An Arnold Palmer beverage is one of the simplest great drinks in the world: iced tea mixed with lemonade, served cold over ice. The classic Arnold Palmer drink is non-alcoholic, traditionally leans toward more tea than lemonade, and is named after the American golfer Arnold Palmer, who loved to order it. If you want the short answer, that is it. Below we cover the exact ratio, how to make one at home, the bottled AriZona version, and the spiked "John Daly" variant.
What is an Arnold Palmer beverage?
An Arnold Palmer is a blend of two everyday drinks: iced tea and lemonade. There is no fixed formula, but the spirit of it is tea-forward refreshment with a bright citrus lift. The tea brings tannin, color, and a little structure; the lemonade brings sweetness and tartness. Together they make something more interesting than either one alone.
The drink is sometimes simply called a "Half and Half" when it is mixed in equal parts. It is a warm-weather staple, popular at golf clubhouses, diners, and home kitchens, precisely because it is easy, non-alcoholic, and endlessly adjustable to your taste.
Where the Arnold Palmer drink got its name
The Arnold Palmer iced tea lemonade combination is named after the legendary golfer Arnold Palmer, who liked to mix the two at home in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. As the story goes, he would ask his wife, Winnie, to make him tea with a splash of lemonade on hot days.
He started ordering it the same way in restaurants and clubhouses. The name reportedly caught on after a woman overheard him request it at a lunch while he was designing a golf course in Palm Springs, California, in the late 1960s and told the server, "I'll have that Arnold Palmer drink, too." From there it spread by word of mouth until the name became permanent.
Palmer was particular about the balance, and he reportedly liked iced tea to lead the drink rather than the lemonade.
The classic Arnold Palmer ratio
This is where people disagree, and that is fine, because there is no single "correct" version. The two common approaches are:
| Style | Iced tea | Lemonade | Flavor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half and Half | 1 part | 1 part | Balanced, sweeter, easy crowd-pleaser |
| Palmer's own preference | 3 parts | 1 part | Tea-forward, less sweet, more refreshing |
If you are not sure where to start, pour it half and half, taste it, then add more iced tea until the lemonade is a supporting note rather than the star. That tea-led balance is closer to what Palmer himself reportedly drank.
How to make an Arnold Palmer at home
The whole point is that you can make this with two things you may already have. Use unsweetened tea if you want control over sweetness, since lemonade already adds plenty of sugar.
Ingredients
- Brewed iced tea, chilled (black tea is classic; green or an herbal tea works too)
- Lemonade, chilled (homemade or store-bought)
- Plenty of ice
- Optional: lemon wheel and a sprig of mint
Steps
- Brew strong iced tea and let it cool. Brewing it a little stronger than usual keeps the tea from getting lost once the lemonade goes in.
- Fill a tall glass with ice.
- Pour in the iced tea and lemonade. Start at half and half, or go tea-heavy at about 3:1 for the Palmer style.
- Stir gently, taste, and adjust. Too sweet? Add more tea. Too flat? Add a splash more lemonade.
- Garnish with a lemon wheel and mint if you like, and serve cold.
For a deeper dive into getting the tea base right, see our guide on how to make iced tea. Choosing the tea matters too: a brisk black tea gives the most classic result, but you can experiment using our overview of the types of tea explained.
The AriZona Arnold Palmer and bottled versions
You do not have to mix your own. The most famous ready-to-drink version is the AriZona Arnold Palmer, sold in tall cans and bottles. The Arizona Beverage Company began marketing the drink with Palmer's picture and signature on the packaging in the early 2000s and has been associated with it ever since. It is typically sweeter than a homemade tea-forward Palmer, which is part of its mass appeal.
Plenty of other brands sell their own iced-tea-and-lemonade blends as well. They are convenient, but making your own lets you control the sweetness and the tea-to-lemonade ratio, which is really the heart of the drink.
The spiked version: the John Daly drink
There is an alcoholic cousin to the Arnold Palmer, usually called a John Daly drink, named after the golfer John Daly. It is essentially an Arnold Palmer iced tea lemonade base with alcohol added, most often vodka (sometimes a sweet-tea-flavored vodka); a tequila version is sometimes called a Lee Trevino. There is also a commercially available malt-based alcoholic version that has been sold under the Arnold Palmer Spiked name since 2018.
A responsible note: the spiked John Daly contains alcohol and is for adults of legal drinking age only. If you choose to make one, please drink responsibly and never serve it to anyone underage. The classic Arnold Palmer itself is non-alcoholic, and that is the version most people mean when they order one. The same adults-only, drink-responsibly guidance applies to any other "spiked" twist you might see.
Simple ways to vary it
- Tea swap: use green tea for something lighter, or a fruity herbal tea for a caffeine-free version.
- Citrus tweak: swap lemonade for limeade, or add a squeeze of fresh lemon for extra brightness.
- Sweetness: start with unsweetened tea so the lemonade does the sweetening, then dial it in to taste.
- Fizz: top with a splash of sparkling water for a lighter, spritzy take.
The bottom line
An Arnold Palmer is proof that the best drinks are often the simplest: good iced tea, good lemonade, lots of ice, and a ratio you enjoy. Keep it tea-forward to honor the original, or go half and half for something sweeter. Once you have the iced tea base dialed in, you can take it in dozens of directions. If you want to keep exploring refreshing tea drinks, browse our wider tea hub or learn how the leaf itself shapes flavor in our guide to the tea plant, camellia sinensis.