Who invented the Singapore Sling?

It is traditionally credited to Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender at the Raffles Hotel Long Bar in Singapore, in the 1910s.

Singapore Sling History and Recipe: From the Raffles Long Bar

Bar Pleiades listed the Singapore Sling with a credit to "Ngiam Tong Boon," the Hainanese bartender at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore who is usually named as its creator. It is a nice gesture, and it points to how much of cocktail history is held together by names, dates and a fair amount of hope.

What a sling was

A sling is one of the oldest families of mixed drinks: spirit, water, sugar and sometimes nutmeg, essentially a toddy that could be served hot or cold. By the late nineteenth century, "gin slings" were common throughout the British Empire, and in the Straits Settlements, which included Singapore, a local version with cherry brandy, lemon and soda was known as the Straits Sling.

The Raffles story

According to the Raffles Hotel, Ngiam Tong Boon created the Singapore Sling at the Long Bar in the 1910s, often dated to around 1915. The traditional story is that in colonial society it was not considered proper for women to drink alcohol in public, so he created a pink drink that looked like fruit juice. It is a charming tale, though, like many cocktail origin stories, hard to verify.

What is clear is that the hotel turned the drink into an institution. Generations of travelers have ordered a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar, and the bar's custom of letting guests drop peanut shells on the floor became part of the experience.

The recipe problem

The difficulty is that nobody is sure what was in the original. Early printed recipes from the 1920s and 1930s vary widely; some are little more than gin, cherry brandy, lemon and soda, much like the Straits Sling. The version associated with the Raffles today is far more elaborate: gin, cherry liqueur, orange liqueur, Bénédictine, pineapple juice, lime juice, grenadine and bitters. Many historians think the pineapple-heavy version took shape later in the twentieth century.

So there are really two drinks: a lighter, drier sling that is probably closer to the early recipes, and the lush, fruity tropical version that most people know.

How to make a good one

The modern Singapore Sling can easily be too sweet. The key is restraint with the liqueurs and fresh, real pineapple juice. Our recipe aims for something bright and fruity but still clearly a gin drink.

Use a full-flavored London dry gin.
Use a real cherry liqueur such as Cherry Heering, not a bright red syrup.
Use fresh or good cold-pressed pineapple juice. It creates a lovely foam when shaken.
Make your own grenadine (see our Jack Rose article).

The lighter version

If you prefer drier drinks, try the older style: 45 ml gin, 15 ml cherry liqueur, 20 ml lemon juice and 5 ml simple syrup, shaken and topped with soda in a tall glass over ice. It is refreshing and closer to what the early slings likely tasted like.

The Raffles Hotel

The Raffles Hotel was opened in 1887 by the Armenian Sarkies brothers, who also ran grand hotels elsewhere in Southeast Asia. It became the most famous hotel in Singapore, a meeting place for travelers, writers and colonial society, and it is now a protected national monument. The Long Bar has moved within the hotel over the years, and the hotel has been restored several times, most recently in a major renovation that reopened in 2019.

The ingredients, decoded

Ingredient	What it brings
Gin	The backbone: juniper and citrus.
Cherry liqueur	Dark fruit and almond notes; Cherry Heering, made in Denmark since the early nineteenth century, is the classic choice.
Bénédictine	Honey and herbs, adding depth.
Orange liqueur	Brightness and sweetness.
Pineapple juice	Body, tropical fruit and a fine foam.
Lime juice	Acidity to balance the liqueurs.
Grenadine	Color and tart fruit.
Angostura bitters	Spice that holds everything together.

Common mistakes

Bright red cherry syrup. It makes the drink sticky and artificial. Use a true cherry liqueur.
Canned pineapple juice with added sugar. Fresh juice makes a much lighter, more aromatic drink.
Too many liqueurs. The drink should taste of gin and fruit, not sugar. Measure carefully.
Not enough ice. A long drink needs a full glass of fresh ice.

Visiting the Long Bar

Ordering a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar is a classic travel ritual, and the bar still serves enormous numbers of them. Go in the afternoon, enjoy the peanuts, and if you want something different afterwards, ask the bartenders what else they are making. Great hotel bars almost always have more to offer than their most famous drink.

Gin sling, Straits sling, Singapore sling

Long before the Raffles, a "sling" was a simple mix of spirit, sugar and water, sometimes with nutmeg. Gin slings were common in the nineteenth century, and in Singapore and elsewhere in the region there are references to a "Straits sling," which some historians believe was the direct ancestor of the modern drink. The pink, pineapple-rich version most visitors know was standardized much later, and in the second half of the twentieth century the hotel's recipe changed more than once. That is why bartenders disagree so cheerfully about what a "correct" Singapore Sling is.

Our recipe card follows the widely published modern Raffles style. For a drier, older-style sling, try gin, cherry liqueur, Bénédictine, lemon, bitters and soda, without pineapple or grenadine.

Drinking it in context

The Singapore Sling is a hotel bar drink in every sense: created in a grand hotel, kept alive by travelers and best enjoyed slowly in a comfortable chair. It belongs to the same tradition as the bars we write about in What Makes a Great Hotel Bar.

The Singapore Sling: Raffles, the Long Bar and a Tangled Recipe