The BEST Long Island Iced Tea

If you’re looking for a drink chalk full of alcohol in the Long Island iced tea is for you. This super strong cocktail is also super yummy, but be careful with this one as it contains almost every liquor you can think of.

What is a Long Island Iced Tea?

A Long Island iced tea is a highball cocktail made from tequila, vodka, white rum, gin and Cointreau with a splash of cola. It is an official IBA cocktail meaning it has a standard set of ingredients and measurements.

Tequila is a liquor made from the blue agave plant. While it does come in many variations such as silver or blanco and gold and respado, in this recipe we’re going to use silver tequila. The different tequila variations are based on the way and length of the tequila is aged. Silver tequila tends to have the most bite and be aged the least amount.

White rum is a clear type of rum made from sugarcane products. It is also sometimes called silver rum.It is also sometimes called light rum. Where is other runs such as dark rum are usually aged or have additional things added in, white rum is not aged and just simply distilled and bottled.

Vodka is yet again another clear liquor. Vodka is made by distilling permanent grains such as rye or sometimes even potatoes. It is known for having a rather tasteless flavor but with a strong alcohol bite is it goes down.

Gin is a clear liquor yet again. This one does have a more complex flavor as it is made from juniper berries and other herbs and spices. It tends to have an almost pine-like taste.

Cointreau is also a clear drink. However it is a liqueur. It has a very strong orange flavor and is a slightly lower alcohol by volume than the liquors listed above.

When to make this drink

This drink is great for many different occasions such as:

• College Parties
• Super Bowl Parties
• Casual Get Togethers

Variations

Since this drink is an IBA official cocktail if you want to make the official version you want to follow the ingredients and instructions below. However, there are some variations of the strength that you might want to try:

• Use a different orange liqueur. You can have a very similar drink by just replacing the Cointreau with a different orange liqueur such as triple sec.
• Crank up the liquor. This is already a quite strong drink, however, the IBA official cocktail is just equal parts of each of the liquors so instead of doing a half an ounce you could crank them up to ¾ of an ounce if you desire.
• Substitute sweet and sour mix. Though the IBA official recipe calls for lemon juice and simple syrup you could replace those two ingredients with an equal amount of sweet and sour mix.
• Add Cranberry juice. Substitute the coke for cranberry juice and make a Long Beach Iced Tea.
• Make it blue. Replace the triple sec with another orange liqueur called blue curacao to get a resulting blue motherfucker drink. Or, leave the triple sec in and remove the coke and add blue curacao for Walk Me Down Cocktail.
• Sub in some whiskey. To make a Tennessee tea or a Texas tea.
• Use Midori. Make a Tokyo tea by substituting a triple sec with Midori and the Coke with lemon lime soda. Or make an La Water Cocktail.

Long Island iced tea FAQ

Here are a few common questions and answers about the Long Island iced tea.

Is a Long Island iced tea actually tea?

No, a long Island iced tea is not actually tea. In fact, it has no tea iced or hot in the drink at all.

How much alcohol is in a Long Island iced tea?

Typically a Long Island iced tea is considered to be around 22% alcohol by volume. It is one of the strongest highballs around due to the multiple liquors that are included in the small amount of mixer.

How many shots does a Long Island iced tea have?

A Long Island iced tea contains two and a half shots of liquors.

Is a Long Island iced tea really strong?

Yes, Long Island iced tea is a particularly strong highball cocktail.

How to make this drink:

Although this drink does have a whole handful of different ingredients it is super easy to make as all you need to do is dump everything to give it together and give it a good shake. You can have this one whipped up in 5 minutes or less.

Equipment:

• highball glass
• jigger
• bar spoon
• cocktail shaker
• Hawthorne strainer

Ingredients:

• .5 oz Vodka
• .5 oz White Rum
• .5 oz Contreau
• .5 oz Gin
• .5 oz Tequila
• 1 oz Lemon Juice
• .75 oz Simple Syrup
• Splash of Coke
• Ice

Instructions:

Step one

Make sure that you have everything you need for your drink including Cointreau, gin, white rum, vodka, tequila, simple syrup, lemon juice, ice, Coke, highball glass, jigger, cocktail shaker, Hawthorne strainer and barspoon.

Step two

Grab your ice and fill both your highball glass and your cocktail shaker almost to the top with it.

Step three

Take your jigger and your vodka and measure 0.5 oz of vodka. Then pour your vodka into your cocktail shaker with your ice.

Step four

Take your jigger and your gin and measure 0.5 oz of gin. Then pour your gin into your cocktail shaker.

Step Five

Take your jigger and your white rum and measure 0.5 oz of white rum. Then pour your white rum into your cocktail shaker.

Step six

Take your jigger and your tequila and measure 0.5 oz of tequila. Then pour your tequila into your cocktail shaker with your ice and other liquors.

Step seven

Take your jigger and your Cointreau and measure 0.5 oz of Cointreau. Then, pour your Cointreau into your cocktail shaker.

Step Eight

Take your jigger and your lemon juice and measure 1 oz of lemon juice. Then, pour your lemon juice into your cocktail shaker.

Step nine

Take your jigger and your simple syrup and measure 0.75 oz of simple syrup. Then, pour your simple syrup into your cocktail shaker.

Step ten

Go ahead and put the top on your cocktail shaker and shake your ingredients together well. This usually takes around 30 seconds and the outside of your cocktail shaker should be cold to the touch when finished.

Step eleven

Remove the top from your cocktail shaker and place the Hawthorne strainer over the top of your shaker. Then, pour your drink from the shaker into your glass with ice.

Step twelve

Take your Coke and add just a smidge to top your glass off. Then take your bar spoon and give your drink a couple of stirs to mix everything together.

Step thirteen

Garnishes are optional for this one but the typical garnish is a wedge of lemon. Take a lemon and cut it into slices. Then cut a notch between the pulp and the peel and use that notch to secure your lemon wedge on the rim of your glass. Your drink is ready to enjoy!

Recipe