The most shared origin story about Singapore Sling (the icon at Raffles Hotel Singapore) is of a sweet rebellion.
During the tropical days of colonial Singapore, social rules assigned women to teas and fruit juices (and no alcohol) in public spaces.
In comes bartender Ngiam Tong Boon in 1915, and his idea? To mix a cocktail that looks like innocent fruit juice but packs the punch of gin. The drink in disguise caught on and remains to this day a cultural hallmark of Singapore.
The signature Singapore Sling is the blend of gin, pineapple juice, lime juice, curaçao, plantation bitters, Bénédictine, crowned with grenadine and cherry liqueur for that rosy blush.
Legend of the Long Bar
Although mixed and re-imagined around the world, the Singapore Sling cocktail is best relished where it all began: the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel Singapore.
In this two-storied bar, sipping on the cocktail is elevated into an experience by its décor inspired by the 1920s Malayan plantation life. An array of palm fans, sturdy wooden beams…
Patrons are even encouraged to push peanuts shells off the bar counter. A gesture that harks back to when plantation workers nibbled on peanuts and had the habit of casually pushing shells to the ground over chit-chat.
Nobody leaves the bar without a visit to the green cast-iron monster, a friend of bartenders and mixologist. Called the Sling Shaker Machine, the hand-operated giant shakes up to 18 Singapore Sling cocktails at once!
Cocktail of numbers
Did you know? On June 27 every year, the Long Bar at Raffles Singapore invites people to a unique bar barter indulgence. Take a pineapple and receive a Singapore Sling on the house! The bar maintains this tradition as a homage to the drink and pineapple, the key ingredient in it.
What was once a watering hole for plantation owners and literary guests now serves over 1,000 drinks daily, during peak season, at 41 SGD a drink.
Keeping up with the times
Change being the only constant in life, the Singapore Sling too has undergone a change too. In 2018, the drink got a taste upgrade which resulted in a less sugary, sweet cocktail; and subsequently an eco-conscious treatment for its production.
The Singapore Sling thrives, one sling at a time. Each sip connects drinkers to a story of social change and culinary innovation. The staying power of a well-crafted drink!
Did you know?
Singapore Sling’s most famous movie appearance has been in Hunter S Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
The drink had lent its name to a now-removed, infamous chicane at the Singapore Grand Prix circuit!
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