The Singapore Sling is an internationally recognised cocktail created at Raffles Hotel in 1915 by Bar Captain Ngiam Tong Boon.
History
Originally created as a lady's drink and thus the pink hue, it has become a world-renowned cocktail still being mixed in Raffles Hotel. A recipe written on a bar-chit, which a visitor obtained from a waiter when he visited the Raffles Hotel in 1936, can still be found in the Raffles Hotel Museum along with the safe in which Ngiam kept his receipes. As recent as 1999, Raffles Hotel reportedly sold 1,000 Singapore Slings a day.
Ngiam Tong Boon had been a bartender at Raffles Hotel at the turn of the century. The Hainanese had also concocted a bitter-sweet drink, the "Million Dollar Cocktail" which similarly gained a reputation when Somerset Maugham referred to it in his short tale, "The Letter".
Recipe
30 ml gin
15 ml Cherry Brandy
120 ml pineapple juice
15 ml lime juice
7.5 ml Cointreau
7.5 ml Benedictine Dom
10 ml Grenadine
a dash of Angostura Bitters
Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker shake gently, and strain into a tumbler. Garnish with pineapple slices and a cherry.
Author
Bonny Tan
References
Augustin, A. (1988). The Singapore treasury: Secrets of the garden city. Singapore: A. Augustin.
(Call no.: RSING 915.957 AUG)
Raffles Hotel publicity note on Singapore Sling. (1999, July).
Mowe, R. (Ed.). (1999). Southeast Asian specialties: A culinary journey through Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia (p. 109). Culinaria: Konemann.
(Call no.: RSING 641.5959 SOU)
Sips from the past. (1991, November 8). The Straits Times, p.8. Retrieved April 18, 2011, from NewspaperSG
The information in this article is valid as at 2011 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
