Long Island Iced Tea

The quick reply she gets is: "It's from Long Island". With the boom of RV ownership since 2001, Airstreams are more popular than ever, and restoration of older models is a passion shared by many. In the movie Cruel Intentions, the innocent girl Cecile Caldwell is drinking what she thinks is regular iced tea, and says: "This doesn't taste like iced tea". Club members join together for one large International Rally each summer (which by club rules always includes the dates of July 1 and July 4), and hundreds of smaller local rallies. Marge Simpson, in an episode of The Simpsons, once quipped, "I'd like to visit that Long Island place, if only it were real." after having several servings of a Long Island Iced Tea. Later, the word "International" was added to the club name, resulting in the acronym "WBCCI".
. An owner's club was formed in 1955 during one of these rallies, named the Wally Byam Caravan Club.

Variations of this drink include:. This promoted a mystique which surrounded Airstreams and persists to this day. Long Island Iced Tea served outside the States are often made of liquors and cola alone(without sour mix). Photos taken of the trailers in front of many famous tourist sites were common. This American cocktail is however altered in other countries, due to the minimal use of sour mix. In the early 1950s, the Airstream company founder, Wally Byam, began leading groups of owners on travels to many portions of the world, where the towed trailers were quite remarkable. Because of strict liquor laws in Utah, the cocktail must be served in five shot glasses with the soda, sour and ice in a separate glass, or a single glass with a single shot of alcohol with the 'flavors' of the other liquors. Airstreamers are a group of RVer's who have a community spirit because of their mutual love of Airstream travel trailers built by Airstream company of Jackson Center, OH.

The drink has a much higher alcohol concentration (~28%) than most cocktails because of the small amount of mixer. The company presently manufactures about 1,500 motorhomes and trailers per year. However, stronger evidence suggests that the Long Island Iced Tea was in fact invented in the 1970s by Robert "Rosebud" Butt, a bartender at the Oak Beach Inn (OBI) nightclub in Oak Beach on Long Island. and still produces their traditional aluminum skinned trailers, along with a full line of motorhomes, and the recently added Basecamp trailers. This has led to its frequent use in fiction as a method to get a teetotaler drunk. Airstream, based in Jackson Center, Ohio is owned by Thor, Inc. The drink also shares a similar taste to tea. A recent model the Skydeck, features bus like construction, and interior stairs leading to a fully appointed deck on the roof.

Some claim that the drink, like most cocktails, was invented during the Prohibition era, as a way of taking the appearance of a non-alcoholic drink (iced tea). These classic motorhomes were followed by production of fiberglass, more traditional looking models in the 90's, with versions of these still being sold today. Close variants often replace the sour mix with sweet and sour mix or with lemon juice, and the cola with actual iced tea. The motorhomes began as 28 foot models, and in the eighties and nineties models ranging up to 37 feet were marketed. A popular variation mixes equal parts vodka, gin, rum, tequilla and triple sec with 1 1/2 parts sour mix with a splash of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or a similar soda. In actuality these were modified trailers, mounted on a step van chassis also modified for the motorhome. A Long Island Iced Tea is a cocktail made with, among other ingredients, vodka, gin, tequilla and rum. These began as painted aluminum 20 and 24 foot models, and were followed in 1979 by the first of their Classic model motorhomes, with an unpainted aluminum body, much like the trailers they are known for.

Texas Tea - a Long Island Iced Tea with the addition of Burbon/. In 1974 Airstream began manufacturing a Class A Motorhome, badged "Argosy". Long Beach Iced Tea - made with Cranberry Juice instead of sours mix, without Coke. Beginning in the mid 1970s Airstream also began manufactures a line of "Class A" motorhomes and "Class B" van campers. Electric Iced Tea. By August of that year the first Ohio made Airstream rolled off the line, and the California factory was also moved to larger facilities in Santa Fe Springs. Walk Me Down- Made with Blue Curacao instead of Coke and mixed with ice in a blender, giving an almost margarita impression. In July 1952, a new facility in Jackson Center, Ohio,was established to serve the demand for the trailers.

California Iced Tea - made with Lemonade and Blue Curacao instead of Coke. By 1948 the demand for Airstream trailers increased tremendously, with a wide range of models eventually being offered. Beverly Hills Iced Tea - made with Champagne instead of Coke. When World War II ended, the economy boomed and people’s attention once again turned towards leisure travel. Baptist Redemption - a Long Island Iced Tea without Coke. Byam decided that the best way to help the war effort was to use his experience with aluminum fabrication in the aircraft industry taking jobs at Lockheed and Curtis Wright for the rest of the war. Alaskan Iced Tea. closed its doors.

Adios Motherfucker. Airstream Trailer Co. However, during World War II, leisure travel and the materials needed to build trailers both became luxuries most in the country could not afford. Of more than 300 trailer builders operating in 1936, Airstream was the only one to survive the Depression years. introduced the “Clipper".

On January 17, 1936, the Airstream Trailer Co. He incorporated aircraft construction methods to lower wind resistance and improving the trailer’s strength, while retaining light weight.His designs took on a more aerodynamic look. During the mid 1930’s, company founder Wally Byam perfected his skill of combining form and functionality. In 1936, Byam introduced the "Airstream Clipper", which was essenntially a prototype of the now familiar rounded-cornered, silver aluminum Airstream trailer.Byam moved his operaton to Jackson Center, Ohio in 1952, where its headquarters still reside.

Byam a former Bowlus employee, purchased the designs and revised them, initially selling kits to customers wishing to build their own trailer. The company was founded by Walter "Wally" Byam, who began building trailers in his backyard in Los Angeles during the early 1930s. . The design cuts down on wind resistance and thus improves gas mileage.

Airstream trailers are well recognized for their distinctive rounded aluminum bodies, which originated in the 1930s from designs originally created by Harley Bowlus and others. The company, which employs about 400, is owned by the Thor Industries. Airstream is the name of a brand of recreational vehicle presently manufactured in Jackson Center, Ohio.