Blue Lengthy Island Iced Tea – A Couple Cooks

March 19, 2026

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This Blue Lengthy Island Iced Tea is an ocean-blue cocktail with tangy, citrusy taste and fewer alcohol than you’d count on: prepared in simply 5 minutes! Study the elements, substitution ideas, and make a pitcher model for a crowd.

There’s one thing nearly magnetic a couple of blue drink: do you are feeling it too? For some cause I’ve at all times been interested in drinks this colour, and this one tastes surprisingly contemporary and candy tart: the Blue Lengthy Island, aka Blue Lengthy Island Iced Tea! After all, the standard Lengthy Island Iced Tea has a little bit of a status for being a low-brow, excessive alcohol drink.

However this recipe truly has refreshing, nuanced taste and much less alcohol than most cocktails! It makes use of blue curacao for its ocean-hued colour, and it provides a beautiful citrusy taste. It’s one among my favourite blue drinks!

Elements for a Blue Lengthy Island Iced Tea

The Lengthy Island Iced Tea is a highball cocktail that mixes cola with 5 completely different liquors: vodka, tequila, rum, gin and orange liqueur. The identify comes from its colour: the drink is brown when combined collectively and appears like iced tea. It was seemingly invented in 1972 by a bartender in Lengthy Island, New York, and went on to develop into a preferred cocktail on the listing of the Worldwide Bartender Affiliation’s IBA official cocktails.

A Blue Lengthy Island Iced Tea, aka Blue Lengthy Island for brief, swaps out the orange liqueur for blue curacao. Blue curacao is a kind of orange liqueur with a shiny blue colour, made on the island of Curacao. This recipe additionally swaps cola for ginger ale, which is lighter in colour. For this recipe, you’ll want:

Vodka
Tequila
White rum
Gin
Blue curacao
Lemon juice
Ginger ale

Tip: A very powerful ingredient, after all, is the blue curacao. When you don’t have all of the others, that’s okay! Hold studying for extra about this signature alcohol and what you’ll be able to substitute for the others.

Highlight on Blue Curacao

A very powerful a part of any blue drink, together with the Blue Lengthy Island? Blue curacao! That is what provides the drink its shiny blue colour. Right here’s what to know:

Blue curacao is an artificially-colored orange liqueur invented by Dutch settlers on the island of Curaçao. There are a number of colours of Curaçao: the most well-liked at this time are clear and blue. Blue curacao has been bought since 1912. It’s flavored with the Laraha orange peel, a kind of orange that grows on the island.
How you can pronounce Curaçao? Say it Remedy-ah-souw.
What does blue curacao style like? It has a candy orange peel taste, with delicate bitter end.
How a lot does it value? Blue curacao is cheap; a 750 ml bottle prices about $10. Attempt to purchase a mid-range bottle; we like Drillaud model (keep away from DeKuyper).
What else can you utilize it for? Plenty of blue drinks! Combine up a Blue Margarita, Blue Hawaii, Aqua Velvaor Blue Lagoon.

How you can Make a Blue Lengthy Island Iced Tea

When you’ve assembled the entire elements, the Blue Lengthy Island comes collectively in a flash! The flavors come out extremely contemporary and scrumptious. This drink has solely 2.5 ounces alcohol, so it’s not as boozy as you suppose! It’s much like lots of my 300+ cocktailsparticularly the opposite highball cocktails. Right here’s what to do (or scroll all the way down to the recipe):

Mix: Pour the vodka, tequila, white rum, gin, blue curacao, and lemon juice right into a highball glass.
Ice and stir: Fill the glass with ice and stir to mix.
Prime and garnish: Add ginger ale and end with a lemon wedge.

Can You Substitute the Liquors?

The Blue Lengthy Island Iced Tea is a little bit of a kitchen sink fashion drink. It makes use of nearly every part within the liquor cupboard! Fortunately, you don’t should have the entire elements to make a tasty BLIIT. Listed below are just a few tips about substitutions:

Vodka, tequila, or gin: Go away one of those out and double one of many different liquors. For instance, should you don’t have gin double the tequila. Attempt to have at the least three of the 4 most important liquors should you can. Two of the 4 may additionally work.
White rum: Use aged rum should you don’t have white. You would use darkish rum: simply word that the colour of the drink will likely be darker!

The Greatest Ginger Ale to Use

The ginger ale makes for a deliciously contemporary Blue Lengthy Island Iced Tea. In truth, I prefer it higher than the commonplace model of the drink! (Particularly as a result of I don’t usually purchase cola.) You should use any model you want, however listed below are some favorites:

Q Ginger Ale: That is my best choice! It is available in small cans so that you solely have to make use of a bit of at a time.
Fever Tree Ginger Ale: Fever Tree is made with actual ginger and has no synthetic sweeteners.

Need extra drinks with ginger ale? Go to 8 Traditional Ginger Ale Cocktails.

Make It for a Crowd: Pitcher Model

This cocktail scales up nicely for events. To make a pitcher (8 servings): mix ½ cup every of vodka, tequila, white rum, gin, and blue curacao with 1 cup of contemporary lemon juice. Add 2½ cups ginger ale. Pour into ice-filled highball glasses to serve.

Variations on the Lengthy Island Iced Tea

There are just a few different methods to make this traditional cocktail! Listed below are a pair different variations so as to add on to the Blue Lengthy Island:

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