Blinker Recipe

May 27, 2022

Categories: Cocktail Recipes, Rye Cocktail Recipes, Sour Cocktail Recipes, Three Ingredient Cocktail Recipes, Whiskey Cocktail Recipes

Two Blinker Cocktails in coupe glasses.

Blinker

Print Recipe
The Blinker is another older cocktail coming to us from the 1930's that includes Rye, Grapefruit Juice, and Raspberry Syrup. You'll notice some similarities to the Ward Eight in the taste thanks to the Ward Eight's citrus elements and Grenadine, however the Blinker takes a slightly different turn with similar, but, of course, different flavours.
In fact, early recipes for the Blinker called for Grenadine instead of Raspberry Syrup. While there are similar flavours between the two, Grenadine is made with Pomegranate while the Raspberry Syrup is, obviously, made with Raspberry.
Total Time 4 minutes
Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

  • 60 mL Rye Whiskey
  • 30 mL Grapefruit Juice
  • 15 mL Raspberry Syrup*
  • Garnish with a few Raspberries on a skewer

Instructions

  • Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake everything until it's nice and cold.
  • Double strain into a Coupe glass.
  • Add your garnish and serve.

Notes

*Here's our recipe for Raspberry Syrup.
There's a certain simple elegance to the Blinker, but we couldn't find a lot of information about it beyond the fact that the recipe first appearing in the 1930's. It's just one of so many classics from around the Prohibition that were spins on good Whiskey mixed with fruit juice. While there are similarities between all these cocktails, it's amazing how bartenders balanced everything out with different flavours depending on the given fruit juice.

Our Review of the Blinker Cocktail

I really like old cocktails, so I was excited to review the Blinker. Older cocktail recipes are generally a lot simpler and just rely on good spirits to do all the work. Good spirits and minimal other ingredients, usually just some fruit juice or a nice liqueur. And the Blinker is doing this!

Although I really like rye too, I’m often surprised at how well it goes with fruit juice. Rye can be a bit spicey, which shouldn’t pair with fruit, but it does! And that’s why the Blinker works.

While grapefruit juice can be a bit bitter and sour, just the right amount of raspberry syrup keeps things sweet enough so that it’s not just a bitter combination of rye and grapefruit. Everything really just works with the Blinker.

Good things aside, the Blinker is a pretty simple cocktail; only three ingredients. More modern cocktail lovers may find the Blinker a little too simple and boring to really capture their fancy, but that’s the way they did things back then.

All in all, the Blinker is a great throwback cocktail that I’m glad people haven’t forgotten about. Enjoy it with friends at an old school cocktail night. You won’t be disappointed.

7.5/10 

  • Review by Chas

And some more cocktail recipes for you

We’re always adding more cocktail recipes to this website, but we also already have a fair few. If you liked the Blinker, why not browse a few more recipes and see what else you like. Have fun.

Top 10 Whiskey cocktail recipes: we’ve curated a list of our favourite Whiskey based cocktails. Hopefully you find a few you like too!

Top 15 easy cocktail recipes: a nice thing about the Blinker is that it’s actually pretty easy to make. Here’s our favourite easy ones for you to try.

All Rye cocktail recipes: or if you’re just after Rye cocktails, why not check out our archive of Rye cocktail recipes. You’ll find something for sure!

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One Response

  1. 5 stars
    This was a nice dessert cocktail. Not to sweet. Lots of rye flavour coming through which is what I was after. Use a good rye here.

    Reply

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