John Daly
A John Daly is 45ml vodka, 135ml cold black tea and 45ml still lemonade, built over ice in a highball and stirred once, with a lemon wheel. It is an Arnold Palmer with vodka in it, made with three parts tea to one of lemonade, at about 1.8 UK units. Leave out the vodka and you have the Arnold Palmer, with no alcohol at all. The name pairs the Arnold Palmer with a second golfer, John Daly, whom Glenmuir says has had a rocky relationship with alcohol. Daly did not see the funny side. Glenmuir reports that he called the use of his name a trademark infringement and formed his own drinks company, which Feast and West dates to 2010. In Britain, lemonade usually means the fizzy kind. This drink wants still, cloudy lemonade, sharp rather than sweet, as the American original does.
Glassware: Highball Glass
Garnish: Lemon wheel
Ingredients
45ml
Clean and neutral, at 40% ABV. It adds strength and no flavour, and leaves the tea to lead.
135ml
Black tea brewed a little lighter than for a hot cup, cooled quickly and chilled. Strong tea turns tannic once cold, and slow cooling makes it cloudy.
45ml
Still, cloudy and sharp, as in the American original. British fizzy lemonade makes a sweeter, flatter drink.
Instructions
Brew the tea a little lighter than for a hot cup, cool it quickly and chill it.
Fill a highball glass with cubed ice and add the vodka.
Add the cold tea, then the lemonade.
Stir once and garnish with a lemon wheel.
Expert Tip
Use still lemonade. British lemonade is usually carbonated and sweet; once the bubbles go in the tea it leaves a flat, sugary drink. A cloudy still lemonade keeps the edge the drink needs. Brew the tea a little lighter than you would for a hot cup and cool it quickly. Strong tea turns tannic and drying once cold, and tea left to cool slowly goes cloudy. Measure the vodka. In a tall glass of tea it is easy to pour twice as much without tasting the difference, and 45ml is already 1.8 units.
Behind the John Daly
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
The Arnold Palmer came first: unsweetened iced tea and lemonade, which Palmer ordered with about a third lemonade. Palmer’s own account, as Today reports it, places it at a country club in Palm Springs, California, where a woman at a nearby table overheard his order and asked for “an Arnold Palmer”, and the name stuck.
The John Daly adds vodka and swaps the golfer. Feast and West credits Daton Lewis, a bartender at Whiskey Creek golf course in Fort Myers, Florida, who made it for the 2005 Dirty Gator Open; Glenmuir names a different bartender, Ian Forret, so the record is thin. Daly objected to the use of his name, and Feast and West says that in 2010 he founded the GIASI Beverage Company with two friends to sell his own version.
The Ratio Survives
The vodka changes the strength and nothing else. The tea still leads, the lemonade still sharpens, and the proportions stay at three to one.
Arnold Palmer, John Daly and half and half compared
Arnold Palmer
- Spec
- 135ml iced tea, 45ml lemonade
- Alcohol
- None
John Daly
- Spec
- 45ml vodka, 135ml iced tea, 45ml lemonade
- Alcohol
- About 1.8 UK units
Half and half
- Spec
- Iced tea and lemonade in equal measure
- Alcohol
- None unless spiked; sweeter
| Drink | Spec | Alcohol |
|---|---|---|
| Arnold Palmer | 135ml iced tea, 45ml lemonade | None |
| John Daly | 45ml vodka, 135ml iced tea, 45ml lemonade | About 1.8 UK units |
| Half and half | Iced tea and lemonade in equal measure | None unless spiked; sweeter |
A flavoured vodka or a heavier pour of lemonade makes a sweet highball that has lost the tea. Keep the vodka plain and the lemonade sharp.
The Arnold Palmer is the same build with no vodka, at the same 135ml and 45ml.
Brewing the Tea
The tea is most of the glass, and it is where a John Daly usually goes wrong.
Brew it lighter than you would for a hot cup. Tannins that read as body when warm turn dry and bitter when cold, and the lemonade’s acid makes them more obvious.
Cool it quickly. Tea left to cool slowly goes cloudy, a sign the tannins are coming out of solution, and it tastes harsher for it. Chill freshly brewed tea straight away and drink it the same day.
The Lemonade Question
American lemonade is still: lemon juice, sugar and water. In Britain the word usually means a carbonated soft drink, sweeter and less sour.
