Aviation
45 ml Gin, 15 ml Maraschino liqueur, 15 ml Lemon juice, 7.5 ml Crème de violette, 1 Maraschino cherry
Photo: Singapore Sling Cocktail by James Cridland · CC BY 2.0 · All credits
Ingredients
- 30 ml Jigger One small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a teaspoon. Gin
- 15 ml Spoons A tablespoon. Cherry brandy
- 7.5 ml Spoons One and a half teaspoons. Bénédictine
- 7.5 ml Spoons One and a half teaspoons. Triple sec
- 10 ml Spoons Two teaspoons. Grenadine
- 60 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) of a standard jigger, plus two teaspoons. Pineapple juice
- 15 ml Spoons A tablespoon. Lime juice
- 1 dash Bottle One quick shake of the bottle - each a few drops, about a millilitre. Angostura bitters
- 30 ml Jigger One small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a teaspoon. Soda water
- 1 wedge Pineapple (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Shake everything except the soda, pour over ice, then top with soda.
Method
- Chill a tall glass and fill it two-thirds with ice.
- Shake the gin, cherry brandy, Bénédictine, triple sec, grenadine, both juices and the bitters with ice for 12 seconds.
- Strain into the glass and let it settle for a moment.
- Top with soda water, stir once, and crown it with a pineapple wedge and a cherry.
Serve it
Singapore Sling
Ngiam Tong Boon made this at Raffles Hotel around 1915, and the story goes that he invented it so that ladies could drink something alcoholic in public without it looking like it. The original recipe has been lost, mislaid and reinvented so many times that the version most bars pour today is a 1970s reconstruction - and it is a lovely drink anyway, so nobody minds much.
Getting it right
There is a lot going on here, and the two things that go wrong are too much grenadine (which turns it into squash) and a lazy shake (which leaves it thin and warm). Keep the grenadine to a glug, shake the first seven ingredients properly, and add the soda only at the end so the bubbles survive to the table. Building it in the glass and stirring works too if you are making four of them.
Tasting notes
Fruity and long, with pineapple leading and a herbal note from the Bénédictine underneath. It is sweet, but the lime and the bitters keep it moving, and the finish is drier than the colour suggests.
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