Singapore Sling
Gin, cherry liqueur, Bénédictine, pineapple, lime and bitters, shaken long and pink. The Raffles Hotel drink of 1915, in the version the hotel settled on after it lost the original.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Add everything except the garnish to a shaker.
Fill with ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds — the pineapple should foam.
Strain into a hurricane or tall glass filled with ice.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a cherry.
A thoughtful finish
- Cherry Heering — the Danish cherry liqueur — is the cherry brandy the drink was built on; a cheap red 'cherry brandy' makes it sugary.
- Two ounces of pineapple, not four. The Raffles tourist version is a juice drink; this keeps the gin in charge.
- For the older, drier Straits Sling, drop the pineapple, Cointreau and grenadine, add a dash of orange bitters, and top with soda.
Common mistakes
- Drowning it in pineapple juice. It becomes a smoothie.
- Skipping the Bénédictine, which is the drink's spice.
- Serving it in a shot-sized sling glass. It is long.
A few good questions.
Why is there more than one Singapore Sling recipe?
The hotel lost the original. The 1920s bar books print a dry gin, cherry brandy and lime version; the Raffles reconstruction of the 1970s added pineapple and more liqueurs. Both circulate.
What is Cherry Heering?
A Danish cherry liqueur made since 1818, around 24% ABV, drier and darker than most cherry brandies. It is the standard in the Sling and the Blood and Sand.
Is it very sweet?
The tourist version is; this one is balanced. Keep the pineapple to two ounces and the grenadine to a bar-spoon.
What is a sling?
An old category of spirit, sugar and water, served long. The Singapore Sling is a gin sling dressed up for the tropics.
Variations
- Gin Fizz — Gin, lemon, sugar and soda.
- Blood and Sand — Scotch, cherry liqueur, vermouth and orange.
- Tom Collins — Gin, lemon, sugar and soda, long.
- Mai Tai — The other great tropical rum-and-liqueur drink.
Where it comes from
c. 1915 · Singapore · Ngiam Tong Boon · Long Bar, Raffles Hotel
Contested. More than one origin is claimed for this drink. We show the competing accounts rather than pick one.
Ngiam Tong Boon, a Hainanese bartender at the Raffles Hotel, is credited with creating the Singapore Sling around 1915 — a gin sling made pink so that colonial ladies could drink it in public and pass it off as fruit juice, the story goes. The hotel lost the recipe; the version it serves today was reconstructed in the 1970s from the memory of a retired bartender and the surviving scraps, and it includes pineapple juice, Bénédictine, Cointreau and grenadine that the 1920s recipes in Harry Craddock’s and Robert Vermeire’s books do not. Both are called the Singapore Sling. This is the Raffles version, trimmed of the sweeter excesses; the older, drier gin-cherry-lime one is the Straits Sling.
Sources
- Robert Vermeire, Cocktails: How to Mix Them, 1922 (book)
- Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930 (book)
- David Wondrich, Imbibe!, 2015 (book)
Strength. About 1.66 US standard drinks at an estimated 15.3% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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