Long Island Iced Tea - Cocktail - Gatsby Recipe

The Long Island Iced Tea is a powerhouse cocktail known for its potent mix of spirits and its surprising smoothness despite the high alcohol content. One of the most popular accounts attributes it the cocktail to a bartender named Robert "Rosebud" Butt in the late 1970s. Robert Butt is said to have concocted the Long Island Iced Tea while working at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island, New York. According to Butt, the drink was created as part of a contest to develop a new mixed drink using triple sec. The result was a cocktail that combined vodka, tequila, light rum, gin, triple sec, lemon juice, simple syrup, and a splash of cola. Despite its name, the Long Island Iced Tea contains no actual tea. The cola gives it a tea-like color and a hint of sweetness, which, when combined with the other ingredients, creates a surprisingly palatable drink. Another account suggests that the Long Island Iced Tea may have originated during Prohibition in the 1920s. In this version, a man named "Old Man Bishop" from a community known as Long Island in Kingsport, Tennessee, is credited with creating the drink. His son, Ransom Bishop, later refined the recipe in the 1940s. This version of the story gives the cocktail a more historical context, adding to its mystique.