Another classic long drink for this week’s #MasterofCocktails – this time around we’re making a Singapore Sling to tie in with Chinese New Year. Definitely not a massive coincidence levered into the proceedings. Nope. Not that.
Remember, you can follow along on twitter from 6pm every Sunday before the recipe appears here on the blog the following day for your reference and general delight.
So, a bit about this cocktail – the Singapore Sling is a stalwart at Singapore’s Raffles Hotel, dating back to the early 20th century. I’ve taken a slightly updated twist, however, heavily inspired by the superb book ‘The Curious Bartender’, by Tristan Stephenson. More on that shortly…
You’ll be needing these…
List of Ingredients
- 35ml St. George Botanivore Gin
- 20ml Luxardo Sangue Morlacco Cherry Liqueur
- 15ml Fresh Lemon juice
- 10ml Bénédictine D.O.M.
- 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
- 100ml-150ml Soda Water/Club Soda
- Half a slice of Lemon (Garnish)
Now before we start, I need you to grab this ingredient that I forgot to mention last week…
…and have an adult put it on a high shelf for you, where you can’t get to it.
Waste of bloody space. There are no good grenadines. Yet. Watch this space.
As mentioned, this version is heavily inspired by ‘The Curious Bartender’, an top notch book by Tristan Stephenson. If you’ve not got a copy you need to get to Amazon right now. (Although… it actually appears to be sold out at the time of posting this blog – clearly it’s popular, and rightly so!). The rubberised tactile cover alone is reason enough to hunt a copy down. So do.
I’ve taken Tris’s classic version (which also omits Grenadine), but sweetened it up just a tiny bit for my palate.
I’ve also switched Heering for Luxardo’s Sangue Morlacco. Props to Alice Lascelles for the intro.
So then. Onto the build. Pretty simple this one – just sling everything in a glass, and top with soda.
We’ll start with 15ml Fresh Lemon Juice.
I’m going to use a tumbler for this drink. I just prefer them. I say that. What I actually mean is that I’m so incredibly retentive that I find it difficult to use a glass that’s anything other than as close to a perfect sphere as possible due to the desire to retain coldness and the laws of thermodynamics. I think this might qualify as a cry for help.
Next up is 35ml of St. George Spirits’ excellent Botanivore Gin. The ‘medicinal’ backbone is important for this.
Continuing on the medicinal theme, we’re going to add 10ml of Bénédictine.
20ml of the Luxardo Sangue Morlacco now. You know how good their cherries are? Yep. That.
Now, a couple of dashes of Angostura Bitters. As you can see, the colour’s more than deep enough at this stage without any of that red nonsense that’s been put away out of the reach of your mucky little paws.
So, next we’re going to add some ice. About this much:
If you’re using ice that’s fresh from the freezer, make sure to give it a stir to coat the ice with the alcohol and start it melting. If you don’t, the ‘sharpness’ (i.e. the rough and jaggedy surface that offers a high number of nucleation points) of the completely solid ice will knock all the CO2 out of your soda*. Top Tip.
Now add the soda. 100-150ml will do it.
Finally, we’re going to add a slice of lemon. For the avoidance of doubt, long drinks with fresh lemon juice in them are pretty much the only time you’re allowed to use whole lemon, as opposed to just a twist. Them’s the rules.
We’re going to use half a slice. Nice and thin. Elegant, like…
There we have it. The Singapore sling. A classic, delicious long drink, that’s not over-sweet.
Enjoy!
You can find the ingredients for next week’s #MasterofCocktails below, and yeah, that’s dry ice on the left… About that… I’ve made a concerted effort not to use ingredients that aren’t available to the home bartender, and this is actually no exception. I placed an order last week with an online butcher (Donald Russell) as they had an offer on beef ribs. It came packed in dry ice. Result. Free super-duper cocktail ingredient as well as delicious beef. Win/win!
Next week you’ll be needing these…
Espresso, Cardamom Bitters, Monin Sugar Syrup, one of Batshit Mental Ideas‘ Cold-Infused, Cold-Distilled Coffees (I’m using the Nicaragua, Finca Limoncillo one) and, erm, yeah, Dry Ice.
Ben
*Simple Gas Dynamics.
Johnny the Mule