Golf legend Arnold Palmer was as incredibly popular off the links as he was successful on it. He was the first player to win four Masters tournaments and would go on to win 92 tournaments during his long career. He was so popular in the 1950s and 1960s that he made colorful alpaca vests a fashion item and popularized a tea-lemonade drink that still bears his name. Palmer dreamed up his signature drink one day in the 1950s and loved it so much that he brought it with him to golf.
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How the Arnold Palmer Drink Was Created
It quickly became a summertime classic thanks to its large fan base known as Arnie’s Army. In 2001 Palmer released his version which made it even more popular. The drink even inspired Miami chef Jeff McInnis who created a variation on the iced tea and lemonade combination for his fried chicken recipe using a sweet tea and salt marinade one of many creative ways to upgrade fried chicken.
Arnold Palmer recalled one day asking his wife Winnie Palmer to make a pitcher of tea. "Hey honey I've got an idea" he told her during an "ESPN 30 for 30" short about the famous drink. "You make the iced tea and make a big pitcher and we'll just put a little lemonade in it and see how that works." And it did. After playing around with the recipe he came up with what he thought were the perfect proportions: two-thirds unsweetened tea to one-third lemonade.
He began carrying the concoction in a thermos with him when he played golf. Palmer's drink went unnoticed until sometime in the late '60s when he ordered it at a restaurant after a day of designing a nearby golf course in Palm Springs California. A woman overheard his order. "I'll have that Palmer drink" she said. Palmer later told ESPN that after that day "word spread like wildfire." And if you decide to mix Arnold Palmers from scratch try microwaving your lemons for a more productive juice cleanse when making the lemonade portion of the drink.
