Long Island Iced Tea

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This drink is designated as an
IBA Official Cocktail
Long Island Iced Tea
The Long Island iced tea was named for its resemblance to the non-alcoholic drink of the same name.
Type: Mixed drink
Primary alcohol by volume:
Served: "On the rocks"; poured over ice
Standard garnish: lemon slice
Standard drinkware:
Highball glass
IBA specified ingredients†:
Preparation: Mix ingredients in glass over ice, stir, garnish and serve.

A Long Island Iced Tea is a highball made with, among other ingredients, vodka, gin, tequila, and rum. A popular version mixes equal parts vodka, gin, tequila, rum and triple sec with 1 1/2 parts sour mix and 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.

Fans and historians claimed that the drink, like most highballs, 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.

The drink has a much higher alcohol concentration (~28%) than most highballs because of the proportionally small amount of mixer. The soda is just for color.

This highball is often altered in other countries, due to the unpopularity of sour mix. Long Island Iced Tea served outside the States is often made of liquors and cola alone (without sour mix), with lemon or lime juice, or with lime cordial.

Contents

[edit] History

Long Island Iced Tea was first served in the late 1970s by Robert (Rosebud) Butt, a bartender at the Oak Beach Inn, in the Town of Babylon, Long Island, New York. [1]

An alternative disputed[2] origin has been proposed when a descendant of its purported creator stepped forward and provided the original recipe and story to short story author JS Moore. The anecdote has subtle differences but is pretty much standard recipe except maple syrup is used in place of gomme syrup. This gives the drink a sweeter and less alcoholic taste. Charles Bishop, an up in years common man/moonshiner in the hills of Tennessee in an area called Long Island (Tennessee), first concocted the drink in the early 1930s, in case his bootleg joint was raided. He passed the recipe along to his son and the Bishops sold more Long Island Iced Tea than they did white homebrew. It bottled well and was popular enough that when bigger name bootleggers (The Cleek Brothers) partnered with Bishop the drink was a contagious favorite wherever they went with their dealings. Tennessee remained a "dry" state up until late 1970s[citation needed] which is why no one claimed first concocting it until recently. [3]

[edit] Variations

The increasing popularity of the Long Island has spawned its own family of highballs. 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:

Pappa Bare's Iced Tea: Long Island with Honey Liqueur instead of Gomme Syrup and no Coke; uses strong top shelf liquor and is 60 to 80 proof.

Long Beach Iced Tea: Simply a Long Island with cranberry juice instead of Coca-Cola. Named after Long Beach Island, New Jersey, a barrier island and shore resort located close to New Jersey's cranberry bogs.

Adios Motherfucker: The Blue Drink. Also known as an "AMF", as well as "Electric Iced Tea" and "Alaska Iced Tea" due to its azure hue; known as "James Tea Kirk" at Quark’s Bar & Restaurant within the Star Trek: The Experience attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton. It is prepared with Gin, Rum, Vodka, Blue Curaçao in place of triple sec, sour mix and Sprite instead of Coca-Cola. The drink originated at the Studio Cafe in Newport Beach, California.[4]

Tokyo Tea: A favorite of the West Coast of the United States[citation needed], 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. This is similar to a Purple Rain

Miami Iced Tea: Reflecting the tropical setting of its name, this fruitier 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.

Texas Iced Tea: Depending on who you ask, this either substitutes brandy for gin or, alternatively keeps the gin and adds vodka, bourbon whiskey, and sweet and sour mix.[citation needed]

Georgia Iced Tea: This drink calls for peach schnapps in place of Coca-Cola.[citation needed]

The Hamptons Iced Tea: is a highball made with Cointreau, gin, rum, tequila, vodka, lemon juice and sour mix. It is similar to the Long Island Iced Tea and is named for The Hamptons, a summer colony in New York.[citation needed]

Margit Island Iced Tea: This Hungarian variation adds a good home-made plum palinka to the mix, with healthy portions of Palinka, gin, vodka, tequila, rum, triple sec , plenty of ice, a little coke and some crushed lemon and lime.[citation needed]

Roadhouse Iced Tea: Instead of vodka, whole grain alcohol, or Everclear, is used.[citation needed]

Pilsen Iced Tea: Japanese Sake in a place of vodka and Sprite instead of cola.[citation needed]

Grateful Dead Popular variation served at Bullwinkle's in Tallahassee, Fl. Traditional Long Island Iced Tea with Razzmatazz Schnapps mixed in.

Long Island Sloe Tea Variation that substitutes sloe gin for the gin and triple sec to reduce the number of ingredients needed.

Wrong Island Iced Tea In this variation Coca-Cola is replaced with champagne or sparkling wine.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Degrof, Dale: "The Craft of the Cocktail". Clarkson Potter, 2002.
  2. ^ http://www.loving-long-island.com/long-island-ice-tea-history-and-recipe.html
  3. ^ Moore, JS: "Understanding Apples". Outskirts Press, 2006.[1]
  4. ^ http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/3264

[edit] tags
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