Singapore Sling
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 tradition credits the bartender Ngiam Tong Boon with creating it around 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.
Glassware: Sling Glass
Garnish: Pineapple slice and Luxardo maraschino cherry
Ingredients
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.
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.
7.5ml
Clean orange and a little sweetness. At 7.5ml it lifts the pineapple rather than tasting of orange.
7.5ml
Herbal and honeyed, and it sits under the fruit rather than in front of it. There is no close substitute.
10ml
Made from pomegranate, not red sugar syrup. It brings the colour and a soft tartness; artificially coloured grenadine adds only sweetness.
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.
15ml
Squeezed the same day. Against this much pineapple and liqueur it supplies the acid, and stale lime leaves the drink sweet.
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.
Behind the Singapore Sling
Flavour Profile
The Raffles Story
The Singapore Sling belongs to the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel, and the hotel tradition names its creator: Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender there, around 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.
Both the date and the story come down through that tradition rather than through records of the time. Accounts place the drink anywhere between 1899 and 1915, and David Wondrich has argued that it is older and was only attached to Raffles later. The sling itself was already old by then: it was in print in America by 1778.
What is agreed is that the recipe first poured at Raffles is lost. Versions published since disagree on almost everything, and a writer in The Times in 1976 had never seen two alike. 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 at home
The Spirit
GinGin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. GB law requires juniper to lead the taste and sets a 37.5% ABV floor; the usual bottle is 40%. The law grades it by how the flavour gets in, from plain gin through distilled gin to London gin, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What's in a Singapore Sling?
Who created the Singapore Sling?
What is the original Raffles recipe?
Which cherry liqueur should I use?
Can I use carton pineapple juice?
Was it made pink so women could drink in public?
Is the Raffles Singapore Sling premixed?
How strong is a Singapore Sling?
What glass does a Singapore Sling go in?
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