Long Island Iced Tea

So, I found this, as the original recipe for a Long Island Iced Tea. This was posted by the guy who invented the drink.

1 part vodka
1 part gin
1 part white rum
1 part white tequila
1/2 part triple sec
1/2 part sweet & sour mix
1 splash Coke
Lemon wedges for garnish

I know I can alter this however I want. I'm just curious what your thoughts are to this:

I don't really care for Vodka. It's a neutral spirit anyway, with little flavor on it's own. Gin is a neutral spirit, that is distilled with juniper and other botanicals. At heart, two similar alcohols. I'm a big fan of gin. So my idea is to eliminate the Vodka, and just make it two parts gin. Will it affect the drink much? What say you?

I am a big fan of Long Islands, and I'll often make subtle tweaks or changes based on what I have on hand, and based on what my friends like. I usually like mine extra lemony, so I'll make the sweet and sour on the sour side. And please make sure you mix your own sweet and sour mix at home; it's nice and easy and it tastes much better than the premade stuff.

Doubling up on the gin will probably alter the flavor a little bit, but if you are a fan that is probably a good thing. Pour a couple for me and I'll join you in a little taste test to see how things go.

I am watching for enlightenment! I like a good LIIT but I don't stock all those spirits needed so I just wait until I'm somewhere I can order one. But an alternate and simpler recipe may tempt me to try a home grown version.

I think if you bump up the Coke a tad, as well as the SS it will offset the juniper enough to make it delicious

I worked at a marina bar/restaurant back in my university days. I made many, many Long Island Ice Teas. Most people seemed to ask for slight alterations to the standard recipe in order to suit their personal tastes. Made sense to me. Most of the time, they wanted more tequila and less of one of the other spirits.

I say give it a try. If you like gin, the extra punch of gin may take that drink up a notch for you. A couple of LIITs can really sneak up on you...

It's the most dangerous drink in the world. Properly prepared, it should give no indication that it contains any alcohol at all. Your first clue is usually when you try to brush something off your shoulder, only to discover it's the floor.

The recipe contains 4.5 parts alcoholic beverage to 1.5 parts non-alcoholic beverage....subtle flavor is probably not why LIITs get ordered. After a few, it really would not matter anyhow.

But to answer your question, you could get away with subbing gin for vodka, if that is your preference.

I love LIIT. It is soo treacherous though. It lulls you into a false sense of tipsyness only to clothes-line you like a pro wrestler.

Dave in the basement said:

And please make sure you mix your own sweet and sour mix at home; it's nice and easy and it tastes much better than the premade stuff.

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So, you're now the 2nd or 3rd person I've seen make that recommendation, (it's easy!), but nobody has said how to make it. Care to enlighten me?

TheVez2 said:

So, you're now the 2nd or 3rd person I've seen make that recommendation, (it's easy!), but nobody has said how to make it. Care to enlighten me?

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1 cup water, 1 cup sugar. Make syrup. Cool and add 1 cup each of fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice (or adjust to taste). Voila!

the_edski said:

1 cup water, 1 cup sugar. Make syrup. Cool and add 1 cup each of fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice (or adjust to taste). Voila!

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Thank You! That's awesome. Never knew it was that easy!

So I used to tend bar years ago for weddings and parties. I've made hundreds of these. I've had a lot of bad Long Islands and a few good ones. Most people don't know how to make one that doesn't taste like you're drinking straight alcohol. The key to making a great long Island Iced tea, that actually tastes like tea, is the Triple Sec. It's an orange liquor that adds citrus and sweetness to counteract the sour of the sour mix and mask the straight alcohol taste.

I don't remember the exact measurements as we usually did it by sight but it was basically equal amounts of all of the white liquors (vodka, run, and gin) and twice the amount of triple sec as you did for the white liquors.

So:
1 part vodka
1 part gin
1 part rum
2 parts triple sec - the sweetness of the triple sec counteracts the sour mix and makes it taste a hell of a lot better.
1/2 part sweet & sour
splash of coke or pepsi

Tequilla was optional (usually 1 part) and adding it changed the name from a long island to a Texas Long Island.

Vodka really doesn't have much taste to it so eliminating it and replacing it with gin would likely alter the taste slightly. Replacing it with rum would be less noticeable. If you make a good one though it's not like the vodka is going to stand out, either will the rum or the gin as it'll taste like iced tea. You could always try it with more gin and less vodka as I suspect it would still be very drinkable in the recipe above.

the_edski said:

1 cup water, 1 cup sugar. Make syrup. Cool and add 1 cup each of fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice (or adjust to taste). Voila!

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Thanks! I am saving this and going to try!

dfoulk said:

Tequilla was optional (usually 1 part) and adding it changed the name from a long island to a Texas Long Island.

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It's curious that you say that, since the article I read says that tequila was in the original recipe.

TheVez2 said:

So, I found this, as the original recipe for a Long Island Iced Tea. This was posted by the guy who invented the drink.

1 part vodka
1 part gin
1 part white rum
1 part white tequila
1/2 part triple sec
1/2 part sweet & sour mix
1 splash Coke
Lemon wedges for garnish

I know I can alter this however I want. I'm just curious what your thoughts are to this:

I don't really care for Vodka. It's a neutral spirit anyway, with little flavor on it's own. Gin is a neutral spirit, that is distilled with juniper and other botanicals. At heart, two similar alcohols. I'm a big fan of gin. So my idea is to eliminate the Vodka, and just make it two parts gin. Will it affect the drink much? What say you?

Click to expand...

I always knew that LIITs were brutal and this recipe explains why. I share your opinion regarding vodka. Odorless, colorless, and tasteless I believe is the definition, to which I say, "What's the point?" I would probably make one with vodka and one with the extra gin and compare the taste. Then a make a third one with the tequila and report back when you are able!

the_edski said:

1 cup water, 1 cup sugar. Make syrup. Cool and add 1 cup each of fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice (or adjust to taste). Voila!

Click to expand...

Thank you for this recipe.

I remember in college a local bar had $5 all you can drink Thursdays(domestic beer, long islands and rail mixers). That's the last time I had a long island. They were not made well and we just drank them to get as drunk as possible. Ahhh Wisconsin .

KJ:
Long Island Iced Tea is one of my favorite cocktails.

"Imagine a delicious glass of [Long Island] Iced Tea. Take a long cool sip. Listen to the ice crackle and clink. Is the glass part full or part empty.."? Vera Nazarian

I ended up buying some tequila anyway (Cuervo Silver). So I'll probably do the side by side (by side) comparison with tequila and with a gin (and a rum) substitute.

blary54 said:

I remember in college a local bar had $5 all you can drink Thursdays(domestic beer, long islands and rail mixers). That's the last time I had a long island. They were not made well and we just drank them to get as drunk as possible. Ahhh Wisconsin .

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Same here. One of our frequent haunts had $2.50 Long Islands on Saturday night. Another place had $2 Bloody Marys on Saturday. We'd drink our dinner of Bloody Marys and then have Long Islands for dessert.