USF Basketball Mixology: Game 19, St. John's

(DISCLAIMER: Enjoy responsibly. 21 means 21. Don't drink and drive.)

Like St. John's basketball, today's theme beverage is pure New York. More specifically, Queens. The St. John's main campus is in the borough of Queens, which is on Long Island. You can probably guess where this is going.

Courtesy of International Bartender's Association's official list of cocktails.

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LONG ISLAND ICED TEA

• 1.5 cl (about half a shot) Tequila
• 1.5 cl Vodka
• 1.5 cl White Rum
• 1.5 cl Triple sec
• 1.5 cl Gin
• 2.5 cl Lemon juice, fresh
• 3.0 cl syrup
• 1 dash of Cola

The IBA official recipe calls for lemon juice, syrup, and a dash of cola as mixer. But you can pad out the drink with whatever you have handy: Coke, Sprite, sweet and sour mix, you can even make a Long Island Milkshake. Other variations call for flavored schnapps or Blue Curacao in place of the Triple Sec, or even as a sixth ingredient in place of the mixer. As long as you've got equal parts rum, tequila, vodka, gin, and liqueur, the alcohol components will taste like iced tea.

Which is the twisted genius of this beverage: five potent liquors can combine for an even more potent alcohol content, but taste completely innocuous. It's an easy drink for the uninitiated to go overboard with. As my 74-year-old grandmother learned the night before my brother's college graduation. That was a memorable family trip. So don't overdo it.