Red Death
Vodka, Southern Comfort, sloe gin, and amaretto — a 1990s college bar staple applying the Long Island Iced Tea's principle of masking alcohol behind sweet fruit.
- ¼ ozvodka
- ¼ ozsouthern comfort
- ¼ ozamaretto
- ¼ ozsloe gin
- ½ ozfresh orange juice
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The Red Death shot combines multiple spirits and liqueurs — typically vodka, Southern Comfort, sloe gin, amaretto, triple sec, and orange juice — into a potent, deceptively fruity concoction that became a fixture of American college bars during the 1990s. Its name telegraphs the drink's key characteristic: the deep red color produced by the sloe gin and Southern Comfort, and the potentially lethal combination of alcohol from multiple spirit bases hidden behind a sweet, approachable fruit flavor. This style of high-alcohol, deceptively sweet shooter exploited the same principle as the Long Island Iced Tea — using sweetness to mask a substantial alcohol load — and proved consistently popular in high-volume bar environments where group shots were a social currency.
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