This is the recipe for Blinker from Luke Kelly

It's a Manhattan-inspired riff from Apollo Inn.

This is the recipe for Blinker from Luke Kelly
Luke Kelly's Blinker at Apollo Inn. Photo: Supplied
This drink is one of the Top 50 Drinks of 2024. See more here.

This recipe is based off a less than ideal cocktail recipe from the 1930s, says Luke. “[It’s] based off the old Blinker cocktail flavours from 1934, being grapefruit, grenadine and rye — not so tasty in my opinion,” he says. Instead, he brings those “into a Manhattan style drink. Fruity, boozy and savoury.”

Bartender Luke Kelly. Photo: Supplied
Bartender Luke Kelly. Photo: Supplied

Blinker

2 dashes of fennel tincture
7-5ml verjuice
30ml house raspberry liqueur*
45ml Elijah Craig Rye

Stir all ingredients with ice, strain into a frozen Sazerac glass. Express grapefruit peel across the drink and discard.

For the Raspberry Liqueur
530g Raspberries
26g Wild/Bronze Fennel
1100g Grapefruit, sliced (approx 3)
2L Water
2% by weight salt.
Allow to lacto-ferment for 5 days.
Strain, then add:
2% Citric Acid by weight
33.3% Caster Sugar by weight
10% Raspberry Oleo by weight
Then mix with fortify ratio:
3 parts Raspberry - as above
0.5 parts Cocchi Rosa
1 part Raspberry Eau De Vie.