Blood and Sand

Recently, I was at a local bar, and the bartender and I were discussing mixed drinks made with Scotch. I'm a total Scotch novice, especially cocktails with Scotch, and she recommended a Blood and Sand. I had never heard of this, but since then I've noticed it in multiple cocktail books, including The Savoy Cocktail Book, which I just got today. I wanted to try something from the book, so I went with this drink.

A little history: this cocktail is named after a Rudolph Valentino movie from 1922, Blood and Sand. Valentino plays a bullfighter (hence the blood). The Wall Street Journal did a write-up of this drink and its history in 2008; check out that article here.

Just a word of advice--you should probably check to make sure you have all the necessary ingredients before you start dumping stuff in a glass. I could have sworn I had a bottle of Scotch, but nope, no such luck, so I made this one with bourbon. Oops.

The real ingredients for the Blood and Sand are:

• 1 part orange juice
• 1 part Scotch whisky (whiskey vs whisky; I used Rebel Yell Bourbon)
• 1 part Italian vermouth (red/sweet vermouth--I used Vya)
• 1 part cherry brandy (I used Cherry Heering)

Mix all ingredients in an ice-filled shaker and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.

Now, I have no clue what this would taste like with Scotch, but I am pretty pleased with how this turned out with the bourbon. Surprisingly, it's not very sweet. Actually, it doesn't even have much of an overwhelming flavor of anything. I like it, but the next time I make this I'm going to have to get some Scotch so I know what it really tastes like. 

The Communist

Today, we made our bimonthly (as in every two months, not twice in a month) trip to Andy's Liquor in Rochester, MN, to find some new kinds of booze and to stock up on favorites. Our shopping list included Cherry Heering, Carpano Antica, Vya sweet vermouth, Plymouth gin, and a case (!) of Darci's favorite wine, Predator. I had seen a good number of recipes for Cherry Heering in some of my cocktail books, so I was excited to find a bottle at Andy's. I really cannot rave enough about Andy's...they have amazing customer service (they carry the booze to your car!), the selection is pretty unbeatable, and they are just generally nice folks. Also, they have a good number of sample bottles of the stuff they carry, so if you are unsure about something, they'll often give you a taste.

Cherry Heering sort of smelled like cherry cough syrup, but it didn't taste anything like that. According to Imbibe, you can use Cherry Heering where you would use cherry brandy, but it really is not the same thing as a brandy. Anyway, the drink I decided to make is the Communist. This is a drink I saw in Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. This is originally from a 1933 pamphlet called "Cocktail Parade." I tried to find more information about the pamphlet online, but no luck. The ingredients:

• 1 oz gin (I used Tanqueray)
• 1 oz orange juice (I used fresh squeezed, but I would use bottled in a pinch)
• 1/2 oz Cherry Heering
• 3/4 oz lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in an ice-filled shaker, shake, and strain into a cocktail glass. This is quite sticky so watch out. We garnished with an orange peel. It's tart and tangy, and slightly sweet, although it might be sweeter if we used bottled orange juice instead of fresh-squeezed. I don't know that I could pick out any of the ingredients except the gin, so they worked well together. Tanqueray seems a bit floral/herbal to me, so I think next time I will use something that's a little more neutral. Overall, I enjoyed this drink and can't wait to try more Cherry Heering drinks.