Singapore Sling
Raffles Hotel, Singapore, 1915. Gin, cherry brandy, Cointreau, Bénédictine, pineapple, lime, and grenadine—colonial-era luxury cocktail that landed in nearly every tiki bar’s menu through the mid-century. Adjacent to tiki by geography and by aesthetic, but its roots are British colonial, not American tropical.
The History
Created around 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The drink was originally pink-tinged and marketed as appropriate for women in an era when women weren’t expected to drink hard alcohol in public—a piece of colonial-era trivia that’s worth knowing. The recipe was lost during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II and reconstructed from staff memory; the modern Raffles version is itself a reconstruction. Most published recipes today are derivative.
Ingredients
- 1 oz gin
- 0.5 oz Heering cherry brandy
- 0.25 oz Cointreau
- 0.25 oz Bénédictine
- 4 oz fresh pineapple juice
- 0.5 oz fresh lime juice
- 0.25 oz grenadine (pomegranate-based)
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- Pineapple wedge + cherry (garnish)
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice.
Shake hard for 12 seconds—the foam crown depends on it.
Strain into a hurricane glass over fresh ice.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a cherry on a pick.