Singapore Sling

Wayfinder

★Signature Cocktail

A Singapore Sling is 30ml gin, 15ml cherry liqueur, 7.5ml Cointreau, 7.5ml Bénédictine, 10ml grenadine, 120ml fresh pineapple juice, 15ml fresh lime juice and a dash of Angostura, shaken hard and strained over fresh ice in a sling or hurricane glass. That is the IBA specification, made here with Cherry Heering. It is a long, pink, fruit-led gin drink with more going on underneath than the colour suggests. It belongs to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, where Raffles, by its own account, credits its bartender Ngiam Tong Boon with creating it in 1915. The date is disputed, and the recipe first poured there is generally accepted to be lost. Fresh pineapple juice decides the result. There is 120ml of it, more than everything else in the glass combined, and juice pressed the same day gives the drink its light foam and its sharp edge. Carton juice gives a flat, sweet one.

ShakenLong DrinkBatchablePartyClassic

Glassware: Sling Glass

Garnish: Pineapple slice and Luxardo maraschino cherry

Ingredients

Serves

Gin

30ml

A London Dry with clear juniper. At 30ml it is a small share of a 200ml drink, so a soft or floral gin disappears under the pineapple.

Cherry liqueur (Cherry Brandy style)

15ml

Cherry Heering, as here, or Luxardo Sangue Morlacco, which the IBA specification names. Both are true cherry liqueurs. Sweet, artificially coloured cherry brandy is not a substitute.

Cointreau

7.5ml

Clean orange and a little sweetness. At 7.5ml it lifts the pineapple rather than tasting of orange.

Bénédictine D.O.M.

7.5ml

Herbal and honeyed, and it sits under the fruit rather than in front of it. There is no close substitute.

Grenadine

10ml

Made from pomegranate, not red sugar syrup. It brings the colour and a soft tartness; artificially coloured grenadine adds only sweetness.

Pineapple juice

120ml

Pressed the same day. Shaken, fresh juice throws a light foam; carton juice is heat-treated and gives neither the foam nor the sharpness.

Fresh lime juice

15ml

Squeezed the same day. Against this much pineapple and liqueur it supplies the acid, and stale lime leaves the drink sweet.

Angostura bitters

1 dash

One dash. It seasons the fruit and ties the spice together; a second dash starts to taste of bitters.

Instructions

Juice the pineapple and squeeze the lime the same day, ideally just before you build.

Fill a sling or hurricane glass of 40cl or more with cubed ice to chill it.

Add the gin, Cherry Heering, Cointreau, Bénédictine, grenadine, pineapple juice, lime juice and Angostura to a shaker.

Fill the shaker with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.

Tip the ice out of the glass, refill it with fresh cubes and strain the drink over them.

Garnish with a pineapple slice and a Luxardo maraschino cherry, and serve with a straw.

Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification, with Cherry Heering for the IBA's Luxardo Sangue Morlacco; method ours). Last checked 9 October 2026.

Expert Tip

Measure the small pours. The Cointreau and Bénédictine at 7.5ml each are half a 15ml measure, and free-poured they double without anyone noticing; the drink then turns sticky and the herbal note takes over. A jigger with a 7.5ml line keeps them where they belong. Shake it hard. Ten to twelve seconds with a full shaker of ice gives the dilution a 200ml drink needs and whips the fresh pineapple into the pale foam that sits on top. That foam is part of the texture, so strain rather than pour. One pineapple gives far more juice than one drink needs. Strain it, keep it covered in the fridge and use it the same day. Better still, make the drink for several people at once.

The story

Behind the Singapore Sling

Flavour Profile

TropicalCherryCitrusHerbalSweet

The Raffles Story

The Singapore Sling belongs to the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel, and the hotel, by its own account, names its creator: Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender there, in 1915. The story attached to it is that he made the drink look like fruit juice so that women could drink alcohol in public without comment.

The date and the story come down through that tradition. Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, puts the drink between 1899, when Ngiam started work at the Raffles Hotel, and 1915, when he died, and says the weight of evidence favours him as its creator. The sling itself was already old by then: the Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails records the sling in Maryland in 1778 and quotes David Wondrich dating the gin variety to 1800.

What is agreed is that the recipe first poured at Raffles is lost. Difford’s Guide says no record of Ngiam’s original survives, because the hotel was occupied in 1942, and that the only source for the recipe once touted as original is a note a visitor wrote in 1936 after asking a bartender how it was made. Published versions disagree even on the cherry spirit: Difford’s notes that Robert Vermeire’s 1922 Straits Sling calls for dry cherry brandy and David Embury’s 1948 recipe for kirschwasser, while Wondrich says only Bols and Cherry Heering turn up in local advertisements of the time. The IBA specification is the recognised modern reference, and it is the version here, with Cherry Heering as the cherry liqueur.

How the Eight Ingredients Fit

Pineapple is the body of the drink: 120ml of it against 30ml of gin. Everything else is seasoning, and each measure has one job.

