Bar Necessities
The catalog
Contemporary Classics IBA Official IBA

Long Island Iced Tea

Five spirits walk in

Glass Highball
Method Built
Garnish Lemon Wedge

Five spirits somehow vanish into a cola-topped disguise that tastes like iced tea and hits like a freight train. The ultimate wolf in sheep's clothing.

Ingredients

Method

Pour all spirits, triple sec, lemon juice, and simple syrup into a highball glass filled with ice cubes. Stir briefly. Top with a splash of cola. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Created 1972 by Robert "Rosebud" Butt at Oak Beach Inn in Babylon, Long Island, as a triple sec contest entry. Popularized in the early 1980s; The New York Times reported in 1985 on its rapid spread. A competing Tennessee Prohibition-era origin by "Old Man Bishop" circulates but lacks documentation. Per Difford's Guide #1190.

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