Blood and Sand (Classic formula)

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (241 ratings)
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    Blood and Sand (Classic formula)

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Blood and Sand (Classic formula) image

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
3⁄4 oz Blended Scotch whisky
3⁄4 oz Heering Cherry Liqueur
3⁄4 oz Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
3⁄4 oz Orange juice (freshly squeezed)
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
  3. SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 6/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

One of the best classic Scotch cocktails, the Blood & Sand is said to be the Scotch whisky-based cocktail that whisky haters will like. Some may find this equal part's recipe a tad on the sweet side and if this is the case then our Blood & Sand recipe ups the Scotch notes with reduced sweet ingredients.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Blood and Sand (classic recipe)
Velasco and Sand
Gringo's Blood & Sand
Iron and Sand
Peat, Blood, Sweat & Sand/a>
Bloody Blood & Sand
Perfectly Straight Blood & Sand.
Dutch Blood and Sand
Wood Sap & Sand

History:

Created in 1922, this cocktail is named after Rudolph Valentino's Blood & Sand movie.

Nutrition:

One serving of Blood and Sand (Classic formula) contains 174 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 0.9 standard drinks
  • 14.71% alc./vol. (14.71° proof)
  • 13.2 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 10 of 11 comments for Blood and Sand (Classic formula).
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Ruth Harvey’s Avatar Ruth Harvey
29th March at 17:39
It wasn't too sweet for me...just too small - for our coupe glasses. Next time (and that might be very soon!😋) I will use a Nick &Nora glass.
1
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Cam Natale-Miles’ Avatar Cam Natale-Miles
9th March at 21:52
Try splitting the orange juice with lemon juice. Far more balanced :)
1
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Michael Z’s Avatar Michael Z
28th January at 04:31
I made a second one after watching the video - I feel the flamed garnish took this drink from good to great.
1
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Dutch Courage’s Avatar Dutch Courage
10th January at 19:02
I had no Scotch so I tried it with Teeling and it may need something bolder, with some peat.

Still a nice cocktail with the lingering cherry aftertaste rounding it off.
1
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Karen MacLeod’s Avatar Karen MacLeod
11th June 2023 at 07:38
I’m not fond of scotch whisky so I make this with rye and blood orange.
1
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Josh Meurer’s Avatar Josh Meurer
19th March 2023 at 00:30
Not sure if anyone is interested in this here but if you are I would be interested in your suggestions. I am working on a non-alcoholic version of this. Here is my recipe so far. Does anyone have a different suggestion for the Cherry Heering substitution?

1 oz - Lyre's - Non-Alcoholic American Malt
1 oz - VERSIN Non-Alcoholic Vermouth Alternative
1/2 oz - Torani Cherry Syrup
1/2 oz - Beckett's '27 N/A Amaretto
1 oz - Orange Juice.
3
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Karen MacLeod’s Avatar Karen MacLeod
11th June 2023 at 07:38
Is use the syrup from Luxardo cherries
3
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William Y’s Avatar William Y
19th June 2021 at 19:02
For me, it's a bit too sweet (could be the Heering) so I will love to try Difford's recipe next time. Also mine had a thin layer of foam on top of the drink, wonder if it was caused by the orange juice...?
2
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
20th June 2021 at 08:32
Yes, probably orange juice. Please see Garibaldi - "fluffy" orange juice is the key ingredient.
1
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Nathalie O'Flynn’s Avatar Nathalie O'Flynn
14th May 2021 at 17:47
Made this a couple of times before and I think we weren't that keen and forgot about that and made it again tonight, I think we like it more now. I am wondering if am doing something wrong as my one is very dark due to the red/weet vermouth
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
17th May 2021 at 16:53
I've just made to check colour and indeed is more a deep rust-red. It's quite an old photo and could have been made lighter by lighting or post-processing. Photo on page with my own Blood & Sand recipe is a lot darker.
1
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Jarrod Reid’s Avatar Jarrod Reid
30th December 2020 at 02:00
My first sip or two, I wasn’t convinced. The cocktail got better as I enjoyed it.
1
reply
Sandip Gohil’s Avatar Sandip Gohil
7th November 2020 at 03:00
Bloody nice! Well balanced especially with Johnnie Walker Black. I didn't use Heering, but still getting those cherry vibes. Very smooth and easy to drink.
4
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