Review: Desert Island Long Island Ice Tea Mix
I’ve had more bad Long Island Ice Teas than I’ve had good ones. And that’s somewhat understandable. The Long Island Ice Tea is a very challenging cocktail to mix correctly. With 5 different liquors (rum, vodka, gin, tequila and triple sec) and a host of different manufacturers for each liquor there’s 9,757,237,539 different combinations of Long Island Iced Tea possible!
Given all of this, I wasn’t expecting too much from Desert Island’s pre made cocktail mix. It’s just too easy to screw up a Long Island Iced Tea. But when expectations are low, that’s when you get the most surprises. And you guessed it - Desert Island is quite decent. So much so that many of the bars where I’ve ordered a Long Island Iced Tea should quietly pick up a bottle of Desert Island and stop embarrassing themselves.
In addition to the bottle of Desert Island, you’ll need to pick up some Sweet & Sour mix and some Coke. The recommended recipe is 2 oz of Desert Island Long Island Iced Tea Mix, 4 oz of Sweet & Sour mix and 2 oz of Coke. It’s a decent starting point, but do experiment. I personally found 3 oz of Desert Island, 3 oz of Sweet & Sour and 1 oz of Coke to better suit my tastes. Your milage may very, but feel free to experiment.
Feel free to try Desert Island Long Island Iced Tea Mix by itself over ice. It’s actually quite good all on it’s own. With summer time fun just around the corner, this is one cocktail mix you should have in your cabinet. The cocktails are quick to make and have an enjoyable taste and pack a respectable bit of alcoholic punch.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:07 am
someone has the recipe of the mo-TEA-jo, a tea cocktail from Tavalon ? i fell in love with it in an event in New York city and desperatly looking for the recipe !!
thanks you !!
June 5th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Does anyone know any national chains that carry Desert Island? When I was in school Schnuck’s carried it but I haven’t found it since.
June 29th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Bottle on the picture looks like bottle from vodka not tea
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:10 pm
well, the bottle looks like a bottle of vodka as what they have said but for me, it looks like a bottle of gin.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Desert Island Long Island Ice Tea is absolutely wonderful. I mix mine with lemonade mix with splenda, dash of diet coke and a lemon or lime….yummy, low calorie and low cost. The only problem is my supplier is having a problem keeping it in stock.
November 12th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
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December 18th, 2008 at 7:35 am
This stuff is good as is New York Brand and Barton. These three are the real deal. The TGIFriday’s and other so-called LIT mixes are terrible and I can’t believe anybody buys them more than once.
Mix any of the good ones with Mr & Mrs T’s Sweet and Sour and a splash of Coke (always fill the glass FULL of ice first - need lots of ice) and you have a good LIT. Stir well or better yet, put it in a shaker and shake it for a few seconds. Make as strong or weak as you like. I usually have to order it from the liquor store so I buy it a case at a time. I’ve asked the liquor people why they don’t stock the good stuff and always have the crap. They apparently don’t sample their own product.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:07 am
I love this stuff! I mix mine with diet Pepsi. All the grocery stores use to carry it but now I can only find one store that carries it and they never seem to get in. I miss it.
February 8th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
I have had desert and it is great - will use it for my wedding
February 14th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Where do I order Desert Island Long Island Ice Tea Mix?
April 19th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
I absolutely luv it is the best long island I ever had, Wow ! I could not believe this great find, so inexpensive but taste is great BUT its so hard 2 find I have 2 go clear across town 2 buy some
April 19th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
The desert is absolutely hands down the best long mix I have ever sampled ,great taste easy 2 make & inexpensive but who the hell sells this I was introduced 2 this desert island ice tea mix by my friend at a house-warming party and my friend purchased this on the west-side of chicago which is an hour 4 me, Now I must ask myself, Is it worth the drive ? Yeah Hell yeah, I think so
May 14th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
When I lived in Spokane, WA, and was going to college at EWU (Go Eagles!) We used to have Long Island Iced Tea parties where we would get a couple of huge spaghetti pots and fill them with the recommended proportions and ratios applied to whole bottles of Desert Island, Mrs. T’s S & S and Coke.
We used to serve the drinks in half carafes and I can honestly say that, for as long as I’ve been drinking Long Islands, I’ve had few that are as good as the ones that we made with Desert Island LIT Mix.
The problem now is that those college days were back in 1993-1997 in Cheney, WA, and now - live near Los Angeles, a thriving metropolis, and have not been able to find a single place that has heard of it or sells it.
I would kill and maim untold numbers of individuals to get my hands on more than a few bottles of some Desert Island LIT. Can anyone out there help a poor soul out? I can be contacted at d underscore turrey at yahoo dot com for anyone with any info. A phone number, an address, a distributors name…anything!
Thanks for reading and if you are fortunate to get your hands on a bottle or two, just remember…nobody likes a bragger…lol.
May 29th, 2009 at 5:26 am
I love this mix. My first attempt at making long island Ice tea was buying all the liquors seperately. I actually did a decent job mixing them but I think the bill was over $100 dollars. 5 750ml of liquor easily reaches over $100. Then I found this stuff. for 10 bucks this stuff is amazing. Of course you dont get as much as spending the $100 but if you want you can get jsut as much for about half the price. I highly suggest this mix, although I dont like the articles mixing instructions. it should not be 3oz of mix to 3 oz of sweet and sour… In a true long island it is equal parts of all the liquors and sweet and sour and a splash of coke. that would be 5oz mix 1oz sweet and sour and a splash of coke. I can see if your not trying to get waisted putting an extra oz of sweet and sour but never the same amount. what a waist of a drink that would be…
I like to drink a small glass of the drink by itself and then add the sweet and sour mix straight to the bottle with a little coke. Its nice and easy to carry around and once you get drunk you don’t have to answer when people ask what your drinking…
October 9th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I love this drink. If you ever order a long island from Applebee’s they use the Desert Island mix. I live in Montana and have no problem finding this in any liquor store around.. Great taste and great value!!
December 20th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
where can i puchase thr long island ice tea mix in chicago illinois
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:31 pm
does anyone know who makes it or where to buy it online?
February 7th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Awesome with Dr Pepper!
July 11th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
This is less than 10.00 in Va liquor stores. I personally drink it with Sunny D and Hawaiian Punch Red…………..DELICIOUS!!