Long Island Iced Tea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Long Island Iced Tea is a cocktail made with, among other ingredients, vodka, gin, tequila, and rum. A popular variation mixes equal parts vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and triple sec with 1 1/2 parts sour mix with a splash of cola. Close variants often replace the sour mix with sweet and sour mix or with lemon juice, and the cola with actual iced tea. Some chain restaurants even take the liberty of substituting brandy for the tequila.
Some claim that the drink, like most cocktails, was invented during the Prohibition era, as a way of taking the appearance of a non-alcoholic drink (iced tea). A lemon slice is often added to enhance this resemblance. To some, the drink also shares a similar taste to tea. This has led to its frequent use in fiction as a method to get a teetotaler drunk [citation needed].
The drink has a much higher alcohol concentration (~28%) than most cocktails because of the proportionally small amount of mixer. This American cocktail is often altered in other countries, due to the presence of sour mix. Long Island Iced Tea served outside the States are often made of liquors and cola alone (without sour mix), or with lemon or lime juice, or with lime cordial.
[edit] Variations
The increasing popularity of the "Long Island" has spawned its own "family" of cocktails. The following drinks remain popular in their own right in numerous locales throughout the United States, while owing their existence to the success of the original Long Island:
Long Beach Iced Tea: Simply a Long Island with cranberry juice instead of Coca-Cola. Named after the city of Long Beach, New York which is on Long Island, and is where the drink was invented.
Adios Motherfucker: Also known as a "Code Blue" due to its azure hue, this concoction is topped with Sprite instead of Coca-Cola and utilizes blue curacao instead of triple sec. Popular in California.
Tokyo Tea: Another West Coast favorite, this libation uses the same liquors as the original Long Island, but is crowned with one-half to one full ounce of Midori instead of Coca-Cola. Also referred to as a "Three Mile Island."
California Iced Tea: Calls for Amaretto in place of tequila and triple sec and topped with equal parts cranberry and pineapple juices.
Hawaiian Iced Tea: Shuns tequila and triple sec in favor of a full ounce of Chambord, and is topped with Sprite instead of Coca-Cola.
Miami Iced Tea: Reflecting the tropical setting of its name, this fruiter tea shuns triple sec and tequila in favor of Midori and peach schnapps, and is topped with orange juice instead of Coca-Cola.
Caribbean Iced Tea: True to its name, this recipe utilizes a full ounce of dark jamaican rum, usually Myer's, in place of tequila and vodka. Like the Long Island, it is topped with Coca-Cola.
Texas Iced Tea: The only difference between this and a Long Island is the substitution of brandy for gin.
Super Special LIT: There's not much difference in this variation. Apart from the usual Gin, Vodka, Rum, Tequila, triple sec etc, just add a shot of Whiskey and experience the fun! The triple sec can also be substituted with Archer's Peach Schnapps.
Georgia Iced Tea: This delectable drink calls for sweet tea in place of coke. Just make sure the tea has lots of sugar!
[edit] Popular culture
Marge Simpson, in The Simpsons episode The Great Money Caper, once quipped: "I'd like to visit that Long Island place, if only it were real," after having several servings of Long Island Iced Tea. Also, in The Simpsons Hit and Run, if the player runs around for too long while playing as Marge, she exclaims "I need a Long Island Iced tea!"
In the movie Cruel Intentions, the innocent girl Cecile Caldwell is drinking what she thinks is regular iced tea, and says: "This doesn't taste like iced tea". The quick reply she gets is: "It's from Long Island".
In the Broadway musical Avenue Q, the two cute but dangerous Bad Idea Bears give a Long Island Iced Tea to another character to get them drunk enough for sex.
In Night Court, Markie Post's character gets drunk after drinking a few too many Long Islands. She assumed it was just iced tea. A similar thing happened in That '70s Show, when Donna went on her first date with Eric.
In Sex and the City, Charlotte gets drunk on Long Islands.
In Gilmore Girls, Lorelai warns her daughter, Rory, against this cocktail. "Honey, someday, when you're a little older, you will be introduced to something that is extremely seductive but fickle," she says in the episode "Red Light on the Wedding Night." "A fair-weather friend who seems benign but packs a wallop like a donkey kick, and that is the Long Island Iced Tea. The Long Island Iced Tea makes you do things that you normally wouldn't do, like lifting your skirt in public or calling someone you normally wouldn't call at really weird times."
