mix, my rock candy syrup, trader Vic's light rum, dark rum. So he goes from this: like, instead of an individual that I'm thinking about what I own, I'm protecting my stuff in this realm. Vic is like. The role's my oyster. I can profit off of everything. Like intellectual property be damned. ⁓ absolutely. Now, Trader Vic, despite the rapid expansion, unfortunately has contracted some. Like most notably in 1989, the Trader Vic's location at the Plaza Hotel in New York had to close after its owner, who recently had acquired the Plaza Hotel in the 1980s, a man you might have heard of named Donald Trump. Who? Yeah, just some real estate mogul in New York. ⁓ In 1989, he declared that Trader Vic's decor was tacky. We'll let you be the judge. So, Vic's Trader Vic, despite having to close some of its locations, there's still nineteen Trader Vicks restaurants around the world, including locations ⁓ in Atlanta. Yep. Which we have both been to together. You love it. There's one in Emoryville, California. Oakland. In the Oakland area, which I went to ⁓ back in March. ⁓ And there's also one in the San Jose Airport. ⁓ so like the next time you're flying into San Jose or flying out as San Jose, you can ⁓ enjoy your a stop and get some drinks and China Americanized Chinese food at Trader Vicks. All right. The big question that I have right now is we've gone from Don to Trader, right? We've gone from what we would consider the initial to the entrepreneurial right like so Vic's philosophy on tiki drinks where does this go how does it differ yeah so unlike some of Don the Beachcomer's other competitors who had to poach Don's bartenders to try to get his recipes trader Vic tried to focus on originality and he created His own tiki drinks after spending time traveling the Caribbean and using his own culinary skills. So, but let's flash back real quick. Even though we were talking about Don having this Polynesian look, it was Caribbean cocktails. Trader Vic, Caribbean cocktails. They're both doing their own version of a Caribbean cocktail. The thing is, it's the amount Or the specks of the ingredients going into those cocktails. Yeah, in in many ways, Trader Vic's drinks are somewhat similar using going back to the planner's punch. But unlike Don, who emphasized layering like multiple rums in a drink, Trader Vic layers multiple types of spirits. So, like in my fog cutter, you know, this is Perfect example of Vic style, right? Instead of layering multiple rums, you have rum, cognac or brandy, and gin. So multiple types of spirits, and then you hit it with Olariso Sherry. So I mean, again, you you're the PhD, you're the certified specialist of spirits of the group, but it to me this lends back to maybe Don the Beachcomber. His time of rum running with his grandpa gave him an opportunity to focus on rum as a specific ingredient, where Trader Vic has access to other spirits, and he's like, I can play off of that and make it my own. So therefore, like in yours, using that gin, using that cognac, which might not 100% been available for those that were rum running. Yeah. Right in the Caribbean, but he's now using ingredients that he has a plethora. He potentially had a larger spice cabinet to choose from. Yeah. And it's one of those things where you again, it's about it's so complex, it's layers of flavors. ⁓ yeah. Just a different approach to it. let's jump into the port light and then I'm gonna make a slight comparison, if you don't mind. Yeah. So What's interesting of of course about the port light is there's no rum at all. It's all bourbon. Bourbon. Right? And so while most tiki drinks heavily lean on rum, Vic isn't afraid to break branch out. The port light is a little softer, more rounded with the oak aging on the bourbon. That honey and passion fruit are playing beautifully with the vanilla notes from that. oak aging on the bourbon. Yeah, it this right here is a tiki version of a whiskey sour. Point blank. Mm-hmm. Right. I love it's the fact that where you've got somebody that is a bourbon enthusiast or whiskey just the like absolute, you branch this, this is their olive leaf to go into a different avenue because it gives you that n that nuttiness of a that you need from the bourbon. Mm-hmm. That you don't miss necessarily get from a traditional bourbon cocktail because of the lemon, the passion fruit that comes in, it softens those sweeter notes and allows that woody kind of herbal. Maybe not herbal, but woody. Like what I don't know the term I'm looking for there, but I get a lot of extra wood out of that cocktail. We've got friends that I would have thought, hey, this is their like they love tiki drinks. But if I'm going to like truly mess with their mind, that's the go. Because that's a whiskey sour tiki modified. ⁓ yes. I mean, it it's a fantastic cocktail. And the egg white in it, I mean, a lot of times when you think about egg whites, why would you throw an egg white in a drink where you can't see like the head? The head? Is that. It's about texture throughout the whole drink. It's not just about that a visual appearance. And I go back to the whiskey sour piece of it. It does. It's the lemon juice and the egg