Blood and Sand Cocktail

Scotch Whiskey based cocktails are relatively unusual, but the Blood and Sand manages to pull it off and remain somewhat a classic at the same time. Some may find this a sinful waste of good Scotch, but this is a nice mix of Scotch, Cherry Brandy, Sweet Vermouth, and Orange Juice that alters the Scotch but not too much. Enjoy this cocktail.

It's often a good idea to use a Blended Scotch for drinks such as this, but go ahead and try this cocktail with some of your favourites. Have a play and see how you like this cocktail the best. You may even get some traction with a smokier Scotch, as it could go well with the cherry; just adjust your ratios to best suit the Scotch.

Total Time 4

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

20 mL Scotch Whiskey Play with a style you like.
20 mL Cherry Brandy
20 mL Sweet Vermouth
20 mL Orange Juice
Garnish with orange peel

Instructions

Add Scotch, Cherry Brandy, Sweet Vermouth, and Orange Juice to a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake until good and cold.
Strain into a Coupe glass.
Garnish, serve.

Notes

The name of this cocktail comes from the 1922 bullfighter movie Blood and Sand, although the recipe for this cocktail didn't pop up until 1930. Other than that, there's not a lot of information about this drink. Have fun with it.

Our Review of the Blood and Sand Cocktail

Personally I don’t think Scotch is used enough in cocktails. There, I said it!

I know a lot of Scotch purists think that it should only be enjoyed on its own, perhaps with a little bit of ice or a few drops of water, but I say enjoy your drink however you’d like to. Personally, I think if people weren’t so precious about Scotch, there would be a lot more Scotch based cocktails out there. And I’m saying this as someone who likes a straight Scotch from time to time too.

The Blood and Sand Cocktail takes what we already know from the Manhattan (well, the Rob Roy really) by combining whiskey and sweet vermouth. This is always a great combination! The cherry brandy adds a bit more sweetness to the mix while the orange juice adds some tartness. All in all, there are more than a few flavours involved in the Blood and Sand, and they all work well together.

Since all of the ingredients are equal in the Blood and Sand, nothing takes over too much though. This can be a bit dependent on the type of Scotch being used of course. If you like a smoky Scotch, this may be the time to skip it and use something a little more neutral, or use a blend. Other than that, you won’t find one ingredient standing out too much in the Blood and Sand. Some people like a cocktail to be very forward in one ingredient while others prefer things to come together. If you’re the type who likes a nice combination o ingredients coming together, then the Blood and Sand is for you!

I guess one drawback to the Blood and Sand is the use of cherry brandy. Those with a well stocked home bar won’t have a problem with this, but others likely won’t have it on hand. Unfortunately you can’t really substitute normal brandy here as the cherry variety has its own flavour. You also can’t substitute maraschino liqueur as that’s not a brandy and you won’t get the same flavours. If you happened to have cherry brandy on hand and were wondering what cocktail you can make and found yourself here, well, welcome! But honestly, I can’t really fault a cocktail recipe for have a very (very) slightly unusual ingredient. So I can’t fault the Blood and Sand Cocktail for that either.

So go and get yourself a bottle of cherry brandy, you’ll enjoy and you’ll enjoy this cocktail.

8.5/10

– Review by Ziggy

And finally, more cocktail recipes

We hope you enjoyed the Blood and Sand cocktail! If you did, you have two choices either make another one or seek out a different cocktail recipe to continue your adventure. Take a look at some of the recipes we think you might enjoy.

All Scotch Whiskey cocktail recipes: although maybe not as numerous as a lot of other kind of cocktail recipes, we still have plenty of Scotch cocktail recipes to keep you going.

All Whiskey cocktail recipes: if you want to expand beyond Scotch, check out our archive of all the Whiskies! Whether that be Scotch, Rye, Bourbon, Irish Whiskey, or anything else.

Top 10 Whiskey cocktail recipes: if you’re too spoiled for choice on all of that, we’ve narrowed things down to the ten cocktail recipes that we think are the best. Hopefully you agree.