Classic cocktails · Gin · IBA official
Shaken pineapple juice gives this pink long drink a soft, foamy head, and underneath sit cherry, orange and the honeyed herbs of Bénédictine. It tastes of the tropics but keeps a firm gin backbone.
1 oz
London dry gine.g. Tanqueray · Gordon's · Beefeater · Bombay Sapphire · Sipsmith
½ oz
cherry liqueur e.g. Cherry Heeringe.g. Cherry Heering · Luxardo · Bols · Marie Brizard
¼ oz
CointreauBuy on Amazon →
¼ oz
BénédictineBuy on Amazon →
¼ oz
grenadine
4 oz
pineapple juice
½ oz
lime juice freshly squeezed
1 dash
Angostura bittersBuy on Amazon →
Garnish: Pineapple wedge and cocktail cherry · Ice: Ice cubes
Singapore Sling
Fruity and gently sweet with pineapple and cherry, a herbal honey note from Bénédictine and a dry gin finish. Light and long, with a soft foam.
The Singapore Sling is credited to Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, with the date usually given as around 1915. The hotel still serves it and calls it its own, though the original recipe was not written down in a way that survives, and early published versions differ widely.
A sling was originally a simple mixed drink of spirit, sugar and water, one of the oldest American drink families. By the early twentieth century, gin slings with cherry brandy were popular in the Straits Settlements, and the Raffles version grew out of that tradition.
The richer, pineapple-heavy recipe known today, and adopted by the IBA, took shape in later decades, when the Raffles recipe was reconstructed. It is less a single fixed formula than a well-loved family of variations.
It is credited to Ngiam Tong Boon at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, usually dated to around 1915.
Mainly the cherry liqueur and grenadine, lightened by the pineapple juice.
You can, but it loses its herbal depth. A small measure of another honeyed herbal liqueur is the closest substitute.
The perfect sound
Tropical grandeur at Raffles Hotel.
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