Known as one of the most alcoholic cocktails around, the Long Island Iced Tea has been popular since the 1970s, the era to which its birth is officially traced.

There is actually a kind of urban legend about this drink, according to which its origins date back to Prohibition, i.e. to the 1930s. According to this reconstruction, thanks to its innocent-looking iced tea, Long Island Iced Tea was served without problems in speakeasies, thus fooling the police. In reality, this is simply not possible, because at that time vodka had not yet been introduced in the USA, and furthermore, Coca-Cola was not usually used for mixing.

In fact, it is virtually certain that it was bartender Robert Rosebud, known as Butt, who created the Long Island Iced Tea at his Oak Beach Inn (OBI) on Long Island in 1972, as he himself stated; Butt was apparently inspired by a themed Cocktail Contest that featured Triple Sec as the main ingredient. According to other sources, the creator was a bartender who was never identified from TGI Friday's, but no confirmation has ever been found.

The success of this cocktail was immediate, spreading from clubs to university parties throughout the 1970s and beyond.

Today, the Long Island Iced Tea is still in demand in clubs and discos all over the world, and like all truly legendary cocktails it has also appeared on screens, appearing in several episodes of Sex & The City, an episode of The Simpsons and an episode of Gilmore Girls.