Blood and Sand
Scotch, cherry liqueur, sweet vermouth and orange juice in equal parts. A strange-sounding drink that works, and the only classic built on Scotch and orange juice.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Chill a coupe.
Add all four ingredients to a shaker in equal measure.
Fill with ice and shake hard for 12-15 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe and express an orange peel over the surface.
A thoughtful finish
- Squeeze the orange. Bottled juice is the single thing most likely to make this drink taste cloying and flat.
- Many modern bartenders push the Scotch to an ounce and pull the cherry liqueur back to half. The equal-parts original is sweeter — try it as written first, then adjust.
- A lightly peated blend adds a smoky edge that cuts the sweetness nicely. Heavy Islay is too much.
Common mistakes
- Using maraschino liqueur instead of cherry liqueur. Maraschino is dry and nutty; this drink needs the sweet, jammy cherry of a Heering-style liqueur.
- Bottled orange juice.
- Treating it as a sour. There is no lemon or lime here — orange juice is not acidic enough to behave like one, which is why the drink reads rounder than it looks.
A few good questions.
Does it really work?
Yes, surprisingly. The cherry liqueur bridges the Scotch and the orange, and the vermouth adds the bitterness that stops it being a fruit drink. It is sweeter than most classics.
What cherry liqueur should I use?
Cherry Heering is the standard and is what most recipes assume. Any real cherry liqueur works. Do not substitute maraschino — it is a completely different product.
Can I adjust the ratio?
Commonly done. An ounce of Scotch with half an ounce of cherry liqueur gives a drier, more whiskey-forward drink that many people prefer.
Which Scotch?
A blended Scotch. A gently peated one is good; a heavily peated Islay will dominate everything else in the glass.
Variations
- Rob Roy — Scotch and sweet vermouth, no fruit.
- Bobby Burns — Scotch, sweet vermouth and Bénédictine.
- Remember the Maine — Rye, sweet vermouth, cherry liqueur and absinthe.
- Blood and Sand with mezcal — Mezcal in place of Scotch.
Where it comes from
1922 · London, England
Contested. More than one origin is claimed for this drink. We show the competing accounts rather than pick one.
Named for the 1922 Rudolph Valentino bullfighting film Blood and Sand, and first printed in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930. No individual creator is documented. The name describes the colour — the red of the cherry liqueur and vermouth against the orange juice. It is the one widely-known classic that puts Scotch and orange juice in the same glass, a combination that sounds wrong and is held together by the cherry liqueur sitting between them.
Sources
- Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930 (book)
- Ted Haigh, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, 2004 (book)
- Gary Regan, The Joy of Mixology, 2003 (book)
Strength. About 1.04 US standard drinks at an estimated 16.6% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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