Long Island Iced Tea

Long Island Iced Tea
IBA Official Cocktail
The Long Island iced tea was named for its resemblance to non-alcoholic Iced tea.
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.
* Long Island Iced Tea recipe at International Bartenders Association

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 1½ parts sour mix and a splash of cola. Most variants use equal parts of the main liquors but include a smaller amount of triple sec (or other orange-flavored liqueur). Close variants often replace the sour mix with lemon juice, replace the cola with actual iced tea, or add white crème de menthe; however, most variants do not include any tea, despite the name of the drink. Some restaurants substitute brandy for the tequila.

The drink has a much higher alcohol concentration (about 22 percent) than most highballs due to the several liquors and the relatively small amount of mixer. Long islands can be ordered "extra long", which further increases the alcohol to mixer ratio.

Outside the United States, this highball is often altered, due to the unpopularity of sour mix. Long Island Iced Tea served outside the US is often made of liquors and cola alone (without sour mix), with lemon or lime juice, orange juice or with lime cordial.

History

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

Variants

References

  1. ^ DeGroff, Dale (2002), The Craft of the Cocktail, New York: Clarkson Potter, ISBN 0609608754