For all those travelling around the world in seven cocktails, we are now open for boarding. Let’s take a trip from Singapore to London, enjoying the history, geography and recipes of some delicious mixed drinks. These international cocktails will bring an jetset touch to your holiday season or celebration. You could even host a travel-themed cocktail party!
Since this is an international blog, we are using metric measurements. A standard shot (in some countries known as a small shot) is 30ml and is so close to a liquid ounce you won’t know the difference.
1. Singapore Sling
Let’s start in Southeast Asia with the Singapore Sling. The luminescent pink cocktail was created by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon while working in the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel, sometime in the 1910s. Visitors to Singapore still flock to the Raffles bar to sip on a Sling.
This recipe is the current issue from Raffles Hotel. The very original was lost to history, and this version was conjured up from notes and staff memories. Of course, if you’re partaking in a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar, you will always get a bowl of peanuts in their shells to munch alongside.
Ingredients:
30ml gin
15ml Heering Cherry liqueur
7.5ml Dom Benedictine
7.5ml Cointreau
120ml Pineapple juice
15ml Fresh lime juice (about one small lime)
10ml Grenadine
A forceful dash of Angostura bitters
Ice cubes
Garnish with pineapple and Grenadine soaked cherry
Method:
Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Add enough ice cubes to make the shaker approximately three-quarters full. Cover while shaking hard and fast until the shaker feels cold.
Strain the cocktail into a hurricane or highball glass containing ice. If you want, garnish with pineapple and cherry.
Tip: If this drink is too sweet for your liking, top up with some soda water and stir it through.
2. Manhattan
Next in our line up of cocktails from around the work, is New York City’s Manhattan. The Manhattan has conflicting origin stories, but the one thing they agree on is that the cocktail was first mixed in its namesake location during the late 1800s. Over the following half-century, the classic American cocktail appears in numerous recipe books with variances in ingredients. The Manhattan Club which lays claim to one origin story, serves their version of the drink to the following recipe.
Ingredients:
60ml parts rye whiskey
30ml sweet vermouth
2-3 dashes of Angostura bitters
Method:
Add all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice cubes. Stir well (never shake) and pour into a chilled lowball or coupe glass.
Tip: For a dry Manhattan, replace the sweet vermouth with dry vermouth; or make it “Perfect” with equal parts of both.
3. Caipirinha
Next stop: South America and the official Brazilian drink by law, the Caipirinha. The Caipirinha is thought to have been conceived in Paratay, São Paulo for medicinal purposes towards the end of World War I. The original was a combination of cachaça (spirit made from sugar cane), green lemon, honey and garlic.
Sometime down the line the honey and garlic got substituted for sugar and ice, giving birth to the Caipirinha of today. In 1922, Brazilian modernists chose the caipirinha as the official Brazilian drink for Modern Art Week, which introduced the Caipirinha to the world.
Ingredients:
75ml Cachaça
3/4 green lemon
3 tablespoons white sugar
Crushed ice
Method:
Place the sugar in a lowball glass. Cut the lemon into wedges and place skin side up in the glass. Gently muddle the lemons, then add ice and cachaça to the glass. Stir and enjoy!
4. Daiquiri
The next stop on our around the world adventure is Cuba. In the late nineteenth century, American expat Jennings Cox, was successfully mining iron outside Santiago de Cuba. Legend has it that while entertaining one evening, he ran out of gin. Cox dashed out to buy whatever liquor he could and returned with rum. To the rum he added lemon juice, sugar, mineral water and ice. His guests loved the drink and asked him what it was called. Cox chose to name his cocktail after a nearby beach village named Diaquiri.
Later Hemmingway took to the cocktail while he was spending time in Cuba. The writer created his own rendition. Below is Jennings Cox’s original recipe, which can be used to make a batch for six people.
Ingredients:
6 Lemons
6 tsp Sugar
6 cups (1.4L) of White rum
2 cups (0.5L) of Mineral water
Ice
Method:
Juice lemons and add liquid to the sugar, rum, mineral water in a bowl. Mix well, then add ice. Ladle into coupe glasses filled with ice.
5. Negroni
Now we escape to Florence, Italy where in 1919 Count Camillo Negroni demanded a stronger drink. The bartender at Caffe Casoni, Fosco Scarselli, responded by replacing the soda water in the Count’s Americano with gin, and garnishing it with orange peel instead of lemon rind. A Negroni makes a great pre-dinner cocktail and post-meal aperitif.
