Long Island, New York, 1972.
| ½ oz · 15 ml | VODKA | 40 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | GIN | 40 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | WHITE RUM | 40 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | BLANCO TEQUILA | 40 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | TRIPLE SEC | 40 % |
| ¾ oz · 22 ml | LEMON JUICE | |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | SIMPLE SYRUP | |
| 2 oz · 60 ml | COLA |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 5.75 oz mixed with ice, 1 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Shaken: +20 % of the pre-batch, +1.15 oz of water |
| Served | 5.75 + 1.15 = 6.9 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 1 ÷ 6.9 = 14.5 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 1 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 23 g · about 163 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM GIN BASE
The pine note in juniper berries, and the reason gin tastes like a forest. Co-distilled with the spirit during production. Found in actual pine trees, rosemary, basil, and a good London Dry. The "Christmas tree" smell of gin and the smell of a forest floor share a single molecule.
ALSO IN Negroni · Martini · Gimlet · Gin & Tonic · Aviation · Corpse Reviver #2 · French 75 · Bramble
FROM LEMON · the lemon aroma
Lemon's defining note: technically a mix of two geometric isomers (geranial and neral) that read as the same aroma to the nose. Lemon peel, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and Indian chai all carry it. In cocktails it's what a lemon twist contributes that lemon juice can't: the volatile expressed from the oil glands, not the acid from the pulp.
ALSO IN Margarita · Mojito · Daiquiri · Whiskey Sour · Gimlet · Moscow Mule · Paper Plane · Aviation
FROM COLA · the alertness molecule
A purine alkaloid that blocks adenosine receptors in the brain, so the tiredness signal never lands. Coffee, tea, cocoa, mate, guarana, kola: all unrelated plants, all evolved caffeine independently as an insecticide. Humans inherited a tolerance for what bugs can't handle.
Five spirits, lemon, sugar and cola. It is the brute-force cocktail: four spirits and a liqueur behind a deceptive iced-tea appearance. Each spirit contributes trace compounds but none carries the nose, and cola's caramel and phosphoric acid dominate.
Robert 'Rosebud' Butt claims to have invented the Long Island Iced Tea at the Oak Beach Inn in Long Island in 1972, as an entry in a contest to create a new mixed drink using triple sec. The drink looks like iced tea because of the cola; the cola is the largest non-alcoholic pour. The recipe's reputation suffers because it's almost always badly built; done correctly with measured pours, it's a coherent drink, though it remains a high-ABV pour by any standard.
