The original recipe was cooked up during Prohibition in Kingsport, Tennessee. Jamie Cyphers says her grandma went to jail for it.
Always thought the recipe for Long Island Iced Tea originated on New York’s Long Island? Think again. They have a version of the mixed drink, for sure, but the folks who lived on Long Island, Tennessee, in Kingsport were decades ahead of their Northern counterparts.
Charles Bishop, known as “Old Man Bishop,” came up with the first recipe in the 1920s, right in the midst of prohibition. In the 1940s, his son, Ransom Bishop, put his own spin on the recipe by adding coke and a squeeze of lemon and lime.
Ransom’s granddaughter, Jamie Cyphers, says she grew up hearing her grandfather referred to as a “businessman.” As an adult, she realizes his business was bootlegging and cards. She recalls a steady stream of people coming to her grandparents’ house for Ransom’s moonshine as well as her grandmother’s home brew.
“My mamaw is the one who went to jail for it,” said Cyphers. “She was a little tiny woman and stayed in jail a day or so.”
Cyphers says while her grandfather had a rough appearance and unpleasant attitude, he was quite fond of his grandchildren, and worked hard to keep them away from the surrounding Holston River. He feared they’d drown, or at least that’s what he told them. She now wonders if it was to keep them from finding liquor—he would hide it in the river out of the sight of authorities.
The City of Kingsport is proud to be the site of the original recipe and has recently engaged in a friendly competition with Long Island, New York. They conducted two blind taste tests—one in Long Island and one in Kingsport. Competitors included bartenders at Hudson on the Mile on Long Island and Randy Ashens and Shane Winegar of East Coast Wings and Grill in Kingsport. Each version of the drink won on its home turf.
Now they’re trying to decide where to host the tie-breaking event for the BEST Long Island iced tea, but not the title of “original.” Kingsport has that distinction locked up since the Long Island version wasn’t created until the 1970s. The difference between the two—the New York version includes triple sec and sour mix while the Kingsport version has maple syrup, whiskey, Coke, lemon and lime. Both versions contain tequila, rum, gin and vodka.
Want to mix up your own?
Here’s the recipe for Kingsport’s ORIGINAL Long Island Iced Tea:
- 4 oz. cola
- Squeeze ½ Lemon and ½ Lime
- 1 oz. Whiskey
- ½ oz. Maple Syrup
- ½ oz. Tequila
- ½ oz. Gin
- ½ oz. Rum
- 1 oz. Vodka
END OF PREVIEW
The story above appears in our Jan./Feb. 2019 issue.
