Name: Perfect Blood and Sand
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 15 ml Scotch whisky; 15 ml Peated malt whisky; 15 ml Cherry brandy; 15 ml Kirschwasser; 15 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 15 ml Dry vermouth; 30 ml Orange juice

Perfect Blood & Sand
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
¹⁄₂ oz	Blended Scotch whisky
¹⁄₂ oz	Torabhaig Peated Single Malt Whisky
¹⁄₂ oz	Heering Cherry Liqueur
¹⁄₂ oz	Kirschwasser (cherry) eau-de-vie
¹⁄₂ oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
¹⁄₂ oz	Strucchi Dry Vermouth
1 oz	Orange juice (freshly squeezed)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist (discarded) & skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherries.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino), Dry vermouth - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

I'm usually a maximum of five ingredients in a cocktail kind-a-guy, but this Blood & Sand riff with seven ingredients is balanced and tasty. If I were in Asia, where the number eight is lucky, then I'd have also used equal parts orange juice and blood orange juice to keep the number of ingredients lucky.

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Variant:

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

History:

A riff on the classic Blood & Sand cocktail created in August 2014 by yours truly at the Cabinet Room in London, England.

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Nutrition:

One serving of Perfect Blood & Sand contains 204 calories

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
17.18% alc./vol. (17.18° proof)
20.6 grams of pure alcohol

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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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John CARR

23rd February 2024 at 13:16

Used Chivas regal plus bowmore 12yo and found the smoke a little too dominant. Otherwise very fresh, Cherry, Orange juice and vermouths very well balanced. May try a lightly peated single malt instead for the full 30ml next time.

John CARR

2nd March 2024 at 12:38

Retried with Johnnie Walker black label and lagavulin 16 and was very happy with the balance of whiskies, Cherry, citrus and vermouth. Had run out of Cherry Heering so subbed Sangue Morlaco, but I think prefer the Heering roundedness.
A wonderful cocktail to experiment with, inspired!

John Hinojos

22nd April 2022 at 00:15

This is very flavourful. Just the right amount of smoky, but not the dominate flavour. Just a hint of sweetness. Very nice.

Anonymous

11th September 2021 at 16:21

As Teachers already contains peated whiskys I suggest omitting the Islay and doubling the amount of Teachers for people which are not so eager for smoke.

Calvin Grant

22nd May 2021 at 05:54

This is a fascinating coctail thank you Simon. I love all things cherry. Pies, jam and all the various liqueurs yet still had not tried Kirschwasser when first I made this drink. So I substituted St. George Pear Brandy. Although I make this frequently now with Schladerer Kirschwasser, the Pear Eau De Vie in it's place forms some holy trinity in perfect balance with the fresh orange juice and Cherry Herring. Three flavors as one surrounded by rich Vermouth and peaty aged Scotch. 5++

Pawel Szyld

11th April 2020 at 21:48

Bloooody good! I have used blood orange juice :)

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