white. I mean, the way that this one frothed it up today, again, using the flash blender instead of whip shaking. I mean, typically from an egg, you're gonna get somewhere about an ounce, hell up to two ounces worth of egg white. We off camera measured this bad boy out from the same carton of eggs, the same batch of eggs that were laid, and we got almost two ounces of egg white. The overflowing of froth from this one came from just ultimately an extra ounce pretty much of egg white than we would have done if we would have used like pasteurized egg white from a carton somewhere. Yeah. Right. Like that one just bubbled over and we were like, what the hell's going on here? But truly it's The vessel, and we may get into this in another episode of it time kind of covers a color that might No, I mean, I think this is a great time to talk about that. Is like unlike our last episode on Don the Beach comer, we use glass rocks glasses that are clear for both of our drinks today. We use decorative ceramic vessels. So there are a few things here. Number one. Vicks an entrepreneur. I mean, you can see it says Trader Vicks fine old rum. That's like I bought these mugs on the Trader Vicks website. They're still selling these mugs today. This is the fog cutter mug. That's the port white mug. They're intentional in their purpose because one, he quote unquote designed them for this cocktail. But it's not only because visually they just look sexy as a cylinder and then you know the hula dancer here, but as tiki drinks got more ⁓ ingredients, let's just call it that, they didn't look as sexy. And so you're also cu covering up the color of a cocktail, right? Yeah, unlike some cocktails when you put them in a glass and they're like a brilliant color, with all the ingredients. Tiki drinks sometimes can look, let's say, muddy. Muddy. That's a good word. Muddy. And so one of the aside from being able to sell merch, right? So there's the entrepreneurial element, but there's also the making drinks that would not look attractive in a transparent glass attractive because again, it goes back to what we talked about last time. If you're in a bar. And you know, you see like martinis going out or like a whiskey sour or a margarita, but then you see like this giant mug or your mug coming through the dining room. You're like, what's that? I I love the thing about tiki cocktails, and I don't know we'll eventually get into this, but yours, right, has three ounces of booze. But yet three and a half, three shit, three and a half ounces of booze. But it's It's in a larger vessel than what mine is. It also is balanced out with more sits. Like it is literally a larger volume cocktail. It just needs the extra stuff to kind of balance it out. And yes, while you could do half ounce, half ounce, and it's starting you like cut everything in half and put it in a smaller vessel, it takes away again from that visual like allure of this. These cocktails, while yes. can be consumed by one individual at times should be consumed by two. Yeah. ⁓ and I I think there are a couple other notes ⁓ related to that kind of skipping ahead is that Trader Vic actually introduced the notion of communal drinks. Yeah, I love boats like punches that are in a larger vessel. The whole only two per, you know, what those types of drinks. Those should be shared so you can enjoy maybe more of other cocktails. Well, like one of Trader Vic's most famous cocktails is the scorpion bowl, where it's served in a bowl. People have long straws, and the idea is the whole table shares a drink. Of the bite. Of the sting, sorry, the sting. Of the scorpion sting. Yeah, because of that one, again, a lot of booze goes into it, but also a a few extra Juices and it's a larger format. It's supposed to be met like a party bowl. Yeah, and I mean, ⁓ just a few more notes on my fog cutter is that, you know, you have the citrus, right? A blend of lemon and orange. And so I think it's notable to say, so another distinction between Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber is where Don the Beachcomber, in terms of citrus, prefers lime and white grapefruit. Trader Vic prefers in lemon juice and orange juice. Yes. I think he's more like practical in his approach because like to us, lemon and orange is readily available and typically cheaper than lime and grapefruit. And particularly white grapefruit. Even more so there, yes. And and it's one of those things like here, and then he brings When you think the citrus and almond keep it fresh, that sherry float kind of dries out the cocktail, adds a little nutty aroma. again, and obviously it's very potent. So where Don the Beach comer has the zombie, because if you drink too many, you'll be a zombie. Fog cutter, the alu the illusion here is is like You've got a hangover or something, this will cut the fog. Yeah. Like, ⁓ hair of the dog. Yeah. That's the way you go because one, it has three of the dogs that you may have had the hair of the night before, right? Like Yeah. Yeah. And and so, while Trader Vic's most famous drink is the Mai Thai, without a doubt, which we'll address in a future episode. Okay. ⁓ I thought the fog cutter and the