I happened upon the Blinker Cocktail when I was researching rye whiskey based cocktails to add to my repertoire. A good resource for this research is a website called the Internet Cocktail Database (Cocktaildb) which is run by Ted Haigh (AKA Dr. Cocktail) link here, and that is where I found the Blinker. As a bit of history, the cocktail can be traced back to the 1930s where it is found in Patrick Gavin Duffy’s 1934 bartending guide, The Official Mixer’s Manual (thanks to Imbibe Magazine for that tidbit of information). Whether Pat Duffy created the recipe himself or drew upon other sources is unknown to me, although it should be pointed out that the Blinker is at its heart a ‘sour’ recipe, and thus it is probably one of many such recipes to have evolved from the simple sour recipes of the late 1800s.
This particular serving (the Blinker) mixes Rye Whiskey with Grapefruit Juice and uses Grenadine rather than Sugar Syrup as its sweetener. On his website Ted Haigh has a variation he created which substitutes Raspberry Syrup for grenadine, and after trying it, I can vouch for the fact that Ted’s variation is much tastier than the original.
I would however, like to offer a slightly different tweak, a variation upon the variation if you will. My initial idea was to use Cranberry Syrup rather than Raspberry Syrup. I am not sure why I thought of cranberry syrup, I think that it was a vague notion that cranberry syrup would give the serving a tart earthiness which might be quite appealing. It turned out that cranberry syrup didn’t give me quite the flavour I wanted, so modified my idea and decided to use Cran/Raspberry Syrup instead. This was much better, and thought I would share this idea for the Blinker Cocktail with my readers.
Blinker Cocktail
2 oz Bulleit 95 Rye Whiskey
1 oz Grapefruit Juice (fresh squeezed)
1/3 oz Cran-Raspberry Syrup (see recipe here)
Ice
Lemon Peel
Add the first four ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass
Garnish with a twist of lemon peel (optional)
Please Enjoy Responsibly!
If you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!
Note: My review of Bulleit 95 Rye Frontier Whiskey publishes tomorrow.
Chimo!
Here is a new serving of mine which combines Meyers Lemons and Blood Oranges with the goodness of Hayman’s Family Reserve Gin. The recipe is basically the same as Arthur Tarling’s, 
Nowadays, all of these libations are part of the entire class of mixed drinks called cocktails; but back then, they were each their own serving and the cocktail was its own mixed drink, separate and distinct. How the word ‘cocktail’ evolved to encompass all classes of bar drinks is unknown to me; but if you want to go back in time and build an original ‘cocktail’, Leo Engels’, American and Other Drinks is a great starting place.
Today I am mixing an Old Fashioned Cocktail with a special 30 Year Old Single Grain Whisky from independent bottlers, Wilson and Morgan. The point I am making by using such a special whisky is that the Old Fashioned Cocktail in its present form is a libation that is easily elevated by great ingredients. The better the spirit, the better the cocktail; or in this case, the better the Scotch Whisky, the better the Old Fashioned Cocktail.
The Rum Howler Blog 