Singapore Sling: The Drink that Made Singapore Famous I t sounds so cool and exotic to pop by the bar and tell the bartender you’ll have...
Singapore Sling: The Drink that Made Singapore Famous
It sounds so cool and exotic to pop by the bar and tell the bartender you’ll have a Singapore Sling. Chances are, you’ve done this at least once in your lifetime. However, if you haven’t had the opportunity to sip a Singapore Sling in the very place it was created, you’re likely getting something that’s a bit different from the original creation.
Singapore’s national cocktail was first created at Raffles Singapore in 1915. It was at the hotel’s famed Long Bar that a bartender named Ngiam Tong Boon concocted this now world famous libation. Back then, it wasn’t considered proper for ladies to drink alcohol publicly. The enterprising bartender then thought up a way to make it easy for women to drink in public without drawing criticisms or icy stares.
His creation, a bright pink and fruity tropical delight, tastes as beautiful as it looks. And while it was indeed created to give the ladies a real cocktail fit for consumption out in the open, plenty of men drink it too. All over Singapore, you’ll find the vibrant drink in every restaurant and bar, however it is only at Raffles Hotel where the original exists in its truest form, the same way it was made over 100 years ago.
When in Singapore, you should make sure to seek out the original. It’s worth the effort and gives you another thing to check off your bucket list. Though it’s not every day that you get to visit this tropical Asian country that’s just north of the equator. Most people won’t get the chance to visit, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a Singapore Sling.
Every other place has their own variation on the ingredients. While the original tastes best, the imitators are quite flattering in their own right. The attempts at recreating the iconic national cocktail of Singapore are pretty good, albeit for a brief history in the 1980s when many bars simply mixed gin with grenadine and bottle sweet and sour and called it a day.
Now when you order a Singapore Sling, you’ll be served something much more akin to the original. You can also attempt to make your own at home the next time you entertain, or just need to entertain yourself. Singapore Slings are made with 4 ounces of pineapple juice, ¼ ounce DOM Bénédictine, ¼ ounce Cointreau, 1 ounce gin, ½ ounce fresh lime juice, 1 dash of Angostura bitters, 1/3 ounce grenadine, and ½ ounce cherry liqueur. These ingredients are poured into a shaker filled with ice, shaken vigorously and then strained into a hurricane glass. You’ll often see it garnished with pineapple and a cocktail cherry for good measure.
Have you ever tried the original Singapore Sling at the Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel?
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