IBA official cocktail | |
---|---|
Type | Cocktail |
Base spirit | |
Served | On the rocks: poured over ice |
Standard garnish | lemon slice (optional) |
Standard drinkware | Highball glass |
IBA specified ingredients† |
|
Preparation | Add all ingredients into highball glass filled with ice. Stir gently. Optionally garnish with lemon slice. [1] |
† Long Island Iced Tea recipe at International Bartenders Association |
The Long Island iced tea, or Long Island ice tea, is an IBA official cocktail, typically made with vodka, tequila, light rum, triple sec, gin, and a splash of cola. Despite its name, the cocktail does not typically contain iced tea, but is named for having the same amber hue as iced tea. [1]
The drink has a much higher alcohol concentration (approximately 22 percent) [2] than most highball drinks due to the relatively small amount of mixer.
There are two competing origin stories for the Long Island iced tea, one from Long Island, Tennessee, and one from Long Island, New York. [3]
Robert "Rosebud" Butt claims to have invented the Long Island iced tea as an entry in a contest to create a new mixed drink with triple sec in 1972 while he worked at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island, New York. [2] [4] [5] [6]
A slightly different drink is claimed to have been invented in the 1920s during Prohibition by an "Old Man Bishop" in a local community named Long Island in Kingsport, Tennessee. [3] [7] The drink was then tweaked by Ransom Bishop, Old Man Bishop's son, by adding cola, lemon, and lime. Old Man's version included whiskey, maple syrup, varied quantities of the five liquors, and no triple sec, rather than the modern one with cola and five equal portions of the five liquors. It was prepared in the following way: [3]
While some sources say there was a recipe for Long Island iced tea in the 1961 edition of Betty Crocker's New Picture Cook Book, [2] no such recipe can actually be found there. [8]
The cocktail has been criticized for its large number of ingredients, making it cumbersome to prepare in busy bars. [9] It is considered a favorite of university students in the United States and it has thus garnered negative connotations as "an act of mixological atrocity favored by college students and wastrels", in the words of one food critic. [10]
The drink is a polarizing choice among bartenders, with some favoring the drink and others disliking it. [11] However, the variety of spirits needed to prepare the drink also means that one can prepare many other types of cocktails if they have the ingredients for a Long Island already. [12]
The cocktail's flavor has been described as "bright and refreshing". [13] It is easy to drink, [2] making it "dangerously boozy". [14]
The International Bartenders Association (IBA)'s recipe calls for equal parts vodka, tequila, white rum, cointreau, gin, 2 parts lemon juice, 1+1⁄3 syrup topped with cola. After stirring gently, the drink may also be garnished with a lemon slice. [1] Robert Butt's recipe uses sour mix instead of lemon juice and simple syrup, and he has stated that only a small amount of Coke is used, to give color. [4] [5] A more complex recipe published by The New York Times differs from the IBA recipe in that it uses maple syrup instead of simple syrup, uses both lemon and lime juice, and adds salt. [13]
However, there are many similar cocktails due to the popularity of the cocktail and the large number of ingredients that can be substituted with alternatives. [2] [5] Some variations include:
The Tom Collins is a Collins cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. This "gin and sparkling lemonade" drink is typically served in a Collins glass over ice with a cherry garnish. A non-alcoholic "Collins mix" mixer is produced, enjoyed by some as a soft drink.
A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Some margarita recipes include simple syrup as well and are often served with salt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice, without ice, or blended with ice. Most bars serve margaritas in a stepped-diameter variant of a cocktail glass or champagne coupe called a margarita glass. The margarita is one of the world's most popular cocktails and the most popular tequila-based cocktail.
A Moscow mule is a cocktail made with vodka, ginger beer and lime juice, garnished with a slice or wedge of lime, and a sprig of mint. The drink, being a type of buck, is sometimes called vodka buck. It is popularly served in a copper mug, which takes on the cold temperature of the liquid.
Smirnoff is a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo. The Smirnoff brand began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov (1831–1898), but its modern incarnation traces back to the 1930s, by American liquor distributor Heublein. Distributed in 130 countries, it is manufactured in different countries depending on market, but is not currently produced in Russia or, indeed, anywhere in Eastern Europe.
The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive and/or a lemon twist. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. A common variation, the vodka martini, uses vodka instead of gin for the cocktail's base spirit.
A cosmopolitan, or, informally, a cosmo, is a cocktail made with vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, and freshly squeezed or sweetened lime juice.
A sour is a traditional family of mixed drinks. Sours belong to one of the old families of original cocktails and are described by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book How to Mix Drinks.
A shooter, or shot, is a small serving of spirits or a mixed drink, typically consumed quickly, often in a single gulp. It is common to serve a shooter as a side to a larger drink.
The Vesper is a cocktail that was originally made of gin, vodka, and Kina Lillet. Since that form of Lillet is no longer produced, modern bartenders need to modify the recipe to mimic the original taste, with Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano as a typical substitute.
A Scorpion Bowl is a communally shared alcoholic tiki drink served in a large ceramic bowl traditionally decorated with wahine or hula-girl island scenes and meant to be drunk through long straws. Bowl shapes and decorations can vary considerably. Starting off as a single-serve drink known as the Scorpion cocktail, its immense popularity as a bowl drink in tiki culture is attributed to Trader Vic.
The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks is a book about cocktails by David A. Embury, first published in 1948. The book is noteworthy for its witty, highly opinionated and conversational tone, as well as its categorization of cocktails into two main types: aromatic and sour; its categorization of ingredients into three categories: the base, modifying agents, and special flavorings and coloring agents; and its 1:2:8 ratio for sour type cocktails.
The brandy daisy is a cocktail which first gained popularity in the late 19th century. One of the earliest known recipes was published in 1876 in the second edition of Jerry Thomas's The Bartenders Guide or How To Mix Drinks: The Bon-Vivants Companion:
Fill glass half full of shaved ice. Shake well and strain into a glass, and fill up with Seltzer water from a syphon.
A "fizz" is a mixed drink variation on the older sours family of cocktail. Its defining features are an acidic juice and carbonated water. It typically includes gin or rum as its alcoholic ingredient.
A greyhound is a cocktail consisting of grapefruit juice and gin mixed and served over ice. If the rim of the glass has been salted, the drink is instead called a salty dog.
The Purple Rain refers to at least two popular mixed drinks.
The aviation is a cocktail made with gin, maraschino liqueur, crème de violette and lemon juice. Some recipes omit the crème de violette. It is served straight up, in a cocktail glass.
The paloma is a tequila-based cocktail. This drink is most commonly prepared by mixing tequila, lime juice, and a grapefruit-flavored soda such as Fresca, Squirt, or Jarritos and served on the rocks with a lime wedge. Adding salt to the rim of the glass is also an option.
A South Side or Southside is an alcoholic beverage made with gin, lime juice, simple syrup and mint. A variant, the Southside Fizz, adds soda water.