The Texas Tea takes the Long Island's already-excessive five-spirit base and adds a sixth: bourbon. The whiskey deepens the colour and the flavour, and gives the drink a genuine backbone beneath the cola.
The Long Island Iced Tea, asked to do rather more.
One More Spirit
The Long Island already contains four base spirits and a liqueur. The Texas Tea simply adds bourbon to the stack — a sixth bottle — on the cheerful logic that if five spirits make a famous drink, six make a famous drink with a whiskey backbone.
The Cola Stays
Unlike the Long Beach and the Tokyo, the Texas Tea keeps the original's splash of cola. The bourbon and cola reinforce one another — a nod to the whiskey highball — and the drink stays recognisably a Long Island, only browner and bigger.
Measure, Then Respect It
Six spirits demand the same discipline as five: measured pours, a single drink, and no encore. The Texas Tea is a genuinely strong cocktail wearing the costume of an iced tea — enjoy the costume, remember the contents.
The Long Island Iced Tea Family
The infamous five-spirit highball — vodka, gin, rum, and tequila with triple sec, lemon, and a whisper of cola.
- 1/2 oz eachVodka, gin, rum, tequila
- 1/2 ozTriple sec
- SplashCola
The Long Island with cranberry for the cola — pink, tart, a touch brighter.
- 1/2 oz eachVodka, gin, rum, tequila
- 1/2 ozTriple sec
- TopCranberry juice
The Long Island gone green — Midori melon liqueur for the cola.
- 1/2 oz eachVodka, gin, rum, tequila
- 1 ozMidori
- TopLemon-lime soda