DeGroff says the sling is a drink category older than the cocktail. The idea of combining a spirit with water and a sweetener predates the practice of a spirit with bitters. This coming from the early 19th century. Of course now slings include bitters and some cocktails include sweeteners so it’s all become one cornucopia of beverages distinguished by their age-old names. And so, the Sling:

1 1/2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup
Dash of Angostura bitters
Long spiral lemon peel
Top with club soda

Shake the gin, vermouth, lemon juice, syrup and the bitter dash with ice and strain into a Collins glass with ice and the lemon peel. Top with club soda (not tonic, your face will fall off).

Holy shit, that’s delicious. And to think I was just cursing the Neverending Summer we are having in L.A. The Sling is perfectly wet and perfectly dry. It’s sour but brightly so. It’s sweet but not cloying. You can taste the bitters just enough to be intriguing. The problem with “top with club soda,” particularly in a narrow little glass like the Collins, is that it means there is three fingers of club soda on top and all the flavor and joy is in the bottom 2/3 of the glass. Go ahead, stir it a little. It’s worth it. The club soda and lemon juice tease your tongue with the astringency of a brightly tannic wine, but the gin and sweet vermouth, lovingly cooled and dispersed by the melting ice, quenches the thirst. All you gin and tonic-ers go the extra mile and make this drink. It looks like a lot of ingredients but it’s all stuff from a standard bar inventory anyway.

Be careful carving the lemon peel. Use a sharp knife. Having to use extra pressure because of a dull blade increases the likelihood of losing control of the lemon or the peel giving way. The blade will sink through the flesh of the top of your thumb. Not all the way of course because the blade is dull. But still it will hurt especially when the blade is covered in lemon juice. I have learned the value of garnish. If you do it right, it’s not just garnish for garnish’s sake. It will impart some flavor and aroma that should enhance the cocktail.

Slings I have known: One of my childhood friends, John King, had a talent for renaming things, people, and places to make them funny to twelve-year-olds. He called me Plume instead of Plumb, I called him Sling instead of King. It stuck for a really long time.