Blood and Sands Me!

The Drink: Blood and Sands
The Place: Your Home Bar
The Creator: Brittney Bedford from The Herb Box

By: Brittney Bedford – Bartender Expert for Az Food & Wine

I could drink the Blood and Sands all day long. Probably not the best idea, but I could. My cousin first made me this whiskey cocktail about five years ago and we went through a serious blood and sand phase. I was living in Portland, OR at the time where Clear Creek cherry liqueur is available. Using Clear Creek cherry instead of Cherry Herring is definitely my favorite way to make it but it is still amazing with Cherry Herring.

Once I left Portland I forgot about this drink for awhile until I picked up The PDT cocktail book by Jim Meehan, which I always keep in my purse. While reading through the cocktails in the book I came across the Blood and Sand and was reminded of my love of this drink. A few days later I was hanging out at my friend’s bar when he pointed out to me that they have it on their cocktail list. This is at Grape Wine Bistro by the way and they have a great cocktail list of classic cocktails. He made me one of the best blood and sands I have ever had. On my way home I stopped at Total Wine and bought a bottle of Cherry Herring. Now, for the last few weeks I have been drinking these at home every night. I was using a coffee mug, which I know is very classy but then I splurged on some rocks glasses so I could see this beautiful drink as I drank it. I will point out that traditionally this drink is served up in a coupe glass but I have a preference to drink it on the rocks. Either way is very tasty though.

After annoying my manager, I got Cherry Herring at the Herb Box. I wanted to make this drink for anyone that would let me. I get really excited about sharing something really good with people, real excited! People really liked it as long as the were whisky drinkers but one of the most common questions I get is “why is it called that?” It’s named after the 1922 bull fighting film by the same name starring Rudolph Valentino. Pretty legit.