A group of bartenders in Freeport is challenging a city in Tennessee for the naming rights to the “Long Island Iced Tea.”
According to
Newsday, the city of Kingsport, Tennessee, is staking its claim to the cocktail they say was first concocted 50 years before New York’s version of the drink. They say it was named for a small island, about 4 miles long, that sits in the Holston River.
Butch Yamali, the owner of Hudson's on the Mile in Freeport, says he uses triple sec in his version of the drink. He says the Hudson’s Long Island Iced Tea is far superior to the Tennessee drink that uses whiskey and maple syrup.
“Authentic iced tea is made on Long Island,” he tells News 12.
Yamali has invited Kingsport to a friendly ice tea competition – a challenge that the city says it’s up for.