# What's in a "Long Island Iced Tea"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 28, 2000, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374 "2000-04-28T18:19:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2000, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/1 "2000-04-28T18:19:00Z")
Can’t find a bartender’s drink recipe book, and I’d like to mix a few of these (but not too many!). How do you make them? Seems to me I heard the formula once, and they contained everything but the kitchen sink.
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### Author:  [@beefymeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beefymeg)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/2 "2000-04-28T18:22:00Z")
One shot each of: Gin, Rum, Vodka, and Tequila.
Splash of sour mix, splash of coke. Top with a lemon.
Owwww…
* * *
“Well, I guess this means the fun’s over.” -Gus Mc Crae
“It may be over, but it sure wasn’t fun.” - Woodrow Call
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2000, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/3 "2000-04-28T18:30:00Z")
You might remember that our beloved moderator Gaudere recently wrote a mailbag article on cocktails. In a thread about her article, “_[Screwdriving Cocktails](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000324.html)_”, she mentioned this website, “_[Cocktail](http://hotwired.lycos.com/cocktail)_”. The site has a “virtual blender.”
Their recipe for Long Island Ice Tea
> [@](#):
>
> Long Island Iced Tea
>
> 3/4 ounce vodka
>
> 3/4 ounce gin
>
> 3/4 ounce white rum
>
> 3/4 ounce tequila
>
> 3/4 ounce white whiskey (optional)
>
> 3/4 ounce triple sec (never Cointreau)
>
> 1 ounce lemon juice (or 2 ounces sweet-and-sour mix)
> We know you’ve ordered this drink, and we’re sure you probably enjoyed it, at least what you can remember of it. But we really must break it to you: the Long Island Iced Tea is the granddaddy of cheesy mixed drinks. Besides, any drink made with six different liquors is sure to give you one hell of a hangover. So why order this concoction when there are so many better ones out there, especially drinks that don’t promote a hangover? We suggest trying a Sidecar instead. Or do yourself a favor: Lose the liquors and just drink juice.
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### Author:  [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2000, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/4 "2000-04-28T18:32:00Z")
I was taught to also put in a shot of triple sec - and it’s most impressive if you can pick up all five bottles at once (three in one hand, two in the other). Makes a good show and then you get more people wanting to see it and pretty soon you have a whole bar full of obnoxious drunks. Then you steal their money when they’re not looking.
Just kidding.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2000, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/5 "2000-04-28T19:46:00Z")
[hijack] When I first heard about it, I thought, “Hey I like tea, maybe I’ll try one.” Thought about it a while longer. It finally dawned on me it probably doesn’t taste like _sweetened_ tea.
Can’t you just see it now, mixing 6 or 8 packets of sugar in my drink. 😉
[/hijack]
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### Author:  [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2000, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/6 "2000-04-28T19:59:00Z")
I never got a hangover from a LIIT (what an apropos acronym!), mostly because I would yak after the second one. They’re tasty, though.
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### Author:  [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2000, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/7 "2000-04-28T20:15:00Z")
Irishman, they are fairly sweet - from the sweet & sour mix and the coke. And they do taste kind of like iced tea made from powdered drink mix.
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2000, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/8 "2000-04-28T20:18:00Z")
You might remember that our beloved moderator Gaudere recently wrote a mailbag article on cocktails.
Nope, I’m a newcomer to this hallowed board. But I’ll be sure to check out the cocktail links. Yeah, I used to drink LIIT’s as a pup, but haven’t had any in years. Hopefully I’ve learned moderation in the interim. However, am I the only one who gets bombed on just one nowadays, when I can remember the ability to drink four times as much when young, and never feel it the next day? Must be that one’s liver loses the ability to efficiently process out the toxins as one ages.
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2000, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/9 "2000-04-28T21:53:00Z")
Okay, I checked out the “cocktail string,” and now I’m really thirsty. It’s approaching happy hour here in Silicon Valley, and it’s payday. Who’s buying?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2000, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/10 "2000-04-29T14:23:27Z")
What’s in a “Fog Cutter”?
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2000, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/11 "2000-04-29T14:39:13Z")
Johnny L.A.: try the link mentioned in my first post (the link with the _virtual blender_.)
**Fog Cutter**
2 ounces white rum
1 ounce brandy
1/2 ounce gin
1 ounce orange juice
2 ounces lemon juice
1/2 ounce orgeat syrup
Sherry
Shake all ingredients except sherry with cracked ice. Pour into pint glass and pack with cracked ice; float sherry on top. Serve with a straw.
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### Author:  [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2000, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/12 "2000-04-29T18:34:46Z")
Anyway…
Different establishments will have slightly different recipies for different drinks, and the Long Island Ice Tea is one of them.
Sure, there is a “classic” recipie, but don’t expect it to be the exact same in every establishment.
Fortunately, with a drink as toxic as this, you won’t remember whether it was to your liking or not anyway…
* * *
Yer pal,
Satan
[http://homepages.go.com/~cmcinternationalrecords/devil.gif](http://homepages.go.com/~cmcinternationalrecords/devil.gif)
_TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
Two weeks, six days, 16 hours, 33 minutes and 6 seconds.
827 cigarettes not smoked, saving $103.45.
Life saved: 2 days, 20 hours, 55 minutes._
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### Author:  [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2000, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/13 "2000-04-29T21:06:27Z")
Depending on where you live in the country Long Island Ice Teas will have anywhere from 5-7 different liquors in them.
BTW I LOVE a regular Iced Tea and a Long Island Iced Tea.
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2000, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/14 "2000-05-01T08:17:28Z")
Hey, howcum Johnny L.A. didn’t get the “just drink the juice” admonition?
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### Author:  [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2000, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/15 "2000-05-01T14:00:30Z")
Hmmm … the version I was taught as a tarbender was a little different than some of the ones above, or was an amalgamation of a few:
One shot each of Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila, Triple Sec and Rose’s **Lime** (not lemon) juice, then a splash of Coke for color.
You wouldn’t think something so potent would go down so smooooth … these should come with a “Danger” sign hanging off the straw.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/16 "2000-05-01T15:05:31Z")
I think the hodgepodge-y nature of the LIIT goes back to
the days of Prohibition. New York City and environs were about the wettest region of the country during those sad
days. Presumably given the highly variable quality of
what liquor there was, it made more sense to mix as many
ingredients as possible in order to mask the caustic taste
of one or more of them.
I don’t think elaborate mixed drinks existed before Prohibition, though I’m sure people mixed in a little water
or seltzer with whisky, etc.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2000, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-long-island-iced-tea/11374/17 "2000-05-01T17:31:19Z")
pugluvr says:
> [@](#):
>
> Hey, howcum Johnny L.A. didn’t get the “just drink the juice” admonition?
You’ll have to ask the creators of the Cocktail web site, they seemed to have a negative opinion of the Long Island Iced Tea.