Question about label on Trader Vic's Mai Tai Mix

I have just gotten through looking for all the ingredients for an old-way Mai Tai when at the the very last place I should look, the Vons less than blocks from my house, I should find Trader Vic's Mai Tai Mix. This is surprising b/c I have never known them to carry any mixers other that Mrs. T's. Anyway, when the last time I had seen the Trader Vic's mix was in Hawaii and I remember distinctly that the label on the bottle showed a clipper ship, whereas the label on the bottle I just bought is a reprint of the original 1950's label. Does anyone know if this is a limited edition thing in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Mai Tai or is this how the bottle is going to look from now on? Either way, it look's really cool and the bottle is sitting on a shelf in my room, unopened, next to some mugs and figures.

Incidentally, if anyone cares all I could find of the old-way ingredients were Appleton Rum and Orgeat syrup. I could not find curacao so I substituted triple-sec instead. Not bad, really.

I picked up a bottle of TV Mai Tai mix at Von's the other day myself. I hadn't been in a Von's in ages, but they had such a good deal on corned beef and cabage (I'm a sucker for St. Pat's Day) I stumbled across it while looking for Curacao. I Mixed it with 1 1/2 oz Cruzon light rum, 1 1/2 oz Meyers, 1/4 oz orgeat syrup, a dash of rock candy syrup and 1 fresh lime and I found it to be a tasty and refreshing drink. I agree, the bottle label is eye candy that's hard to pass up. You could wrap it around tofu and I'd probably buy it.

That label is a limited edition for the anniversary. Notice how she's been photoshopped to have a dress on instead of topless? Looks like we're moving backwards...

[ Edited by: martiki on 2005-03-16 18:20 ]

Anywhere I could see the original label? I imagine that it's in the BOT, all the more reason I should get that book.

That label actually went through three stages:
The earliest (40s) featured the nude girl and the suggestive Pomegranate, but in the background there was a native palmhut whose roof, though pitched, was straight, looking more like the original Trader Vic's structure in Oakland.
When T.V.'s started to be build with A-frame roofs like in Scottsdale and Vancouver in the 60s, the hut was turned into a peaked A-frame Palau style meeting house.
And on all the other ingredient bottles (Rock Candy, Orgeat syrups), the babe's dress moved up to cover her breasts,and the Pomegranate was replaced by foliage (or barrels).

That is the design they have on their anniversary Mai Tai mixes now.

Don't forget, in the 80s, they even covered the Wahine's breasts on the classic T.V. menu cover for a while!

PS: The early "flat hut" label can be glimpsed in the 2nd J-peg in my post about the New Orleans cocktail exhibit, and yes, of course, the Nude/Pompussy/A-frame label is on page 92 of the BOT

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2005-03-19 13:31 ]

As far as mixing 'em up, doesn't Trader include Orgeat syrup in his mix? I tend to like my mai tai with ample Orgeat so a little extra doesn't wreck it for me.

Trader Vic's Mai Tai Mix (original formula) ingedients listed on the back label are as follows:

water
high fructose corn syrup
natural flavors (?)
citric acid (E330)
sodium benzoate (E211)
xantham (E415)
artificial carmel color (E150d)

Soooooo...the only ingedients YOU need to add are everything you usually use to make a Mai Tai.