Blood & Sand

So if we don’t know its inventor and we’ve no idea about the establishment in which it originally reared its spicy little head (unless it was the Savoy), what do we know about the drink? Nothing, save the fact that, in all probability, it was named for a 1922 movie starring Rudolph Valentino, the silent-film star known as “The Latin Lover.”

Valentino’s performance in Blood and Sand—it centered on a bullfighter and was based on the novel by Vincente Blasco Ibáñez—was said to have been one of his finest, though the picture itself wasn’t exactly hailed as a masterpiece. “It is the story’s name and not the story or plot that made ‘Blood and Sand’ the big hit,” wrote a reviewer at the time. Such is not the case with the cocktail.

The drink was introduced to me by Dale DeGroff when he held forth from behind the bar at New York’s Rainbow Room, circa 1997. When DeGroff told me about it, he said that the list of ingredients pretty much confounded him, so he had to try one. I concurred. Scotch, cherry brandy, sweet vermouth and orange juice don’t seem to belong in the same crib, let alone the same glass. The fact is that this Blood and Sand works very well, indeed. But this drink by any other name would taste as sweet. (Sorry, Mr. Shakespeare.)

• 3/4 ounce scotch (choose one that isn't too peated)
• 3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
• 3/4 ounce Heering cherry liqueur
• 3/4 ounce orange juice, freshly squeezed
• Garnish: orange peel

1. Add the scotch, sweet vermouth, cherry liqueur and orange juice into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.
3. Garnish with an orange peel.