On my 21st birthday I went out to dinner with my cousin at Mr Chow’s on East 57th street. I wasn’t an official cocktail geek at this time and was mostly drinking stuff I heard about in hip hop songs (E&J, Bacardi Limon, Hennessey etc) so I asked the waiter for a cocktail recommendation since I don’t think actual printed menus exist at Mr. Chow’s. Long story short I wound up drinking a Singapore Sling as well as sitting next to LL Cool J and this drink became a favorite and one of the first cocktails that I learned to make well.

The Singapore Sling was invented by Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender working at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel Singapore before 1910. The key to the drink is to make sure and use fresh pineapple juice so that you get the beautiful foam at the top of the drink. The cocktail also calls Heering cherry liqueur which is a rich cherry brandy (also used in the Blood and Sand cocktail) if you’re unable to get the Heering brand just try to use the best cherry brandy that you have available.

The Singapore Sling

2 oz gin

3/4 oz Cherry Heering or cherry flavored brandy liqueur

1/3 oz Benedictine

1/3 oz Cointreau

2 oz pineapple juice

3/4 oz lime juice

2 dashes grenadine

1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake with ice. Strain into an iced Collins glass and top with a dash of club soda. Garnish with a pineapple wedge