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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Raffles hotel now sell fake S'pore Sling</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>May-8 11:20 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 15) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>32883.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>May 9, 2010
Singapore Sling stinker
Amid flak that the country's famed cocktail has become an overpriced syrupy drink, LifeStyle checks out how the modern versions measure up to the original recipe
<!-- by line -->By Cara Van Miriah
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Mr Albert Yam, a bartender and the great-grand nephew of Singapore Sling creator Ngiam Tong Boon, gives the iconic cocktail the taste test. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
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Controversy is brewing over the Singapore Sling, Singapore's very own cocktail that is famous around the world.
Created by Raffles Hotel's Long Bar bartender Ngiam Tong Boon in 1915, the Singapore Sling, a tasty tropical gin-based cocktail, left a bitter taste in the mouth of one visitor recently.
Briton Joanna Hoare, 82, was so ticked off over her tipple that she wrote to The Straits Times forum about her experience sinking a Sling at the iconic Long Bar.
Ms Hoare, who first visited Singapore 60 years ago and is a frequent visitor, wrote that it was all but a 'cheap fruit cocktail... lacking any spice of gin'. Her letter was published on April 30.
Another forum writer, also a visitor to Long Bar, described the Singapore Sling as 'over-sweetened cough medicine'.
Both paid $29.45 for the cocktail - the priciest Sling in town. Elsewhere, it costs between $11 and $25.
LifeStyle was moved to give the cherished cocktail a taste test, involving someone who is a real Sling hotshot - bartender Albert Yam, the great-grand nephew of the late Mr Ngiam.
His verdict was a stinger.
He would not give a rating to the Singapore Sling that LifeStyle bought him at Long Bar on Thursday evening, although he was happy to rate the other Slings at other bars around town.
The cocktail we tasted at Long Bar was syrupy, which masked the taste of any hint of gin.
Mr Yam said with much disappointment: 'This is not the Singapore Sling. This is not the cocktail my relatives had taught me to make.
'The recipe that was handed down to me is a refreshing cocktail with fruity notes of pineapple and lime juice, with hints of gin and angostura bitters. It is sweet, never saccharine sweet.'
The 60-year-old is a senior bartender at The Pavilion at the Sentosa Spa & Resort. For four years from 1969, he worked at Long Bar earning $4 a day as a bartender.
He said: 'Recipes evolve with time and there are different ways to concoct a drink. But it should not be totally different from the original.'
Today, there are many variations of the Sling sold at cocktail bars around town. Although many follow the original recipe closely, the methods vary, bartenders say.
For example, some use a blender to mix the ingredients with ice instead of in a shaker, as recommended in its original recipe. However, the mixture becomes diluted if it is blended for too long.
Others use cheaper alternatives such as Triple Sec orange-flavored liqueur in place of the pricier Cointreau.
A handful of outlets use a pre-mixed concentrate containing gin, Grenadine syrup, cherry brandy, Cointreau, Dom Benedictine and angostura bitters to make the Sling, such as The Singapore Sling Boutique bar in Clarke Quay.
Mr Chow Hoo Siong, managing director of True Heritage Brew which runs the place, says: 'The concentrate offers a consistent taste of the original recipe. Here, the concentrate is topped up with juices and shaken before serving.'
The bar is a tourist attraction, selling hundreds of Singapore Slings on weekends. True Heritage Brew also retails the bottled but carbonated versions of the Sling at supermarkets such as Cold Storage and Carrefour.
Raffles Hotel sells its own version of the Sling concentrate. A box of six 50ml bottles goes for $42.90 at the Raffles Hotel Shop.
However, the hotel declined to comment if the ingredients in the Singapore Sling served at its Long Bar are pre-mixed.
It also did not respond to Ms Hoare's comments about its Singapore Sling. Raffles Hotel is managed by Raffles Hotels & Resorts, which is owned by Fairmont Raffles Hotels International.
But it seems that Long Bar's staff are aware of the reason customers sometimes do not finish the tipple. On Thursday night, on noticing Mr Yam's unfinished glass at the bar, both the cashier and barman asked if the cocktail was 'too sweet'.
And they offered to make a 'less sweet' version.
Still, some like the drink's syrupy taste.
Canadian tourist Wilma Belanger, 47, who tasted her first Singapore Sling at Long Bar recently, says: 'I like it as it tastes quite similar to a strawberry margarita.' She was on a four-day visit to Singapore with her son and daughter-in-law.
But some locals say that while they take their overseas friends or relatives to the iconic Long Bar, they do not recommend the cocktail to them.
Mr Chiang Khai Min, 31, a civil servant, says: 'There are better-tasting cocktails out there. But I would bring my foreign friends to Long Bar because the decor reminds me of a bygone era in Singapore.'
