Long Beach Iced Tea

The Long Beach Iced Tea is a fruity twist on the classic cranberry juice cocktail! It’s sweet and refreshing.

Fancy a lighter version of a classic cocktail? try it Long Beach Iced Tea! This cousin of Long Island Iced Tea substitutes cola for cranberry juice, making it even sweeter and more refreshing. It tastes classic, fresh and upbeat thanks to citrus and cranberries. Although this drink is notoriously alcoholic, the recipe below has an alcohol content that rivals many excellent cocktails!

What’s in a Long Beach Iced Tea

The Long Island Iced Tea is a highball cocktail made with cola and 5 liqueurs: vodka, tequila, rum, gin and orange liqueur. The modern version of this cocktail was most likely invented in 1972 by a bartender from Long Island, New York: hence the name. “Iced tea” does not refer to the tea as an ingredient, but to the brown color of the cola. A Long Beach iced tea substitutes cola for cranberry juice, giving it a ruby ​​red color and fruity flavor.

• vodka
• tequila
• white rum
• gin
• Cointreau
• lemon juice
• cranberry juice

Some Long Island Iced Tea recipes use an acid blend, but we prefer using real lemon juice and simple syrup. It gives this drink the best refreshing and pure taste.

Use unsweetened cranberry juice

This Long Island Iced Tea has the best flavor and color with 100% unsweetened cranberry juice. This is the kind we like to use in all of our cranberry juice cocktails. Why?

• Sweet Cranberry Juice (aka Cranberry Juice Cocktail): Classic cranberry drinks like Cranberry Vodka were originally made with sweetened cranberry juice. It contains sugar and sometimes high fructose corn syrup and is very sweet.
• Unsweetened cranberry juice (also called 100% cranberry juice): is our favorite for cranberry cocktails. The taste is pure and sweet, and you can adjust the sweetness of your drink as you like. It is also very light in color compared to the sweet juice.
• can’t you find it cute You can always make this drink with sweetened cranberry juice. Just cut the plain syrup in half!

How to Make Long Beach Iced Tea

Of course, the list of ingredients for a Long Beach Iced Tea seems long. But the good thing about this drink? You can incorporate it directly into the glass: no shaker needed! Here’s what to do:

• stir: Pour the components into a highball glass. Add ice and stir.
• Garnish: Add a slice of lemon and fresh mint, if you like.

Not really! Long Beach Iced Tea has a total of 2.5 ounces of liquor. Most cocktail recipes contain 2-3 ounces of alcohol, so this drink falls within the range of most cocktail recipes.

Alcohol replacement ideas

We get it: maybe you don’t always have these 5 liqueurs on hand! Here are some ideas for replacing one or two of the liqueurs in a Long Beach Iced Tea:

• Vodka, tequila or gin: Leave A of these and double that of the other liqueurs. For example, if you don’t have gin, double the amount of tequila. But try to have at least 3 of the 4 main liqueurs.
• white rum: Use a different type of rum (old or dark) if you don’t have a white on hand. Or you can omit it and double up on one of the other liqueurs.
• Cointreau: Use a Cointreau substitute such as Triple Sec, Grand Marnier, or Orange Curaçao.

More Long Island Iced Tea variations

Want some more LITT variants? Here’s the original and some other ideas: