The Singapore Sling is an internationally recognised cocktail created at Raffles Hotel in 1915 by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon.1
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.2
Ngiam, a Hainanese, was a bartender at Raffles Hotel at the turn of the century. He also concocted a bittersweet drink known as the Million Dollar Cocktail3 that similarly gained a reputation when writer Somerset Maugham referred to it in his short story, The Letter.4
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
1 slice pineapple
1 cocktail cherry
Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker shake gently, and strain into a tumbler. Garnish with pineapple slices and a cherry.5
Author
Bonny Tan
References
1. Raffles Singapore. (n.d). Singapore Sling history. Retrieved 2016, March 14 from Raffles Singapore website: http://www.raffles.com/singapore/offers/ss100/singapore-sling-history/
2. Mowe, R. (Ed.). (1999). Southeast Asian specialties: A culinary journey through Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Cologne, Germany: Könemann, p. 109. (Call no.: RSING 641.5959 SOU)
3. Kok, M. (2015, March 10). Singapore Sling turns 100. The Straits Times. Retrieved from Factiva via NLB’s eResources website: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/
4. Danker, S. (1986, October 26). 100th birthday bash for Raffles Hotel. The Straits Times, p. 16. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. Mowe, R. (Ed.). (1999). Southeast Asian specialties: A culinary journey through Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Cologne, Germany: Könemann, p. 109. (Call no.: RSING 641.5959 SOU)
Further resource
Sips from the past. (1991, November 8). The Straits Times, p. 8. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
The information in this article is valid as at 2016 and correct as far as we are able to 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.
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