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
Measures below are multiplied for 12 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 360 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 360 ml line. Gin
- 180 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 180 ml line. Cherry brandy
- 90 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) and one small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a tablespoon. Bénédictine
- 90 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) and one small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a tablespoon. Triple sec
- 120 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 120 ml line. Grenadine
- 720 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 720 ml line. Pineapple juice
- 180 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 180 ml line. Lime juice
- 12 dashes Bottle Twelve quick shakes of the bottle - each a few drops, about a millilitre. Angostura bitters
- 360 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 360 ml line. Soda water
- 12 wedges 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
Batch (12 drinks)Batch (12 drinks) - about 2.11 l of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- 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
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
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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