port light. Proves some of these principles of what distinguish Vic from Don. ⁓ yeah, definitely. Because one, rum, where in the hell was it compared to like you had one? Yeah, one and a half ounces of white rum, and that was it. That was it between two drinks. Between two drinks, period. So if Don Beach was this mysterious mixologist Trader Vic was the accessible evangelist. I would say that he streamlined recipes. Like if I go to look, I don't have to look for bottle one or you know Don's blend three or whatever. Like Trader Vic's, I know exactly what the frick I'm supposed to put. Cinnamon syrup is cinnamon syrup, right? Like if I'm going to put that in my recipe, he streamlined the hell out of it. Well He made drinks accessible by publishing recipe books. And two, he it was a little self-serving because his cocktails would be like, okay, use one ounce Trader Vic's white room, two ounces Trader Vicks dark rum, an ounce of Trader Vic's white or my tie mix, and lime juice. Yeah, he had his own proprietary stuff that he was trying to get out there that again don't know that he was technically distilling or if he was just putting his name on bottles, but No, it was he was bottling. Something distilled by someone else. Yeah, but till today there still are like you can get his name on certain bottles of syrups or juices or whatever mixes are out there. It has l outlasted like potentially like his legacy will always be there based off of what he did entrepreneurially setting this all up. Yeah, and even beyond that. Because of his empire expanding, he's training staff across locations around the world of making the drinks the same way. And he was purposeful about that. He didn't care about the poaching. Like he because it was his. Like it is my name on these things. I've trademarked the shit out of this stuff. And where maybe Don wasn't as much protect like he was too protective. And didn't want all that to get out there. He wasn't gaining what we would call royalties, I guess, or trademark. He was not nearly the entrepreneur that Vic was. So Trader Vic just didn't help define the tiki genre, right? He helped popularilize it worldwide. Like it wasn't just West Coast. Yeah, it was not all and not only across the United States, it was around the world. His bars became destination. His mugs. Became collectibles, right? I mean that cabinet there, I can guarantee them to you have a twelve, thirteen, at least a dozen more, right? Of mugs in that cabinet. Yeah, his recipes become templates. While Don the last Don the Beach Comer bar closed in the nineteen eighties, Trader Vicks is still operating today. ⁓ and it's carrying on that mid-century dream of escapism. So ⁓ modern tiki has this revival, right? So Vic's influence is everywhere. It's ⁓ evident, like Vic is everywhere, it's clean, it's balanced recipes, but okay, kind of this focus on ⁓ hospitality, right? ⁓ yeah. So as we start to take the sense of fun and take it somewhere else to this seriousness, is this where Don the Beach coma comes in? Yeah, I mean if you think about Don the Beach comer builds the foundation. He inspires Vic to take Hinky Dinks, his little beer hole, into tropical directions. He was like, hey, I got my stuff, and now I'm truly going to like, I'm going to use you in catapult even further into the stratosphere. Yeah. So if we think about if Don Beach built the foundation, Trader Vic. Built the Empire. Makes sense now. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Into the Barchive. If so, please like and subscribe to any of our mini media avenues. If you're watching us on YouTube, go ahead and hit that like and like and subscribe button. If you're doing it on Instagram or TikTok, give us a thumbs up, maybe ⁓ a fire emoji or something like that to get this bad boy going. Hashtag trader vic word done the beachcomer, that'd be cool too. Or hashtag into the barchive. ⁓ or go old school like some of us old guys and send us an email at podcast at into the ⁓ Into the Barchive dot com. Shoot us questions, comments, or maybe some critiques that you may have on these videos that you got out there. We're doing short format and now we have ⁓ actually we've been doing it for a long time. We've are now on audio for Spotify and Apple. If you are doing any of those podcast things and you need something to do while you're running on the treadmill or trying to help you go to sleep, my wife does that. ⁓ Thanks there. but any interaction is greatly appreciated, and we would love to ⁓ to have some ⁓ correspondence back with you. But if you don't do that, we would love for you to be with us next time. So next time we're why? We're heading to the Caribbean for a drink that might be the most famous. Tropical cocktail of all time. ⁓ my goodness. This is where I'm getting into my colados. Yeah, so as part of this ongoing mini series on tiki and tropical cocktails, in honor of National Pina Colada Day. Alright, we're gonna hit it. Let's do it. We're gonna dive into the history, variations, and enduring appeal of the pina colada. So until next time, my friends. Keep exploring the past, one drink at a time, as we dive deeper into the bark hive. Cheers.