Blood & Sand - How to Make the Classic Scotch Whisky Cocktail

[@maxwellbeck3681]

Recently had this at The Sugar House in Detroit, and they absolutely killed it. The bruising, the sea foam head... they even added blood orange juice as a signature bonus. What a drink!

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Excellent! Glad you liked it. I made one recently with Blood Orange. It was really good. instagram.com/p/BcGSrbjlvic/

[@SoCalTrevor94]

I picked up a bottle of Heering cherry liqueur today and just made this one. Incredible drink. I look forward to trying your Redrum cocktail with it tomorrow.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Excellent! Glad you liked it! Blood and Sand is such a great drink. Let me know how the Redrum turns out. Cheers!

[@SoCalTrevor94]

Your ratios on the Redrum came out a bit sweet for my palate so I bumped the rum up to 2 oz. Really nice cocktail, though. I used Appleton Estate and I think the dryness pairs well with the slight nuttiness of the cherry Heering. I'll definitely make more of these in the future.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Yeah, 2 oz is good for 80-90 proof rum. The 1.5 oz is better for that navy strength flavor. Either way, glad you liked it. Cheers!

[@Kitsua]

Everything is correct about this channel and I don't say that often. EVERYTHING.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

+Sonny Williamson Great to hear. Thanks for the love. Cheers!

[@bosakrr1979]

I need one of those about now!

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

+RianwithanI I hear ya. Haha. I think I'll make it two, one for each hand.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

+The1CamBo It's slowly making its way back into circulation, but I was able to find it at Costco, Total Wine, BevMo and K&L Wines.

[@SkewToob]

Nice video -- glad I stumbled across your channel on reddit. Subbed!

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

+SkewToob Thanks! Glad you liked it. Cheers!

[@SkewToob]

Of course!

[@TheGreenLife]

Gotta get you narrating my life

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

+The Green Life Right on. So how should we do this? Should I just follow you around and narrate things like, "he picks up the bagel, then reaches for the lox and raspberry cream cheese."?

[@ZZenoXX]

Nice drink, made it twice now. Once with this recepie and once with the 1:1:1:1 ratio. Personally I prefer the equal parts ratio. Used Highland Park 12 Year, a nice peaty single malt that isn't too expensive.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Great! Glad you liked it and found the ratio that worked for you. Check out the latest video, To Hell with Spain. It's like a Blood & Sand without the OJ. The Highland Park would work really well in it. Cheers!

[@ZZenoXX]

Yeah I plan to, just waiting for the absinthe to arrive.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Perfect! Let me know how it turns out.

[@jonathanheidenreich8565]

This is my favorite cocktail for going out, however all the Scotches I own are peat heavy (my preference) and either Ardbeg or Highland Park (12 and the Magnus). I know the Ardbeg would overpower, but would either of the Highland Parks work for trying this at home?

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Yeah, HP should work well. If you can, grab a bottle of Great King Street Glasgow Blend (by Compass Box). It's a lightly peated blend and perfect for mixing. Cheers!

[@jonathanheidenreich8565]

@@DistinguishedSpirits Many thanks!

[@dastrada6715]

I can't find cherry heering in my country I'm gonna try with cherry marnier, hope it works. Also, I really like your channel, great videos.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

+Da Strada Yeah, that should work just fine. What country are you in? Thanks! I'm glad you like the videos. Cheers!

[@dastrada6715]

I'm from Mexico, Lots of mezcal and tequila, but not a lot of liquors to choose from. Greetings!! Happy new Year.

[@JaySJ1]

would it be crazy to substitute Cherry heering with Luxardo Maraschino? Only cherry liquor i've got.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

It wouldn't really be the same. Maraschino liqueur is a lot drier and more tart. A cherry liqueur like Cherry Heering, is pretty much really sweet. There are other cherry liqueurs, Luxardo makes one, for instance (see link below). Combier makes a great one too called Combier Rouge. Bols makes one too, only I've never tried it. www.amazon.de/Luxardo-4015068-Kirschlikör/dp/B0038APTVO

[@deadflowers-switzerland]

and if i'd add some simple siroop, would it still make a big difference with luxardo instead of heering?

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Did you mean Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur? If so, that's not really going to work unfortunately. If you meant the Luxardo Cherry Liqueur, that won't need any simple syrup. It will be perfect right out of the bottle. Hope that helps. Cheers!

[@Tantrum777]

Use a fruity single malt thats cheap like glenlivet or glenfiddich and add a dash lagavulin or ardbeg for the peat. Nice video man.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Fair enough. These days I love making it with The Great King St. Glasgow Blend. Love that stuff. Maybe Johnnie Double Black would work if you're only trying to keep one bottle on hand. If not, I love your suggestion. A good solid, not too powerful blend a Famous Grouse perhaps, then a dollop of peat. Glad you liked the video. I want to remake it and change a couple things I bungled. So many videos, so little time...

[@Tantrum777]

Can't go wrong with Compassbox, their stuff is top notch! Pretty pricey though.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Yeah. Some of them are on the pricey side. The Great King St's are $32-$35. So, not too much more than a Johnnie Black and at least $10 cheaper than Double Black. But agreed, Compassbox is good stuff and they make their blends with some tender loving care.

[@benjaminhart1387]

Is that an Oxo peeler you have? I'm having endless frustrations with my dull, generic peeler...

