Zero-Proof · Zero-proof

Arnold Palmer

Half iced tea, half lemonade — the golf legend's contribution to civilization.

How to order it: Fresh-brewed black tea, real lemonade. The 50/50 ratio is named after the man himself.

Flavor profile

Sweetness5
Bitterness4
Strength0
Freshness8
Richness1
Sparkle0
Daring1

The recipe

  • 4 oz fresh-brewed black iced tea
  • 4 oz real lemonade
  • Build over lots of ice
  • Tall glass; stir
  • Lemon wheel
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The story

Arnold Palmer drank his iced-tea-and-lemonade blend at home in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, long before it carried his name; by his own telling, the christening came at a Palm Springs restaurant in the 1960s, when a woman overheard the golfer order his usual and told the waitress, "I'll have that Palmer drink." Few athletes get a sandwich named after them; Palmer got an entire category. The drink suited the man — refreshing, unfussy, plainly American, equally at home at a country club or a gas station, especially after it became a canned-and-bottled empire. Order one anywhere in the United States and no explanation is ever required. That is immortality of a very particular, very drinkable kind.

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The Pour of the Month

One email a month: the featured pour, a dark horse worth meeting, and one bottle worth buying. No noise, ever.