Here’s something they don’t teach you at beer writers' school: drinking a beer based on a cocktail you don’t know very well is always a good time. Even if the brief isn’t quite nailed, it’s still a journey of discovery and if that drink is close enough a copy, it’s a reminder of something you haven’t tasted for years. Sure, I’ve had a few Singapore Slings and even saw a brief glimpse of Raffles Hotel while in Singapore but it’s been a very long time since I was there and my connection comes from being in Vietnam on that same trip.
Drinking Bad Shepherd’s Singapore Sling Sour immediately takes me back there too. The beer is the work of their logistics master and warehouse manager Tim and the beer’s release makes it number 19 in Bad Shepherd's lognrunning Brew Crew series. The beery spin of the classic cocktail pours bright pink, is little sour and filled with flavours of pineapple, lime and cherry. Meanwhile, a herbal hit comes courtesy of the Bendictine and gin, with those notes sitting between herbal liqueur and bergamot. Instantly I’m back in Hanoi and in that bar, googling who Sir Thomas Raffles was and why they named a hotel after him. That's the exciting way I spend my holidays.
Will Ziebell
Published January 30, 2023 2023-01-30 00:00:00