Singapore Sling: what each ingredient does

Gin

Measure: 30ml
Its job: Juniper and structure under the fruit

Cherry Heering

Measure: 15ml
Its job: Dark cherry and depth of colour

Cointreau

Measure: 7.5ml
Its job: Orange that lifts the pineapple

Bénédictine

Measure: 7.5ml
Its job: A herbal, honeyed base

Grenadine

Measure: 10ml
Its job: The pink, and a little tartness

Fresh pineapple juice

Measure: 120ml
Its job: Body, length and the foam

Fresh lime juice

Measure: 15ml
Its job: The acid that keeps it from cloying

Angostura

Measure: One dash
Its job: Seasoning that ties the spice together

Ingredient	Measure	Its job
Gin	30ml	Juniper and structure under the fruit
Cherry Heering	15ml	Dark cherry and depth of colour
Cointreau	7.5ml	Orange that lifts the pineapple
Bénédictine	7.5ml	A herbal, honeyed base
Grenadine	10ml	The pink, and a little tartness
Fresh pineapple juice	120ml	Body, length and the foam
Fresh lime juice	15ml	The acid that keeps it from cloying
Angostura	One dash	Seasoning that ties the spice together

The gin is a small share for a drink called a gin sling. It is there for juniper and backbone rather than strength, which is why a London Dry with clear juniper suits it better than a soft, floral gin the pineapple would bury.

Fresh Pineapple, and the Foam

Shaken hard, fresh pineapple juice throws a pale foam that settles on top of the drink. It comes from the juice itself, not from egg white, and it softens the first sip. Carton juice is heat-treated so that it keeps, which costs it the sharpness and the fresh aromatics, and the drink made with it is sweeter and flatter. A whole pineapple gives far more juice than one drink needs, so this is a drink to make for several people at once.

How to Serve It

Shaken, strained over fresh cubed ice in a sling or hurricane glass, with a pineapple slice and a cherry on the rim and a straw. Cubed ice, not crushed: the drink is meant to hold its balance for twenty minutes, and crushed ice would thin it within ten.

The Long Bar Premix

For years the Long Bar was widely reported to pour its Singapore Slings from a premix, and that is the version many visitors met: sweet, pink and with little going on underneath.

The bar has since reopened with a reimagined Sling. The premix years still explain why so many people think they do not like the drink. If that is how you met it, the drink made fresh is worth a second try.

Make it

Make it at home

The Spirit

Gin

Gin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, juniper must lead the taste, the floor is 37.5% ABV, and the route the flavour takes sets the grade: plain gin, distilled gin or London gin. Our recipes count it at 40%, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.

Learn more

Master the Techniques

Why the Singapore Sling is shaken, not stirredin Shaken or stirred? When to shake or stir a cocktail

Go further

More to explore

Frequently Asked Questions

What's in a Singapore Sling?

Gin, cherry liqueur, Cointreau, Bénédictine, grenadine, pineapple juice, lime juice and Angostura bitters. The IBA measures are 30ml gin, 15ml cherry liqueur, 7.5ml each of Cointreau and Bénédictine, 10ml grenadine, 120ml pineapple, 15ml lime and a dash of bitters, shaken and strained over ice.

Who created the Singapore Sling?

Raffles credits Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender at its Long Bar, in 1915, by its own account. The date is not secure: Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, puts the drink between 1899, when Ngiam started work at the hotel, and 1915, when he died, and says the weight of evidence favours him as its creator.

What is the original Raffles recipe?

Nobody can say for certain. Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, says no record of Ngiam’s original survives, because the hotel was occupied in 1942, and that the only source for the recipe the hotel once touted as original is a note a visitor wrote in 1936. The IBA specification is the recognised modern reference.

Which cherry liqueur should I use?

Cherry Heering or Luxardo Sangue Morlacco. The IBA names the Luxardo; Heering is the other long-standing choice and the one used here. Either works. Avoid sweet, artificially coloured cherry brandy, which adds sugar and colour and little else.

Can I use carton pineapple juice?

You can, and the drink will be flatter and sweeter. Carton juice is heat-treated, which costs it the fresh aromatics and the sharp edge, and it does not foam the same way when shaken. With 120ml in the glass, it is the biggest single decision in the build.

Was it made pink so women could drink in public?

That is the story usually told: that Ngiam made the drink look like fruit juice so that women could drink alcohol in public without comment. It is part of the Raffles tradition rather than documented history, so it is best told as a story.

How strong is a Singapore Sling?

About 2.2 UK units, with a 40% ABV gin, in a drink of about 205ml before the ice melts. We take the gin at 40% ABV; Cointreau and Bénédictine are 40% on their makers’ sites and Cherry Heering 24% by Difford’s Guide’s account, but the 120ml of pineapple makes it drink much lighter than that.

What glass does a Singapore Sling go in?

A hurricane glass, which the IBA specifies: ours is the 42cl hurricane our shop sells. A tall footed sling glass does the same job if it holds about 40cl, our guidance, because the drink is 205ml before the ice goes in. A highball of that size works too; anything smaller will not take the drink and its ice.

Sources.

Checked between 18 October and 19 October 2026.

Raffles Singapore, “Long Bar” (Ngiam Tong Boon, 1915; the fruit-juice disguise story).
Difford’s Guide, “Singapore Sling” (secondary source: created between 1899 and 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon at the Long Bar; the weight of evidence favours him; no record of the original recipe survives (1942 occupation; a note of 1936); Vermeire 1922 and Embury 1948 on the cherry spirit; Wondrich on Bols and Cherry Heering).
Cointreau, “Cointreau Triple Sec” (40% Alc./Vol. in the page footer).
Bénédictine, “Bénédictine D.O.M.” (40 % alc/vol).
Difford’s Guide, “Cherry Heering Liqueur” (secondary source: alc./vol 24%).
Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (spiritsanddistilling.com), “The sling” (secondary source: sling first recorded in Maryland in 1778; gin variety first attested in 1800 (Wondrich)).