Blood and Sand

The drink's name and approximate origin date to the 1922 Rudolph Valentino film 'Blood and Sand,' a Spanish bullfighting story. The film's title was used to name a cocktail combining the red (blood — cherry liqueur), gold (sand — Scotch), and orange (bullfight poster colours). The recipe appears in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930).

The Blood and Sand is the great equal-parts Scotch cocktail — Scotch whisky, sweet vermouth, Heering Cherry Liqueur, and fresh orange juice, named after the 1922 Rudolph Valentino film about bullfighting. It is one of the very few successful Scotch cocktails that does not rely on ginger or citrus sour (like the Penicillin or Rusty Nail) to tame Scotch's complexity — instead, the cherry, vermouth, and orange juice create a sweet-herbal-fruity framework that Scotch's smokiness and malt character intersect with magnificently. The equal-parts formula (3/4 oz each) is essential; the drink breaks at any other ratio.

FOOD PAIRING: The Blood and Sand's Scotch-cherry-orange profile pairs with roasted and smoked preparations. Provenance 1000 pairings: roast duck with cherry sauce (the cherry liqueur mirrors the sauce), grilled lamb chops with rosemary (the vermouth's herbal notes echo the rosemary), aged manchego with quince paste (the cherry-sweet pairing), orange-glazed ham, and dark chocolate orange torte.