The color was about more than visual appeal. “Gin, sugar and lime juice as a consumption cluster are intimately tied to the history of British maritime power, further indicating the colonial history of this drink,” says historian Kerry Knerr. During Boon’s tenure, it was designed to fool onlookers into thinking a lady was sipping a refreshing, non-alcoholic punch, at a time when public drinking was gendered and divided by class and race. Most were consumed by women, says Hurt, and as a result, recipes for the cocktail were often included in cookbooks, like Mrs. At the time, the cocktail was usually comprised of gin, lemon or lime juice, sugar and soda water. The drink’s name is believed to be derived from the German word schlingen, which means to drink quickly, or gobble greedily. This would mean Boon would have honed his recipe sometime between then and 1915, when he left the hotel.ĭrinks historian David Wondrich came across a 1903 reference in the Singapore national archives of “pink slings for pale people.” It indicates a red liqueur like cherry brandy, likely Heering Cherry Liqueur or Bols Cherry Brandy, was used.Īccording Leong, the cocktail’s roots lie in the gin sling. Priscilla Leong, head bartender, Raffles Hotel, Singapore / Photo by Russell Wong “Early versions of these drinks would have been made with little more than spirit, most likely genever or whiskey, sugar and lengthened with water or a mixer like soda water or ginger ale,” says Priscilla Leong, head bartender at Long Bar at Raffles Singapore. The earliest mention of a generic sling in a Singapore newspaper dates to 1897. “This was pretty common in many places in the world,” says Jeanette Hurt, cocktail historian and author of Drink Like a Woman (Seal Press, 2016), of society’s contempt for women drinking. This includes Singapore, where high society often adhered to many of the same social norms as Great Britain. British colonialism had established many trading posts in the East. It was a pink-hued drink intended for women, for whom public drinking was frowned upon. It was an iconic colonial symbol created by the Sarkies brothers, hoteliers of Armenian descent.Ī Chinese bartender, Ngiam Tong Boon, is said to have created the final, widely-accepted recipe for this gin-based cocktail in 1915. Most cocktail historians agree that the Singapore Sling originated, or at least gained popularity, at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.
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