Gin Sling

from The Craft of the Cocktail

• 1.5 ounces Gin
• 1 ounce Sweet Vermouth
• .75 ounce Lemon Juice
• 1 ounce Simple Syrup
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters
• Soda Water
• Lemon Peel (Garnish)

Shake all the ingredients except the soda water with ice and strain over ice into a collins glass. Top with soda. Garnish with a spiral of lemon peel as in a Horse's Neck cocktail.

This is a late-nineteenth-century sling recipe that I served for years at the Rainbow Room with great success. The ladies from the photo-editing department of the Associated Press next door were especially fond of this recipe. The cocktail was first described in print as a bittered sling. Before the addition of bitters, a sling was spirits, sugar water, and sometimes lemon.