Long Island Iced Tea - How to Elevate this Classic Cocktail with Vodka, Gin, Rum & Tequila
Here's how to make an excellent Long Island Iced Tea. This is Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s version of the classic. It combines Vodka, London Dry Gin, White Rum, Silver Tequila, Triple Sec (Orange Liqueur), fresh Lemon Juice, Rich Simple Syrup and Mexican Coke. So, it seems daunting, but it is elevated to a better status with better ingredients and a little care.
This iconic drink took the cocktail world by storm in the 1970’s and has been a standard ever since. Compared to the cocktail renaissance of the late 2000’s, this cocktail came onto the scene in, what was widely considered, the dark ages. The 70’s and 80’s emphasized making drinks fast, cheap and hiding the flavor of the booze. The drink we all know as the Long Island Iced Tea, certainly falls into this category.
There are claims to other origins for this drink, including a Prohibition-Era drink from Long Island, TN. This may have happened. It may have been called the Long Island Iced Tea, but it was certainly not the drink that became famous in the mid-70’s.
And it was in the 70’s that the drink that became famous as the Long Island Iced Tea was born. After it’s fame blew up in the mid-70’s, there were a lot of claimants for the drink, but in 1972 at the Oak Beach Inn (OBI) on Long Island, Bob “Rosebud” Butt submitted a drink to an internal-OBI contest among the staff to create drink using Triple Sec. That drink was the Long Island Iced Tea. Rosebud’s version used all-white spirits, including the Triple Sec, his citrus and sugar was in the form of Sour Mix. The drink was very pale. The Coca-Cola was added to give the drink the color that gives it the appearance of iced tea. This drink has 70’s cocktails written all over it and when made this way, it deserves the reputation is has among craft cocktail aficionados as being obnoxious.
But it’s not beyond repair. Just like the Piña Colada ( there is a way to make it well using fresh ingredients. The best version of the Long Island Iced Tea recipe I’ve found came from Jeffrey Morgenthaler, the bar manager at Clyde Common. He had a couple key tweaks that saves it. The first, and most obvious is using quality spirits. Morgenthaler specifically recommends: Stoli, Tanqueray, Plantation 3 Star rum, Pueblo Viejo silver tequila, Cointreau, fresh lemon juice, rich simple syrup and Mexican Coke. Those will work well, but I like using the spirits from The 86 Company. They have a built-in Long Island Iced Tea starter kit. Their gin, rum and tequila are are boldly flavored expressions. And their vodka is what a good vodka should be, a good flavor conductor with a smooth mouthfeel. So, they all play really well together.
The next improvement was throwing out the plastic jug of Sour Mix and replacing it with the same measurement of fresh lemon juice and rich simple syrup. Rich simple syrup is just the same as regular 1:1 Simple Syrup ( just with double the sugar, so 2:1 sugar to water. It’s a good way to give yourself the edge without breaking the rules. It’s the same recipe, just with more control on the components.
The last two changes are the garnish and the ice. The garnish, if there is one, would typically be a slice of lemon wedge on the rim of the glass. I guess that way if it wasn’t sour enough, you could give it an extra booster shoot. But the lemon peel gives you a bright lemon expression without adding any more juice. The crushed ice in place of cubes, also helps round off any sharp edges that were still there. This is a subtle touch, but it makes a difference.
All of these changes help transform the drink while still being within the boundaries of the Rosebud recipe. This transformation is a little dangerous. It gives it a homemade lemonade feel. To me, the citrus, Cointreau and tequila stand out just a half step above the rest so it has kind of a complex Margarita ( sense to it. Morganthaler’s version is surprisingly balanced and worth adding to your repertoire. Cheers!
Recipe:
0.5 oz Vodka
0.5 oz London Dry Gin
0.5 oz White Rum
0.5 oz Silver Tequila
0.5 oz Cointreau
0.75 oz Lemon Juice
2 tsp Rich Simple Syrup (2:1 simple syrup)
float 0.75 oz Mexican Coke
garnish Lemon Twist
Shake with ice. Strain over crushed ice in a Collins glass. Float Coke. Garnish lemon twist. Optionally serve with a straw.
Music:
Turn It Up Yall by Auracle
via JinglePunks
Featured in this Episode:
86 Co Spirits
Cointreau
Mexican Coke
Schott Zwiesel Collins Glass
OXO SteeL Double Jigger
OXO Measuring Spoons
Plaid Straws
Norpro Peeler
OXO SteeL Cocktail Shaker
Neat Ice Kit with Lewis Bag & Ice Mallet
The PERFECT Long Island Iced Tea - Absolut Drinks with Rico
The perfect Long Island Iced Tea drink recipe! In this video Rico will show you the secrets to making the perfect Long Island Iced Tea at home! And before you ask: No, it doesn't actually contain any tea. Enjoy!
Long Island Iced Tea –
1 part Lemon Juice
1 part Simple Syrup
½ part Olmeca Tequila
½ Part Triple Sec
½ Part Havanna Rum
½ Part Beefeater Gin
½ Part Absolut Vodka
½ Part Cola
Absolut Drinks is your one-stop shop for everything a home bartender needs to know! Need to learn the recipe of your favourite cocktail by heart? We’ve got it. Wanna find out what cocktails you can make with an old orange? We’ve got you. Can’t figure out how to use that old cocktail shaker in the back of your bar cabinet? We’re here to help.
