Cocktail recipe
Singapore Sling
A lush, fruit-forward gin long drink layered with pineapple, cherry, citrus and herbal spice.
Ingredients
- 30 ml (1 oz) gin
- 15 ml (½ oz) cherry liqueur
- 7.5 ml (¼ oz) orange liqueur, triple-sec style
- 7.5 ml (¼ oz) herbal liqueur, Bénédictine-style
- 120 ml (4 oz) fresh pineapple juice
- 15 ml (½ oz) fresh lime juice
- 10 ml (⅓ oz) grenadine
- 1 dash aromatic bitters
- Garnish: 1 pineapple wedge and 1 cocktail cherry
Preparation
Combine all liquid ingredients in an ice-filled shaker. Shake energetically to aerate the pineapple and chill the mixture. Strain into a tall Collins / highball glass over fresh ice; add the pineapple wedge and cherry.
Glassware
Tall Collins / highball glass, cubed ice
History
Raffles Hotel credits bartender Ngiam Tong Boon with creating the Singapore Sling at its Long Bar in 1915, and the hotel tells a story of a pink, juice-like cocktail that women could discreetly order under colonial etiquette. That is the hotel's longstanding institutional narrative, not an undisputed reconstruction. Contemporary Singapore newspaper references to Sling-like drinks predate 1915, and a peer-reviewed historical study reports references to a Singapore Sling at least two years before the hotel's asserted creation date. Early 'Straits Sling' and 'Singapore Sling' recipes vary; a definitive original formula has not survived. The pineapple-rich recipe now associated with Raffles was popularized through the hotel's later revival, and may not match the earliest drink.
Mixology View
We present this as a modern Raffles-associated long drink, not an authenticated 1915 recipe. The competing archival chronology deserves explicit space; fruit-forward service can be delicious without pretending the historical question is settled.