The Blood and Sand cocktail, with equal parts of blended scotch whisky, cherry brandy, Italian vermouth, and orange juice, is a drink of unknown parentage that first appears in the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930. All that is known about its creation is that it was apparently named after the successful silent film of the same name starring Rudolf Valentino. The film, first screened in 1922, was based in turn on the widely popular 1909 novel Sangre y arena by the Spanish author Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. The possibility that the drink was named after the book and not the film cannot be dismissed.
Although it has its passionate defenders, the Blood and Sand—one of the few classic scotch whisky cocktails—has an unusual number of detractors. Even many of its defenders admit that the drink could use some tweaking, in either its ingredients, its proportions, or both. The most common fixes are to use more whisky and better whisky, substituting single malt for blended. Even with these tweaks, the drink’s critics find it unfocused and muddy-tasting.
Recipe: Shake well with ice 45 ml blended scotch whisky, 45 ml cherry brandy, 45 ml Italian vermouth, and 45 ml fresh-squeezed orange juice. Strain and garnish with a cherry.
Craddock, Harry. Savoy Cocktail Book. London: Constable, 1930.
By: Fernando Castellon and David Wondrich