How Much Alcohol Does A Long Island Iced Tea Actually Have Compared To Other Cocktails?

Don't let the Long Island Iced Tea's name deceive you — Inside this far-from-innocent sunset-colored cocktail, you won't find any tea at all. Instead, you'll be punched in the mouth with equal parts of vodka, tequila, gin, rum, and slightly sweet triple sec.

The volumes of each type of alcohol generally range from half an ounce to one ounce of each of these spirits, in equal portions. These are mixed together in a shaker, then poured over fresh ice in a highball glass, with lemon or lime juice/sweet and sour mix, and simple syrup added. This is topped off with a smidgen of cola to add a little fizz and extra sweetness (and give the cocktail its tea coloring). What you're left with is a pretty strong cocktail with an Alcohol By Volume (ABV) of 22% right after being made (if it's left to stand for a while, the ice starts to melt, diluting the alcohol somewhat).

Some reporting suggests that the Long Island Iced Tea is one of the strongest you can order or make. And it's certainly in the top three strongest cocktails served in a highball glass, coming second on the list. But leading the pack is the Aunt Roberta — usually served in a highball glass but also often served in a cocktail glass — at an ABV of 39.41%. This potent leading lady also holds five different types of alcohol — vodka, gin, brandy, absinthe, and blackberry liqueur — but has no mixer added in, just an orange curl for garnishing.

The strength of alcohol is actually determined by the amount of pure ethanol in it. Ethanol is the base component of any alcohol type (along with water) and is what gives alcohol its intoxicating effect. 

A standard drink in the United States contains around 0.6 ounces of pure alcohol (ethanol), equating to around 12 ounces (one can) of regular beer at 5% ABV; 5 ounces of white wine — that's one average-sized glass at 12% ABV; and 1.5 ounces of hard spirits — basically one shot at 40% ABV. If you use a recipe that calls for 0.5 ounces of each alcoholic ingredient — vodka, tequila, gin, rum, and triple sec — your Long Island Iced Tea will have about 1 ounce of pure alcohol. According to the National Institutes of Health's online calculator, this is equal to 1.6 standard drinks, if each ingredient has an ABV of 40%.

But how does an LIIT compare to other standard cocktails? Noting that the levels of pure alcohol will vary depending on the type and amount of liquor you use, the "deadliest" cocktail in the world is generally considered to be the Aunt Roberta, containing over 3 ounces of pure alcohol in it, at an ABV of around 39.41%. A classic martini at around 31% ABV contains around 2.1 ounces of pure alcohol (also dependent on how you like your martini), with a Jet Pilot containing around 1.4 ounces of pure alcohol, at an average ABV of 30.98%.