Ingredients:
30ml Gin
30ml Campari bitters
30ml Red vermouth
Orange for garnish
Method:
A Negroni can be prepared directly in a chilled lowball glass. Pour all the ingredients over ice and stir gently. Cut a wedge of orange and place in the cocktail to finish.
6. The Black Russian
Let’s jet off to post-World War II Brussels, where the Black Russian cocktail was born. Crafted in 1949 by Belgian bartender Gustave Tops at the Hotel Metropole, this sleek, simple drink was created to honour Perle Mesta, the U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg.
The name “Black Russian” reflects the dark hue of the coffee liqueur and the vodka’s association with Russia. Known for its bold, uncomplicated flavours, the Black Russian embodies mid-20th century elegance and is often enjoyed as an after-dinner digestif. This cocktail paved the way for its creamy cousin, the White Russian, which gained pop-culture fame in The Big Lebowski.
Ingredients:
50ml parts Vodka
25ml Kahlúa
Method:
Pour both ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir before straining into a lowball glass filled with fresh ice.
Tip: For a sweeter drink, increase the portion of Kahlúa to vodka.
7. Pimm’s Cup
Around the World in 9 Cocktails stop number seven is London. Here we meet the creation of James Pimm, the owner an oyster bar in London in the mid-1800s. On the menu was a gin-based drink containing various herbs and liqueurs, offered as a tonic to aid digestion. This first concoction was dubbed Pimm’s No. 1 Cup.
Subsequent cups have come and some have gone, but the classic No. 1 remains a British favourite. Make it by the pitcher full with this recipe. Note, the drink is curiously popular in New Orleans–you can get the NOLA recipe here.
Ingredients:
Ice
Pimm’s
Lemonade (Lemonade in the British/Aussie sense: clear and carbonated i.e. Sprite or 7-Up for Americans)
Fresh fruit (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, sliced oranges, cherries)
Sliced cucumber
Lime
Fresh mint
Method:
Fill a pitcher with ice. Add a large handful of fresh fruit, a few slices of cucumber and one-part Pimm’s to three-parts Lemonade. Stir and finish with a squeeze of lime, and some fresh mint.
8. Pisco Sour
The final stop on our international imbibement is high in the Andes, where the air is thin and the ancient Incas once ruled. Here the Pisco Sour takes centre stage. Created by American expat, Victor Vaughn Morris in Lima during the 1920s, this cocktail is a source of national pride for Peruvians. Its unique blend of pisco—a grape-based unaged brandy—and citrus reflects the country’s diverse terroir.
The drink also plays a role in an international rivalry: Peru and Chile both claim pisco as their own, igniting friendly debates over who makes the better Pisco Sour. Each year, Peru dedicates the first Saturday of February to the Día Nacional del Pisco Sour (National Pisco Sour Day), when locals and tourists alike gather to celebrate this frothy, tangy masterpiece. Here is a recipe for a single Pisco Sour.
Ingredients:
- 60ml Pisco (2 shots)
- 30ml Fresh lime juice (1 shot)
- 15ml Simple syrup (1:1 ratio sugar to water)
- 1 Egg white
- A few drops of Angostura bitters (use Peru’s Amargo Chuncho Bitters if you can get it)
- Ice
Method:
- Add the pisco, lime juice, simple syrup, and egg white to a shaker.
- Dry shake (no ice) to create a creamy foam.
- Add ice and shake vigorously until the mixture is well-chilled.
- Strain into a coupe or rocks glass.
- Top with Angostura bitters, creating swirls or patterns on the frothy top.
9. Empress & Tonic
Let’s travel to Victoria, Canada, home of the legendary Fairmont Empress Hotel. Inspired by the hotel’s tradition of afternoon tea, Empress 1908 Gin stands out with its brilliant indigo hue, derived from butterfly pea blossoms. This botanical gin is crafted in small batches and perfectly balanced, with hints of juniper, citrus, and a delicate floral aroma. When mixed with tonic water, the colour transforms into a dreamy lavender or soft pink, making this cocktail as visually stunning as it is refreshing—a must for any gin lover. To make a single Empress 1908 & Tonic following this simple recipe.
Ingredients:
- 50ml Empress 1908 Gin
- 150ml Premium tonic water
- Citrus slice or edible flowers for garnish
- Ice
Method:
- Fill a balloon glass with ice cubes.
- Pour the gin over the ice and top with tonic water.
- Stir gently to combine, watching the magical colour change.
- Garnish with a slice of citrus or an edible flower for a sophisticated finish.
I hope you enjoyed your boozy trip around the world in cocktails. Please travel with us again soon!
Peace, love & inspiring travel,
Madam ZoZo
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