Who Invented Long Island Iced Tea
The strip of land near New York City has long been a launchpad for icons of American culture, including a cocktail that carried the Long Island name to frat parties everywhere.
For such a powerful potable, the Long Island Iced Tea has a fairly short and uneventful background. Sometime around 1976, a bartender at the Oak Beach Inn of Hampton Bays, Long Island, concocted a drink from equal parts vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and triple sec, plus some cola to give it a tealike color. Robert “Rosebud” Butt was the inventor, and his drink spread quickly. By the mid-1980s, the Long Island Iced Tea was a mainstay at many American bars.
One drink not for amateurs, make sure you have a designated driver before toasting the bar with a hearty bottoms up.
