Sling
Also known as: gin sling, Singapore sling
In short
The sling is the plain old patriarch: spirit, water and sugar, served warm or cold. We explain the simple formula, the theory behind the German name and the story of the Singapore sling.
In depth
What is a sling?
The sling is the plain old patriarch: spirit, water and sugar, that is all it was in the beginning. No citrus, no spice, honest and direct, served warm as well as cold. Where the name comes from is told with the German schlingen, to swallow, because the drink went down quickly, one theory among many, it does not count as proof.
History
In colonial America the gin sling was a standard, and the old bar books list the family properly. The most famous sling is the Singapore sling, born a good hundred years ago at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, where the story is still told with pride, and the drink shares only its lineage with the plain patriarch: gin, cherry liqueur, pineapple juice and herbal liqueur make it a full drink today instead of a simple formula.
What makes a sling
- The simple formula: spirit, water, sugar, done
- Warm and cold: old slings were served both ways
- The lineage: punch is the big round, the sling is the plain formula for one
Distinction: sling, punch and sour
The punch is the round, the sling is the formula for one, and the sour brought citrus into the formula: three generations of bar culture in one family tree, more on the sour in our sour entry.
Remember: the punch is the big round, the sling the simple formula, the rickey the dry variant, the spritz the Italian evening, the nog the velvety family.
At our lounge
The Singapore sling is the family classic, and if you order one, you get a piece of colonial history in the glass. Feel free to ask, the old patriarch has one of the nicest success stories in bar culture.