SINGAPORE: Raffles Hotel made the news over the weekend due to the considerable profit it yields because of one drink—the legendary Singapore Sling.
An Australian news site, news.com.au, wrote on Sunday (July 9) that the hotel’s Long Bar sells around 1000 Singapore Slings daily. As each drink costs $39, Raffles Hotel makes $39,000 per day.
On the same day, the drink was also featured in the New York Post in an article titled “This hotel makes nearly US$30K per day — from just one drink.”
Ingredients for the Singapore Sling are said to include gin, cherry liqueur, Cointreau—an orange-flavoured liqueur, Bénédictine—an herbal liqueur, pineapple juice, lime juice, Grenadine—a deep red non-alcoholic syrup, and Angostura bitters.
The drink was created by Ngiam Tong Boon around 1915 and quickly reached iconic status. Indeed, some travellers believe that their Singapore experience is incomplete without sampling a Singapore Sling from Long Bar.
However, famed American chef Anthony Bourdain, who enjoyed Singaporean food, would have been an exception.
“Nobody in Singapore drinks Singapore Slings. It’s one of the first things you find out there. What you do in Singapore is eat. It’s a really food-crazy culture, where all of this great food is available in a kind of hawker-stand environment,” he once famously said.
Nevertheless, the drink is so famous that part of the hotel’s site about its history is dedicated to the Singapore Sling.
“Following the turn of the century in colonial Singapore, Raffles was the gathering place for the community – and Long Bar was the watering hole. It was common to see gentlemen nursing glasses of gin or whisky. Unfortunately for the ladies, etiquette dictated that they could not consume alcohol in public. So, for the sake of modesty, teas and fruit juices were their beverages of choice.
Ever insightful, Ngiam thus saw a niche in the market and decided to create a cocktail that looks like plain fruit juice but is actually infused with gin and liqueurs. The clever bartender made the beverage pink to give it a feminine flair which, together with the use of clear alcohol, led people to think it was a socially acceptable drink for women. With that, the Singapore Sling was born. Needless to say, it became an instant hit.”
/TISG