Blood and Sand

BLOOD AND SAND

This cocktail's history goes all the way back to the 1920's. It was named for Rudolph Valentino's 1922 bullfighter movie Blood and Sand (wiki'ed it, deal with it). I've heard some wild rumors of this cocktail and according to different sources the ingredients/measures vary a bit too. Maybe it's one of those "find the best proportions yourself" - kind of things, but this is how I rolled this cocktail:

• 3 cl Scotch
• 3 cl Blood orange juice
• 2 cl Sweet Red Vermouth
• 2 cl Cherry brandy (the original recipe calls for Cherry Heering, which I don't have, so I used De Kuyper Cherry brandy instead)
• a flamed orange zest

Add all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, fill it with ice and shake it! Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and flame up an orange zest, go around the glass's rims with it (having released the essential oils in the drink) and drop it in the drink. 

 This drink was...okay. Using scotch in a mixed drink wasn't really something I've used to do, and the cherry brandy's taste did overwhelm this cocktail a little bit. Also, the blood orange juice was well hidden. Overall, a slight disappointment as far as I am concerned. Next time I definitely have to use Cherry Heering or as some recipes mention, orange juice instead of blood orange juice. Go figure.