make a couple of slings. The Singapore Sling has been on countless tiki menus. However, the drink
pre-dates tiki. Kind of like the Queen's Park Swizzle. We talked about that one,
do you remember? Were you here for that? Check it out if you haven't. Actually think I was wearing
this shirt for that episode. I like this shirt. The Singapore Sling, right. Gin-based cocktail
it's like a gin tiki. In fact this was on one of the earliest tiki menus by Don the Beachcomber.
He actually traveled to Singapore, found this cocktail, loved it, put it on his menu, and ever since then
people have associated it with tiki - because it fits that template. Also, I will be using two gins
which are from Singapore, to make my Singapore Slings. Who happen to be sponsoring - that's right,
sponsoring this video. More about that later. If you're new to the channel hit that subscribe
button and notification bell. Let's go make a couple of Singapore Slings. To the bar.
Every bartender makes the Singapore Sling differently. And that's because none of us
really know what goes in it. The story goes that this drink was created in 1915
at a bar called the Long Bar inside of Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Raffles Hotel was a posh,
elegant hotel - absolutely beautiful. And anyone who is anyone would go there. Now at the time
ladies couldn't drink in public - which is silly. Enter Ngiam Tong Boon who is a gentleman
who created the Singapore Sling. The story is he created a drink that looked like exotic fruit
juices. So ladies could drink it in public, and nobody would know. And it was a hit. Now the story
is a little confusing because that same year Ngiam Tong Boon died in China. So if he died in
1915 and created this cocktail in 1915, he would have had to have made a lot of Singapore Slings
to become famous for it before he died. So a lot of people think that he actually created this drink
much earlier. Which I believe, because there's proof that he worked at Raffles during the turn of the
century, and back then there were other slings that were also popular. So chances are this cocktail was
created earlier than 1915, and it was probably just a riff on the other slings. The real question is
what was in the drink? Because he was highly secretive. It's said that he kept it in a safe
in his home so nobody else could see it. Fast forward over half a century later to the 1970s,
and somebody shows up with a cocktail napkin with a recipe for the Singapore Sling, and claimed it
was written by Ngiam Tong Boon himself. And that recipe had a lot of pineapple juice
and grenadine in it - which also happened to be popular in cocktails in the 1970s. So I don't
know. I'm skeptical, but a lot of people believe that is the true recipe. In fact, Raffles today
serves that recipe at the hotel. I mean who am I kidding? If I go to Singapore, I'm going to go to
Raffles and I'm going to have a Singapore Sling. But I don't know what Ngiam Tong Boon was really
making. And I don't think any of us truly know. So today I'm going to show you two ways that I make
the Singapore Sling. The first is going to have the pineapple juice and grenadine - kind of the version
that a lot of people have come to know. And the second is a more slimmed down, fewer ingredients,
but I bring up the flavors of the liqueurs, and it's really good. I will show you both of them.
You're welcome. Before we jump in, I want to thank today's sponsors, Tanglin Gin - Singapore's first
gin distillery. Today I'll be using the Singapore Gin, which is their latest expression, and their
navy strength Black Powder Gin. I'll leave a link down below and the first 25 people to use my link
will get free shipping on these bottles. Which is kind of a big deal. Shipping booze is not cheap.
Moving on. Now the booze. I'm going to do this one cocktail at a time, so the first one is going to be
my version of the Raffles Singapore Sling. For that we are going to need gin, cherry liqueur,
Bénédictine, triple sec, pineapple and lime juice, grenadine,
and bitters.
It's that simple. You just have to have an entire liquor cabinet to make this one drink.
That's it. The gin I'm using is Tanglin Singapore Gin. This gin is one of the softest gins I've ever
had. It has notes of mandarin orange and lime, and in this cocktail I think it's gonna marry really
well with the orange liqueur, pineapple juice, the lime juice. The cherry liqueur -
this is pretty important in the Singapore Sling. At least I think so. It gives it a
cherry sweetness, obviously, but Cherry Heering has a deep red color which gives it a slight pink hue.
And then we've got the Bénédictine which is a sweet herbal liqueur. You get a little bit
of orange from the orange liqueur. Fruit juice, fruit juice, kind of a sweet fruit
from the grenadine. I mean there's just everything in this cocktail. Let's build.
As far as glassware, I'm serving this in a collins glass. You could serve it in a hurricane glass,
a sling glass would be appropriate. I think the collins glass is really nice. I've got one chilling.
Into the shaking tin, let's start with the gin. One and a half ounces of gin,
three quarters of an ounce of Cherry Heering, a quarter of an ounce of Bénédictine,
quarter of an ounce of triple sec. That's a lot of quarter ounces. I'm gonna do another quarter ounce
of grenadine. Then I'm gonna do one ounce of pineapple juice. I believe
Raffles calls for four ounces of pineapple juice, but I like to tone the pineapple down
a little bit - so just one ounce of the pineapple juice. Three quarters of an ounce of lime juice,
and one dash of Angostura Bitters. Now we can add ice and shake. About 10 seconds.
Get your glassware. And double strain right into the glass.
For the garnish, it's really up to you. I'm gonna do a slice of pineapple,
a pineapple frond, and an umbrella. There it is - my version of the Raffles Singapore Sling. Cheers.
That's really good. It's really soft. I like that it's not pineapple up front.
I've had some Singapore Slings where there's a lot more pineapple juice, and it feels like
something's going on with this pineapple juice. Whereas this one,
the pineapple is kind of more in the background. I get the cherry, I get the gin,
a touch of Bénédictine, a little spice. Light, bright, refreshing. Let's move on and make the other
version of the Singapore Sling. For my Singapore Sling 2.0 we're gonna want gin, cherry liqueur,
Bénédictine, lime juice, Angostura Bitters, and soda water. Quite different. This recipe doesn't have
the fruit juices and the syrups that the other one does, but it does have the same liqueurs.
And I bump up the ratios because I think those are the really important flavors here. I am using a
different gin for this. This is the Black Powder Tanglin Gin. It's a navy strength, so it's 58 percent
alcohol, and the reason why I chose this is because it's gonna really hold up in the drink.
I'm gonna have more cherry liqueur and more Bénédictine which are big, rich flavors, and so I
want a navy strength gin that's gonna cut right through it. This one in particular has a spicy
finish - like a peppery spicy finish that I think is really going to balance this out. Let's build, again.
The ratios here are very easy - all equal parts. One ounce of gin,
one ounce of cherry liqueur,
one ounce of Bénédictine,
one ounce of lime juice,
and one dash of Angostura Bitters. Now we add ice and shake.
Grab a collins glass, drop in some ice. Give it a little soda first, just to help
mix it in, and then we can pour the cocktail. Top it with soda water.
This one probably comes to about an ounce of soda water too. So many equal parts.
For a garnish, again whatever you want. I'm gonna do a lime, another pineapple frond,
a cherry. Singapore Sling simplified 2.0. Cheers.
Oooh ooh! Really nice pepper from the gin. Big fan of that one. You get these herbal components
that you don't get so much in the first one. The Bénédictine and the cherry liqueur
really give it a richness, and then it's cut with this almost black pepper. Really,
really nice. The 2.0 - the simple sling. If you are a classic cocktail lover, then I think
you're gonna like this drink. I love tasting all the different liqueurs. Equally refreshing. This
is closer to a straits sling. They're just slightly different - depends on your taste.
I say try both of these. Thank you for watching, like and subscribe, I'll see you next time. Cheers!