The Long Island Iced Tea Ratio That Actually Tastes Good (But Is Still Just As Boozy)

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A Long Island iced tea is infamously one of the booziest drinks one can order at a bar, yet when it's carefully crafted by a skilled bartender you wouldn't know that from the taste. Fred Siggins, the author of the soon-to-be-released book "Equal Parts Cocktails: The Simple Ratio for Spectacular Drinks" shared the ratios he uses for a Long Island iced tea with The Takeout so all the folks who want to make cheaper cocktails at home can craft one that's on par with the $20 drink sold at your local watering hole.

Most (if not all) recipes for the classic cocktail call for equal parts of liquor (free poured like a bartender for extra flair), but some stray from using identical portions when it comes to the lemon juice and will add in a sweetener, like simple syrup. Not Siggins' recipe, though. His version calls for ¾ ounce of vodka, gin, tequila, Cointreau, white rum, and lemon juice. The Coke is the exception, which is added to the iced glass until it's almost halfway full.

These proportions ensure the drink doesn't come off as overly boozy because keeping everything equal promotes harmony within the glass. "The reason a Long Island iced tea doesn't taste that strong despite containing a lot of alcohol is balance, which is a key element of equal parts cocktails," Siggins said. "Mixed drinks in general were invented as a way to make powerful spirits more palatable by balancing them with dilution, sweetness, sourness, and sometimes bitterness and spice. The Long Island iced tea has all of those things, which help to make it dangerously drinkable."

It's common for bartenders to use a highball glass for cocktails like a Long Island iced tea, but Siggins makes a strong argument for going with something with a bit more room for consistent drinkability. "This drink has a large volume compared to many other cocktails, so it's best to use a large vessel such as a pint glass or hurricane glass," he said. "Make sure you fill the glass right to the top with ice to make sure your LIT stays nice and cold as you drink it."

The ingredients called for in a Long Island iced tea are generally consistent between recipes. However, while Siggins' version calls for the typical Coca-Cola that nearly everyone uses, he did say that other soda flavors might add a unique touch to the cocktail. "Things like Sprite, Ginger Ale, Dr Pepper, or Root Beer will definitely work for this drink, although they will of course taste different," he said.

Still, it's no accident that Coke is the standard. "One of the reasons Coke works so well in particular, though, is the warm spices included in the recipe," Siggins said. Because you're swapping out one of the main flavor components, Siggins indicated you may need to make additional adjustments to the recipe to compensate for that loss of spice. "So if I were going to swap Coke for something lighter like Sprite, I'd probably add a few dashes of Angostura bitters to get that spice element back into the drink."