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Long Island Iced Tea Cocktail | Shev
Shev knows her stuff, which makes her the ideal person to give you her simple, tasty recipe for this classic cocktail. There's no tea in a Long Island Iced Tea, but there is white rum, tequila, gin and vodka - just a small amount of each. Balanced by some orange liqueur, lemon and a splash of cola, this is a cocktail you have to try. Let us know your twists or favourite recipes below! (This is a paid ad by Bacardi)
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Unveiling the Secret of an Improved Long Island Iced Tea
Free PDF download - 8 cocktails using spiced citrus syrup:
This improved version of the Long Island Iced Tea was created the beverage director of Porchlight NYC, Nick Bennett. Nick also spent time behind the stick alongside Dave Arnold at Booker & Dax. His Long Island Iced Tea recipe sees a few subtle improvements including the use of aged instead of unaged rum and tequila, a spiced citrus syrup, Fever-tree cola and a healthy dose of Angostura bitters.
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LONG ISLAND ICED TEA INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 oz (15 ml) vodka (
- 1/2 oz (15 ml) gin (
- 1/2 oz (15 ml) aged Guyanese rum, preferably El Dorado 8 (
- 1/2 oz (15 ml) reposado tequila (
- 3/4 oz (22.5 ml) Cointreau (
- 3/4 oz (22.5 ml) lemon juice
- 1/2 oz (15 ml) citrus syrup (see below)
- Cola to top, preferably Fever-Tree
- 4 dashes Angostura bitters
SPICED CITRUS SYRUP RECIPE
???? 8 other cocktails to use your citrus syrup:
- 1 lemon zest
- 1 lime zest
- 550 grams water
- 525 grams sugar
- 12 grams ginger, chopped
- 1.25 grams salt
- 22.5 ml lime juice
- 15 ml lemon juice
- Citric ( + malic acid ( based on syrup volume (see below)
METHOD
1. Combine all ingredients except the juices.
2. Simmer for 20 mins.
3. Add the lemon and lime juices.
4. Let the syrup cool and filter.
5. Measure the volume in milliliters, then add 10 grams citric acid and 5 grams malic acid per 1000 milliliters syrup.
6. Stir until the acids are dissolved.
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Long Island Iced Tea Cocktail: A Step-by-Step Recipe Guide
A thrilling, ole time classic cocktail, the Long Island Iced Tea is a vibrant and flavorful cocktail. Our unique variation of the Long Island Iced Tea is a combination of Ketel One Vodka, Don Julio Blanco Tequila, Captain Morgan's Original Spiced Rum, and Tanqueray Dry Gin, this cocktail offers a medley of flavours that are sure to excite the palate, creating a refreshing and spirited drink. The Long Island Iced Tea cocktail is to be indulged due to its energetic and playful nature. Whether enjoyed as a social sipper or a celebratory sipper, we can promise this cocktail will deliver a memorable and enjoyable tea time experience. Cheers!
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Top 5 Long Island Iced Tea Cocktails - Easy Cocktails
The Long Island: One of The Most popular cocktails in History!
Note on this video: I mention that Cointreau is made from a Neutral grain spirit macerated with oranges but that's not totally true, Cointreau is made from a neutral spirit made from Sugar Beets and I knew that, i think I made the flub because I'm usually talking about Whiskey LOL!
The Long Island Iced Tea is the Rodney Dangerfield of cocktails, it don't get no respect! But if you see it for what it really is, you'll see that it's simply a sour template where the main spirit is split into four with a little dry Cointreau to temper the sweet. Now given that we're in a time when cocktails are thought of in a more culinary way and there's a lot of innovation going on it's easy to see why this drink get's lost in the shuffle, it really isn't very balanced and it is a lot of sweet on sweet on sweet. That said, it is somewhat of a guilty pleasure, it is a household name that is called often, will continue to be called in bars today, Highball drinks are back in fashion and therefore worth our consideration. If you are working in a bar today (and really even if you're not) you may as well know how to make a Long Island Iced Tea, and if you're going to learn that, you may as well learn all the major variations too. There are easily another five variations on this drink, using the same template and changing the modifier and the lengthener.
The Long Island came into being the way a lot of cocktails do: A company wanted to sell a product so created a competition for bartenders to push the product. In this case it was Triple Sec and the guy who entered the competition was a bartender named Robert Rosebud Butt who worked at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island, NY around 1972. There is a somewhat similar drink which claims to be the genesis of the Long Island created during Prohibition by a guy known as Old Man Bishop in a community called Long Island in Kingsport Tennessee. The drink is said to have been perfected by Ransom Bishop (Old Man Bishop's Son) and it consisted of various amounts of the major four liquors with the addition of Whiskey and Maple Syrup. I don't have the specs on this one, just the story which seems unlikely as it wouldn't have been created in the 1920's, lay dormant for 50 years then all of a sudden spike in popularity. But I guess it could have provided inspiration to Mr. Butt if he;'d known about it. All of this is just conjecture, there's really no way to know!
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List of Ingredients:
Light Rum
Tequila
Vodka
Gin
Bourbon
Midori
Blue Curaçao
Cranberry Juice
Lemon Juice
Simple Syrup
Triple Sec or Cointreau
Mexican Coke
Mexican Sprite
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Here's The Specs:
Long Island Iced Tea:
.5oz (15ml) White Rum
.5oz (15ml) Vodka
.5oz (15ml) Tequila
.5oz (15ml) Gin
.5oz (15ml) Cointreau
.75oz (22.5ml) Lemon Juice
.75oz (22.5ml) Simple Syrup
Top Mexican Coke
0:00 Intro
0:14 History
12:24 Long Island Iced Tea
3:41 Adios Mother Fucker AKA AMF
5:23 Long Beach Iced Tea
6:57 Tokyo Tea
9:18 Texas Tea