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

+Benjamin Hart Yeah. It's great. If you show more in the Description there's a link to the peeler on Amazon. Cheers!

[@TheAnimaAnimal]

I have recently inherited around 30 bottles of single malt whisky, half of them opened, half of them unopened. Drinking neat, just enjoying the spirit, is what I mostly do. Though would like to appreciate them in different ways, so making whisky based cocktails looks promising. But I have only single malts and apparently is heresy to use. So my question kinda comes in two (or rather four): What makes blended better to use than single malt? And can I blend my own with what I have, and how?

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Blended Scotch Whisky refers to blending Malt and Grain whiskies, as opposed to a whisky that is made from Malt only and from a single distillery. Blends tend to be cheaper, which is why they are called for in mixed drinks. Single Malts tend to be more expensive. Although thats not always the case. So if you want to mix a Single Malt no one is going to stop you. You might get ugly comments online, but a Single Malt can certainly make for a good cocktail. Check out some more info on blended Scotch here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKjdgGSQgqd9b9E kzbin.info/www/bejne/eaK3lqWDe9Z3gZo As far as your collection, I'd check online to see what your unopened bottles could be worth. Maybe that would give you some idea them. You may or may not want to mix them in this drink. You can get a good blend for $30-$40. And a decent one for $14-$22. Those might be better for this drink than your potentially rare bottles.

[@TheAnimaAnimal]

Distinguished Spirits I'm guessing I'll be ruining all the effort that took into making the single malt if I decided to mix it. If I understood your explaination right, so now I know why I might get crucified online ^^ I've actually already checked their price tags a while ago. Think the cheapest unopened bottle cost between 30 to 70 €/$. Which for me is kinda crazy. But I'll explore some more and see if there are something good in the store too. Thank you very much for the info, skål!

[@terjehuse8562]

I hate to nitpick - no, really, I do! - but considering that all grain whisky that goes into a NAS blended whisky is aged for a minimum of 3 years (unless it's an American blend where only 20% has to be aged), I don't think it's fair to label blended whisky as "essentially vodka" simply due to the use of both grain and malt whisky. As an example, in Johnnie Walker Black Label, the 12 y.o. age statement does not only apply to the various malt whiskies used but also the grain whisky. (There's a very thorough discussion of this important point to be found in Embury's superb book "The fine art of mixing drinks".) Other than that, this is an excellent drink well presented and absolutely worth trying out if you enjoy whisky based cocktails.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

+Terje Huse Totally fair. You're right, it's not really fair to characterize Grain Whiskey as vodka. Unlike Vodka the flavor is not stripped out by definition. I mean, the mashbills on grain whisky are similar to those for Wheated Bourbons like, the world's most coveted Bourbon, Pappy Van Winkle. Thanks for pointing that out. I have a couple videos that are guilty of that gaff. I'm going to have to annotate the correction. Cheers!

[@terjehuse8562]

+Distinguished Spirits I felt the same way about blends when I got into whiskies a few years ago. I decided to be smart and only buy single malts rather than spend money on what I too thought of as no more than brown vodka. For me it was Maker's Mark, also made using wheat, along with JWBL that got me thinking. Anyway, thanks for taking your time replying. Cheers!

[@doctorx0079]

What do you think of using blood orange juice in this drink?

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

I actually don't like it as much as I like it with Cara Cara Orange or Tangerine juice. I thought I would, given the flavor profile (and the name connection), but it didn't quite hold up when I made one with Blood and one with Cara Cara and tried them back to back.

[@garlicgirl3149]

Johnny Walker Black must be different. The one I remember.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

It's a little different, a different blend than the Green Label.

[@negligiblethreat]

This does taste far too good at a quarter to midnight on a Wednesday not to result in disaster on Thurday morning, I'm just about to find out. Made it with the Compass Box Great King Street Blend, blood orange juice, Dolin Sweet Vermouth and, obviously, Cherry Heering. Could maybe use a tiny dash of Cynar, as Dolin is rather on the sweet side. Still, I enjoyed the hell out of it.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

The blood orange might be throwing it off a touch. I'd recommend Cara Cara.

[@ZZenoXX]

I just accidentally made this with Rye, not too bad though. Then made another one with scotch, much better.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

Rye? Interesting. Might have to try that one. Glad you liked the real deal though. Haha. Cheers!

[@ZZenoXX]

You see, I was deciding between a Sazerac, Vieux Carré or Blood & Sand...

[@CandyHam]

Strange. You take the measurements from Ted Haigh's book but disregard the garnish, going for an orange peel instead of a cherry. Death & Co's book has an entirely different spec: 1.0 scotch 0.5 sweet vermouth 0.5 cherry heering 0.75 orange barspoon lemon lemon peel garnish Wonder which tates better.

[@DistinguishedSpirits]

+CandyHam Try it out. The garnish makes a difference. With orange twist vs. cherry, I feel like the zest of the orange brightens up the drink in a wonderful way. The cherry is fine, but since the drink has so many sweet elements already the drop or two of Maraschino Cherry syrup that gets in the drink gets lost. Whereas when you garnish an El Presidente or Bijou with a cherry, it helps give another touch of sweetness which brings out another dimension in those drinks. As far as orange twist vs. lemon twist, try them out side-by-side. It will probably be a little surprising how much difference the garnish makes. Let me know which one you like better. Cheers!