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	Gin Tequila Vodka Rum
Served	On the rocks; poured over ice
Standard garnish	lemon slice
Standard drinkware	Highball glass
IBA specified ingredients†	1.5 cl (three parts) Vodka 1.5 cl (three parts) Tequila 1.5 cl (three parts) White Rum 1.5 cl (three parts) Triple Sec 1.5 cl (three parts) Gin 2.5 cl (five parts) Lemon juice 3.0 cl (six parts) Gomme Syrup Dash of Cola
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. Most variants use equal parts of the main liquors but include a smaller amount of triple sec (or other orange-flavored liquor). Close variants often replace the sour mix with sweet and sour mix or with lemon juice, the cola with actual iced tea, or add white creme 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 (~28%) than most highballs because of the proportionally small amount of mixer. Long islands can be ordered "extra long" which signals the bartender to even further increase the alcohol to mixer ratio.

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

In the UK Angostura bitters replaces sour mix in the cocktail.

History

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

References

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