The Long Beach Iced Tea is not for the faint of heart. It’s a close cousin to the Long Island Iced Tea that packs a punch.

The Long Beach Iced Tea is a refreshing, fruity drink for a hot summer day.

What is in a Long Beach Iced Tea?

This Long Beach drink is comprised of 5 different kinds of liquors. This drink is a strong drink that you will definitely begin to feel after a few minutes.

Making this drink is as simple as adding the liquors together, topping off with sweet and sour and cranberry juice and giving a good stir. After making, sit back and enjoy your freshly-made drink!

Make this long beach iced tea and garnish with a lime wedge.

This Long Beach Iced Tea drink is not a drink for the faint-hearted, since it is a drink that will sneak up on you. It does have three and a half ounces of alcohol in it, after all! There’s something about the fruit flavors of the drink that hides the spirits in the drink a little too well. I recommend taking a water break after your second tea and letting your body digest the alcohol for about half an hour before making your guests and yourself a third.

Since the Long Beach Iced Tea consists of all the main clear spirits you would expect to come across behind a bar: rum, tequila, gin and vodka, you could actually say this is one of the “healthier” cocktails. Generally, clear spirits are better for you than darker ones.

How to Make a Long Beach Iced Tea

Make this drink to enjoy with friends and family!

First, add all of the alcoholic ingredients to a shaker – add in the vodka, rum, tequila, tequila and sour mix. Give the shaker a good shake and pour the contents of the shaker into a tall glass with ice. Top off the drink with cranberry juice. I usually just add enough juice to turn the drink a pink color, but you can add more or less based on your desired taste.

Replacements for Long Beach Ingredients

There’s quite a long list of specific ingredients for the Long Beach Iced Tea. Sometimes, it’s best to just order one of these drinks out at a bar, even if it will cost you upwards of $15. Have no fear, I have a whole list of replacements. Some replacements listed below are more creative than others.

Making this recipe at home is quick and easy. You just need to add all the ingredients together and then stir it together. If you’d like to get a little fancier, add all the spirits and liqueurs to a shaker and shake the ingredients together. Then, pour the contents of the shaker into a highball glass filled with ice. Top off the drink with cranberry juice and top with a fun garnish – such as mint, lime or lemon wheel or a maraschino cherry.

Make this easy long beach iced tea drink at home!

Replacements for Spirits in a Long Beach Drink

This long beach iced tea recipe is as delicious as it is refreshing!

If you do want to make this drink at home and find that you are missing a certain spirit, it is perfectly fine to double up on another alcohol that is in the drink.

One recommendation I do have, however, is to make sure you’re drinking enough water when consuming long beach iced teas. They do contain quite a bit of alcohol and it can sneak up on you if you’re not used to drinking so much in one sitting.

Replacements for Sweet & Sour Mix:

If you’re missing sweet & sour, you can use a different kind of mixer. See below:

Margarita mixer is the best replacement for Sweet & Sour mix. I’ve used Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix when I didn’t have sweet & sour, and an added bonus, it can replace the Tequila.
Any lemon-lime soda, like Sprite, 7-up, Sierra Mist, can replace the sour mix, but it will add carbonation to the drink.
If you have lemon and lime juice on hand, you can make your own Sweet & Sour mix.
- Mix 1 part lemon juice, 1 part lime juice, 1 part water and 1 part sugar together. Heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and mix together. Let cool. You now have homemade Sweet & Sour mix!

Replacements for Triple Sec:

To be honest, there’s not a great substitute for triple sec. It’s essentially a very sweet orange-flavored liquor. If you’re making the Long Beach Iced Tea and don’t have triple sec on hand, there are a couple of substitutions for it.

Simple syrup: Using simple syrup will most likely be your best bet for triple sec. It will be even better if you can add in some orange extract, around a teaspoon for every cup of simple syrup, since triple sec has a distinct orange taste. If you don’t have orange extract on hand, you can also use orange zest instead.
Orange Liquor: Any other orange liquor will do just fine in replacement of triple sec. Whether it be Cointreau or another orange-flavored liquor, it is just fine.
Sugar: If you need a sweetener to cut the sharpness, you can add some sugar directly to the drink. Or some fake sweetener like Splenda or Sweet n’ Low which will dissolve much more quickly into the drink. This will keep you from constantly stirring for shaking the drink to get the sugar to dissolve.

Best Garnishes

Now, garnishes are not entirely necessary, but they are nice to have and add a certain touch to the drink.

Citrus: Limes or lemon wedges are always a great (and safe) bet for drinks. They are a good option for the Long Beach Iced Tea since they complement and pull together the ingredients. The fresh citrus will further hide the taste of the alcohol.
Mint Leaves: Nothing beats fresh herbs in a drink. Fresh mint leaves picked from your mint plant will add a bright pop of color to the drink. The aromatics are beautiful to inhale when you are drinking the beverage.
Fruit: Raspberries, pomegranate seeds, maraschino or brandy cherries are all great options for the Long Beach Iced Tea.

More Drink Ideas

Looking for more cocktail and drink ideas?

Long Island Iced Tea

Lychee Mojito

Dragon Fruit Mojito

Spiked Cold Brew

PB&J Cocktail

Pickleback Shot

Lychee Martini

Bloody Mary

Peanut Butter Pickleback