Use a still, cloudy lemonade. Fizzy lemonade loses its bubbles in the tea within minutes and leaves mostly sugar behind.
How to Serve It
Tall, over plenty of cubed ice: vodka first, then tea, then lemonade, one stir and a lemon wheel.
At about 1.8 UK units a glass it drinks easily, which is the risk. Pace it like a pint, and keep a jug of plain Arnold Palmer beside it for anyone driving.
Make it at home
The Spirit
VodkaVodka is spirit made from a farmed crop, usually grain or potatoes, distilled and refined so that the taste of that crop is deliberately reduced. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008 its minimum is 37.5% ABV and it may not be given a predominant flavour, which separates it from flavoured vodka and from gin; our recipes count it at 40%. In a mixed drink it adds strength and body while the other ingredients carry the taste.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a John Daly?
Why is it named after John Daly?
Who created the John Daly cocktail?
Does the ratio change from an Arnold Palmer?
How strong should the tea be?
How strong is a John Daly?
Should the lemonade be still or fizzy?
Sources.
Checked between 18 October and 19 October 2026.
- Today (NBC News), “How Arnold Palmer came up with the iced tea and lemonade drink that bears his name” (secondary source: Palmer’s own account; a country club in Palm Springs, California, on a 115-degree day; iced tea with about one-third lemonade; a woman at a nearby table overheard it and ordered “an Arnold Palmer”; sold by Arizona Beverage Co. since 2002).
- Feast and West, “Spiked Arnold Palmer (John Daly drink)” (secondary source: Daton Lewis, Whiskey Creek Golf Course, 2005 Dirty Gator Open; GIASI Beverage Company 2010).
- Glenmuir, “Famous golf cocktails and drinks” (secondary source: Ian Forret, Whiskey Creek, 2005; Daly called the name a trademark infringement and formed a drinks company; rocky relationship with alcohol).
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Arnold Palmer
An Arnold Palmer is 135ml of cold, unsweetened black tea and 45ml of still, cloudy lemonade, three parts to one, built over ice in a highball and stirred once, with a lemon wheel. It is alcohol-free. The tea carries some caffeine. It is named for the golfer Arnold Palmer; his official site says that after a hot day on the course he used to ask his wife Winnie to make him an iced tea with lemonade in it. AriZona’s page quotes him on how the name began: he asked for iced tea with some lemonade in it, and a lady across the aisle said she would have an Arnold Palmer. Golf Monthly says Palmer preferred one part lemonade to three parts iced tea, while the AriZona Beverage Company’s drink is half tea and half lemonade by AriZona’s own account, which is sweeter. At three to one the tea leads, and its tannin keeps the finish dry.
Lynchburg Lemonade
A Lynchburg Lemonade is 40ml Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey, 20ml triple sec and 20ml fresh lemon juice, stirred over ice in a tall collins and lengthened with 90ml sparkling lemonade, then finished with lemon and a cherry. It carries about 2.4 UK units, and the lemonade hides most of it. VinePair says Tony Mason, an Alabama restaurateur, created it in 1980, and Garden & Gun gives a typical recipe of Jack Daniel’s, sweet and sour mix, triple sec and lemon-lime soda. The name points to Lynchburg, Tennessee, where Jack Daniel’s says its distillery sits. This version swaps the sour mix for fresh lemon and the soda for a sharp lemonade. The structure is the same: whiskey, orange liqueur, acid and length.
Vodka Collins
A Vodka Collins is 50ml of vodka, 25ml of fresh lemon juice and 20ml of sugar syrup, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds, strained over fresh ice in a collins glass and topped with 90ml of soda water, with a lemon wheel and a cherry. About 2.0 UK units. It is the Tom Collins with vodka in the place of gin. The Oxford Companion traces the Collins to Limmer’s Hotel in London, says the Old Tom version reached New York in 1872 and split into the John Collins and the Tom Collins, and says the Vodka Collins began to emerge in the 1930s and became ubiquitous in the 1950s. Harry Johnson printed a John Collins and a Tom Collins in 1882. Vodka adds strength and little flavour, so the lemon, sugar and soda carry the drink. That makes it a plain, clean long drink, and a useful control beside a Tom Collins: the only real change is the spirit.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026