A small note for those who want to play bartender at home: I've prepared a ready-made ingredient list with everything required. Now let me tell you how it all began.
The Long Island Iced Tea was created in 1972 by Robert "Rosebud" Butt, a bartender at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island, New York. According to Butt, the drink was his entry in an in-house contest to invent a new cocktail featuring triple sec. His solution? Throw together every clear spirit in the well, top it with cola and a splash of lemon, and disguise it as iced tea.
A competing theory traces the recipe to Prohibition-era Tennessee, to a moonshiner named "Old Man Bishop" who mixed whatever he had on hand. Wherever the truth lies, the Long Island remains famous (and infamous) for hiding five different spirits behind an innocent amber color, a cocktail that earned its reputation for punching well above its weight.
The secret of every great home bartender is not just the recipe but the right tools. My recommended barman kit on Amazon packs everything you need, from shaker to jigger, into one clean set. And for those who want the whole theater, a professional cocktail bar station transforms any corner of your home into a real bar.