Cocktail · Spirit-forward
Long Island Iced Tea
Five spirits united by cola and ambition. Contains no tea, takes no prisoners.
How to order it: Vodka, gin, rum, tequila, triple sec, splash of cola. Respect it or regret it.
Flavor profile
The recipe
- ½ oz each: vodka, gin, white rum, blanco tequila, Cointreau
- ¾ oz lemon juice; ½ oz simple
- Top with a splash of cola
- Tall glass, lots of ice
- Lemon wedge; pace yourself
The story
The Long Island Iced Tea is most commonly credited to Robert "Rosebud" Butt, who claimed to have invented it at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island in 1972 for a contest requiring triple sec. A rival account places an ancestor in a 1920s community called Long Island in Tennessee, mixed by one Old Man Bishop, though documentation is thin. Either way, the drink conquered the 1970s and 80s on a simple deception: five spirits disguised by cola and sour mix as something innocent. It endures as a monument to plausible deniability, the cocktail equivalent of a getaway car painted like a taxi.
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