Some of you may be of an age to remember the heyday of the Long Island Iced Tea. That being the ’80s and ’90s where bars all over the country, but especially on Long Island, concocted a mind-erasing boozy tall-glass bounty of myriad spirits and other things, combined in such a way to taste just like iced tea.
Which, of course, it never did. It just tasted like lots of alcohol with a hearty glug of sugary cola.
Even in my less-than-discerning days of imbibing, I was never a big fan. Not even on post-shift summer nights after waiting tables at the Dory on Shelter Island, all full of the fiery end-of-the-night energy that one can only possess in your early 20s, in need of the sweet quench of something strong and icy, Long Island Iced Teas just tasted… wrong. Plaids and stripes and polka dots all mixed together and leaving you grimacing at the awful sight (and future headache) of it.
At The Pridwin on Shelter Island, they specialize in making what’s old become renewed, from their recent makeover a few years ago, to the revamp of this oldie but now goodie. The working parts of its origin story are murky, which, as is often the case, has dueling presumed makers vying for the title of creator. But the one we like the best is close to home, and involves one Robert “Rosebud” Butt, a bartender from the Oak Beach Inn in Hampton Bays who in 1972 basically took all the main white spirits at his disposal, mixed ’em up with sour mix and triple sec, topped it with cola and voila! A tall glass of liquid courage with which to seize the dance floor.
The Pridwin’s revamp keeps the core, but kicks the vodka that Butt used to the curb, sticking to white rum, silver tequila and gin. For the latter, the Crescent Beach-situated spot uses a popular modern-day version infused with butterfly pea flower to give the drink a purple-ish, indigo hue (exotic though this sounds, it’s easily procurable at spots like Hampton Wine Shoppe and Park Place Wines & Liquors). The orange liqueur stays in the picture, but they up the ante with Cointreau and also swap out the once-ubiquitous artificial sour mix for fresh citrus and agave syrup. The final make-over ingredient: spicy ginger beer for Coke.
It’s pretty, it’s refreshing, it’s delicious and, while still a fairly potent potion, eschews some of the headache-inducing mixables for better choices — which, at over 50 years old, the Long Island Iced Tea is at the right place in its little piece of history to take on. Cheers, friends!
Long Island Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 3/4 oz butterfly pea-flower infused gin (such as Empress 1908 Indigo or locally made Elysian Fields Lavender gin from The Betterman Distilling), with 1/2 oz reserved
- 3/4 oz rum
- 3/4 oz silver tequila
- 1/2 oz Cointreau
- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 oz agave syrup
- 1 oz ginger beer
- 1 lemon wheel
Directions
- In a shaker with ice, combine 1/2 oz of the gin with the rum, tequila, Cointreau, lemon juice and agave syrup. Shake well, 10 to 15 seconds.
- Strain into an ice-filled highball or Collins glass.
- Top with the ginger beer and float the remaining butterfly pea gin on top.
- Garnish with the lemon wheel. Cheers!