Philippine Sling Cocktail

While touring the Philippines with my wife, who is a native, I tried repeatedly to order my favorite nightcap cocktail at every bar I could find (and there are a lot of them in the Philippines), but not one person on the island of Luzon seemed to have ever heard of a Manhattan. Maybe sweet vermouth is hard to come by in the tropics or maybe Pinoy folks just don’t care for whiskey, but whatever the reason I couldn’t get my regular drink even if I told the bartender exactly what to put into it.

I decided that maybe going with mai tais was a good idea, and became somewhat hooked on the fruity tropical drinks. When I got home—with plenty of Filipino rum on hand—I decided to continue with the mai tais for a while, but found that I lacked a few key ingredients. Desperate for a cocktail that would make me still feel as if I were on vacation, I decided on a margarita, but alas we had no tequila. We did, however, have the bottles of Tanduay rum that we had brought home, so I tried substituting dark rum for tequila with less than appetizing results. After a little tweaking, though, I came up with something that reminds me simultaneously of Acapulco and Manila.

Similar to the famous Singapore Sling, but substituting rum for gin, what really makes this drink is the particular brand of rum… though you could get away with settling for lesser rums. Tanduay is available only in Asia, which sucks for you because it’s a rum unlike any from the Caribbean that you have tried: sweeter, more molassesy, if I can get away with a little word-invention. You can mail order it through this website: http://www.internetwines.com/rws24100.html

This tart yet refreshing drink hits the spot on a warm steamy day. It won’t actually cool you off; you just won’t care about the heat as much.

In a Collins glass filled with ice, add:

• 3 oz. Tanduay Rum
• Fill glass with sour mix
• Drizzle of maraschino cherry juice to taste
• Garnish with maraschino cherries and or orange slice