Blood and Sand Recipe

Name: Blood and Sand Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 1
Ingredients: 1 ounce blended Scotch (Famous Grouse is a good brand to use); 1 ounce fresh-squeezed orange juice; 3/4 ounce sweet vermouth; 3/4 ounce Cherry Heering (no, not "herring," and yes, the brand matters)

Unlike the unwritten rule about wearing white, there's no stipulation that you must pack away your white liquor after Labor Day. But after the unofficial end of summer, it's entirely appropriate to start breaking out the brown spirits of fall and winter.

Scotch whiskey is a notoriously difficult ingredient to mix in a cocktail. Here's a drink that uses it to great effect: the Blood and Sand. The earliest printed recipe I've found for this drink was in the Savoy Cocktail Book, from 1930, and it likely takes its name from the popular 1922 silent film starring Rudolph Valentino as an ill-fated matador. With an unlikely cast of ingredients, the Blood and Sand rises above the chaos and helps set the stage for the approach of more robust-flavored drinks for the cooler months.

Adapted from Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh.

Blood and Sand Recipe

Prep 5 mins

Active 3 mins

Total 5 mins

Serves 1 serving

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1 ounce blended Scotch (Famous Grouse is a good brand to use)
1 ounce fresh-squeezed orange juice
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
3/4 ounce Cherry Heering (no, not "herring," and yes, the brand matters)

Pour all of ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Fill shaker with ice, and shake well for 10 seconds; strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a cherry.

Special equipment

Cocktail shaker, cocktail strainer

This Recipe Appears In

Cocktails and Spirits with Paul Clarke: Cocktail History, Revisited

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
207	Calories
0g	Fat
18g	Carbs
0g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories	207
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g	0%
Saturated Fat 0g	0%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 4mg	0%
Total Carbohydrate 18g	7%
Dietary Fiber 0g	0%
Total Sugars 14g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 16mg	78%
Calcium 5mg	0%
Iron 0mg	1%
Potassium 90mg	2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.