How TGI Fridays Established Its Iconic Texas Tea Drink

The Texas Tea cocktail is essentially an upgraded version of a Long Island iced tea. Legend has it that this boozy creation was born at TGI Fridays back in 1980 when the restaurant wanted to toast four decades of its parent company's success. Customers visiting the restaurants could find several different versions of Long Island iced tea cocktails on restaurant menus for the occasion, and Texas Tea was one of the boozy drink options that captivated guests. 

Take a simple and strong Long Island iced tea recipe made with all of the clear booze you can find behind a bar – vodka, light rum, gin, and tequila — add a touch of triple sec, then include bourbon or whiskey to this wild assembly, and you have yourself the foundation for the kind of Texas Tea found on restaurant menus. To this dizzying concoction, cola, lemon juice, and sweet and sour mix or simple syrup (depending on your preference for a zippier or sweeter drink) help mellow out all the booze to create a drink that is more refreshing than punishing.

Spiked tea has been around since the 1800s, and its popularity rose once Prohibition banned alcoholic beverages, leaving dry palates needing something else to quench their thirst. (One theory speculates that tea was the perfect masquerading vessel to hide booze). Though we can only speculate what drove a restaurant worker to add even more alcohol to a Long Island iced tea cocktail, some have theorized that the name of the drink is, in fact, a marketing ploy to appeal to customers' love for the Lone Star State. 

While we can't be certain of the tactics surrounding this particular recipe's development, we do know that using fuller, rounder bourbons is key to slicing through the noise of the other alcohols included in a Long Island iced tea cocktail recipe. Spicy rye labels can help create an extra dimension to the beverage, making it one that can be pre-made in batches and poured easily at large gatherings. Garnish these feisty beauties with citrus wheels and sprigs of mint, and you, too, will be ready to start singing classic country tunes.