050 – Blood and Sand

A Sydney Covid ‘lock-down’ exploration of the ‘Blood & Sand’ cocktail.

Lock-down has inspired me to explore this famous 1930’s cocktail, and the name-sake of the Blood and Sand Bar in Sl. Louis, Missouri.

Make your own ‘mix-at-home’ #Locktail ‘Blood and Sand’.

METHOD – Prepare a chilled coupe or large cocktail glass. Add 30ml Scotch Whisky (smooth blend), 30ml Herring Cherry Liqueur, 30ml Italian Sweet Red Vermouth (I recommend Oscar 697), 30ml of freshly squeezed and strained orange juice, and a handful of ice into a cocktail shaker. Shake very well (30 seconds to a minute) until the cocktail is very, very cold and well integrated. Strain into the coupe and allow the head (orange juice foam) to also enter the glass. Garnish with some flamed and discarded orange zest and an optional cocktail cherry.

HISTORICAL NOTES – Another classic cocktail brought to us from the pages of Harry Craddock’s 1930 ‘The Savoy Cocktail Book’, thanks to his collection and creation of over 700 cocktails from both the USA and UK, both before and during US Prohibition (1920–1933). Without this most famous of cocktail books, and the few other cocktail books of the time, so many cocktails from before 1930 would have been lost.

The cocktail is named in honour of a 1922 silent film, also called ‘Blood and Sand’ about a bullfighter staring Rudolph Valentino.

Bars and Bartenders have had issue with the ‘Blood and Sand’, and many versions dial down the Heering and the orange juice or replace the orange juice altogether. It certainly isn’t a cocktail for smoky Islay Scotch Whisky, better suiting a smooth blend and orange juice that is equally plain and fresh.

I’m a fan of T.J. Vytlacil’s advice, who is a founder of the Blood & Sand bar in St. Louis, to keep the proportions of the original, the orange juice freshly squeezed, and to shake vigorously and long, making a frothy and integrated mix, saying “break a sweat making a Blood and Sand. If you’re not sweating, you’re not doing it right.”

THE OFFICIAL MIX – The ‘Blood and Sand’ is not on any of the International Bartender Association’s (IBA) official cocktail lists. The 1930 Harry Craddock recipe is the closest to an official recipe.

TASTING NOTES – Heering, the Danish Cherry Liqueur is a wonderful product and both an underused and underappreciated cocktail ingredient, especially given it’s 1818 history. If you are sourcing Heering for this cocktail, you won’t be disappointed and can drink it neat, or over ice with ginger beer (as shown below).

Heering is the ‘blood’ in this cocktail and orange juice is the ‘sand’, and that is another quality combination, just Heering and OJ for a cherry and orange shot. Add a quality sweet Italian red Vermouth like the Oscar 697, and it has some additional alcohol and the botanicals and depth that Vermouth offers. Adding the Whisky makes this a more ‘alcohol forward’ drink and deepens the colour and taste. It is important to use a moderately flavoured and somewhat mild Whisky. Peaty Islay’s or other powerhouse Whisky’s will not mix well with the Blood and Sand.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – No changes from Harry Craddock’s 1930 recipe, just the advice of T.J. Vytlacil founder of the Blood and Sand Bar in St. Louis, Missouri, to make the OJ fresh, keep the proportional balance and shake, and shake, and shake. Maybe not to the Ramos Gin Fizz level, but a 30-second to full-minute shake is not out of place with this cocktail. The aim is full integration and some OJ foam on top.

Jodie said of the finished cocktail, it looks like a dark beer, and that is how it should look, some foam on top. It does almost have a ‘dark ale’ colour to the end result.

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is the final cocktail of the 1931-1940 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes. Full list in the index.