ADVANCED MIXOLOGY
DRINK IN HISTORY
THE
SINGAPORE SLING a
ppearing on cocktail menus around the world, the legendary Singapore Sling is a classic often interpreted and served in varying styles. While the exact year is open to debate, most agree that the drink was first created by a Hainanese-Chinese bartender by the name of Ngiam Tong Boon at the Raffles Hotel’s Long Bar in Singapore. Ngiam is believed to have first mixed up his Sling sometime between 1910 and 1915 however his original recipe was lost. In the middle of the 20th century the original creator’s nephew modified the recipe, which is now the base for the modern Singapore Sling. The classic version of the cocktail is typically made with a mixture of gin, Dom Benedictine, cherry brandy in equal parts with a dash of bitters and Cointreau and finished with a splash of grenadine, pineapple and lime juices. Most modern recipes substitute bottled pineapple juice for fresh and add soda water for foam. By the 1980’s the Singapore Sling recipe had diminished to a quick mixture of gin, bottled sweet and sour and grenadine usually blended instead of shaken to create the foamy top. Since then, the drink continues to be served as a foamy fruit punch concoction presented in a Collins glass and drinkers will conjure up a certain image of it even though this is not at all the original.
40
CHILLED MAGAZINE
