Name: Blinker (Hawksmoor's Riff)
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 3 fresh Raspberries; 60 ml Rye whiskey 50% abv; 15 ml Pink grapefruit juice; 7.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1)

Blinker (Hawksmoor's Riff)
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Photographed in a Waterford Mixology Coupe Clear

Ingredients:
3 fresh	Raspberries
2 oz	Straight rye whiskey (100 proof /50% alc./vol.)
¹⁄₂ oz	Pink grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₄ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
MUDDLE raspberries in base of shaker.
Add other ingredients.
SHAKE with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Review:

The original Blinker from Patrick Gavin Duffy's 1934 The Official Mixer's Manual uses grenadine but the folk at Hawksmoor have switched this for a few fresh raspberries and a dash of sugar syrup, turning a good drink into a great cocktail.

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History:

Adapted from a recipe discovered in 2013 at Hawksmoor in Spitalfields, London, England.

More Nightcap/sipping cocktails

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Florian Ruf

7th December 2024 at 14:58

This time I made it with Sazerac rye. Although I like this brand I find it too dominant for this cocktail and it was necessary to adjust the other ingredients.

Elise

5th September 2024 at 07:02

I like the flavours but accidentally put double grapefruit, bit too sour so I ended up just throwing it into a collins and adding cranberry juice to make a long drink. Beautiful.

G. M. Genovese

1st August 2024 at 10:04

Just tried this twice. The second shake, with great grenadine, leaves this tasting a little too much like a Jack Rose somehow... Had no berries on site, so I subbed with creme de mure for the first shake, and that's where it's at. It's not perfect, but much more characterful.

Yorey C

27th July 2024 at 01:32

not enough raspberry! :) made with kirkland irish

Yorey C

26th July 2024 at 21:32

is there a point in not muddling the berries?

Simon Difford

27th July 2024 at 14:32

Agreed. Better if raspberries are muddled. I've added this to the method above.

Robert Blumstein

19th November 2023 at 01:52

Should this recipe call for muddling the raspberries? I noticed it wasn't mentioned and figured the ice would do the trick, but when I cleaned out the shaker it looked like they froze solid and didn't release all their juice.

Landon Brown

20th November 2023 at 19:34

Yes, I think muddling the raspberries is the only way you're going to get much of their flavour into the cocktail. I can't recall a shaken drink that calls for berries without muddling them first. I made this the other night using a raspberry syrup (was OKAY), which is a better option if you have it available.

John Hinojos

16th July 2022 at 00:42

Flavourful. Slightly boozy. Medium dry with bursts of various tastes. Would recommend.

Jeremy Harrold

23rd April 2021 at 19:16

I didn’t have any raspberries to hand so I used a generous bar spoon of Raspberry Jam and a splash of sugar syrup. The Rye whiskey ‘just’ cuts through the grapefruit and jam get together to prove it’s there. Very good.