And as far as Mr Yam is concerned, he says: 'I feel very sad that the drink my uncle created has become something else. This is more than just family pride, this is a national cocktail.'
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Singapore Sling stinker
Amid flak that the country's famed cocktail has become an overpriced syrupy drink, LifeStyle checks out how the modern versions measure up to the original recipe
<!-- by line -->By Cara Van Miriah
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->
<!-- story content : start -->
Controversy is brewing over the Singapore Sling, Singapore's very own cocktail that is famous around the world.
Created by Raffles Hotel's Long Bar bartender Ngiam Tong Boon in 1915, the Singapore Sling, a tasty tropical gin-based cocktail, left a bitter taste in the mouth of one visitor recently.
Briton Joanna Hoare, 82, was so ticked off over her tipple that she wrote to The Straits Times forum about her experience sinking a Sling at the iconic Long Bar.
Ms Hoare, who first visited Singapore 60 years ago and is a frequent visitor, wrote that it was all but a 'cheap fruit cocktail... lacking any spice of gin'. Her letter was published on April 30.
Another forum writer, also a visitor to Long Bar, described the Singapore Sling as 'over-sweetened cough medicine'.
Both paid $29.45 for the cocktail - the priciest Sling in town. Elsewhere, it costs between $11 and $25.
LifeStyle was moved to give the cherished cocktail a taste test, involving someone who is a real Sling hotshot - bartender Albert Yam, the great-grand nephew of the late Mr Ngiam.
His verdict was a stinger.
He would not give a rating to the Singapore Sling that LifeStyle bought him at Long Bar on Thursday evening, although he was happy to rate the other Slings at other bars around town.
The cocktail we tasted at Long Bar was syrupy, which masked the taste of any hint of gin.
Mr Yam said with much disappointment: 'This is not the Singapore Sling. This is not the cocktail my relatives had taught me to make.
'The recipe that was handed down to me is a refreshing cocktail with fruity notes of pineapple and lime juice, with hints of gin and angostura bitters. It is sweet, never saccharine sweet.'
The 60-year-old is a senior bartender at The Pavilion at the Sentosa Spa & Resort. For four years from 1969, he worked at Long Bar earning $4 a day as a bartender.
He said: 'Recipes evolve with time and there are different ways to concoct a drink. But it should not be totally different from the original.'
Today, there are many variations of the Sling sold at cocktail bars around town. Although many follow the original recipe closely, the methods vary, bartenders say.
For example, some use a blender to mix the ingredients with ice instead of in a shaker, as recommended in its original recipe. However, the mixture becomes diluted if it is blended for too long.
Others use cheaper alternatives such as Triple Sec orange-flavored liqueur in place of the pricier Cointreau.
A handful of outlets use a pre-mixed concentrate containing gin, Grenadine syrup, cherry brandy, Cointreau, Dom Benedictine and angostura bitters to make the Sling, such as The Singapore Sling Boutique bar in Clarke Quay.
Mr Chow Hoo Siong, managing director of True Heritage Brew which runs the place, says: 'The concentrate offers a consistent taste of the original recipe. Here, the concentrate is topped up with juices and shaken before serving.'
The bar is a tourist attraction, selling hundreds of Singapore Slings on weekends. True Heritage Brew also retails the bottled but carbonated versions of the Sling at supermarkets such as Cold Storage and Carrefour.
Raffles Hotel sells its own version of the Sling concentrate. A box of six 50ml bottles goes for $42.90 at the Raffles Hotel Shop.
However, the hotel declined to comment if the ingredients in the Singapore Sling served at its Long Bar are pre-mixed.
It also did not respond to Ms Hoare's comments about its Singapore Sling. Raffles Hotel is managed by Raffles Hotels & Resorts, which is owned by Fairmont Raffles Hotels International.
But it seems that Long Bar's staff are aware of the reason customers sometimes do not finish the tipple. On Thursday night, on noticing Mr Yam's unfinished glass at the bar, both the cashier and barman asked if the cocktail was 'too sweet'.
And they offered to make a 'less sweet' version.
Still, some like the drink's syrupy taste.
Canadian tourist Wilma Belanger, 47, who tasted her first Singapore Sling at Long Bar recently, says: 'I like it as it tastes quite similar to a strawberry margarita.' She was on a four-day visit to Singapore with her son and daughter-in-law.
But some locals say that while they take their overseas friends or relatives to the iconic Long Bar, they do not recommend the cocktail to them.
Mr Chiang Khai Min, 31, a civil servant, says: 'There are better-tasting cocktails out there. But I would bring my foreign friends to Long Bar because the decor reminds me of a bygone era in Singapore.'
And as far as Mr Yam is concerned, he says: 'I feel very sad that the drink my uncle created has become something else. This is more than just family pride, this is a national cocktail.'
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