Two At The Most

The Blood and Sand is a classic example of a recipe you shouldn’t judge without tasting.

Blood and Sand

Blood and Sand

1 ounces blended Scotch whisky
1 ounces orange juice
0.75 ounces cherry brandy (Cherry Heering or Cherry Marnier)
0.75 ounces sweet vermouth

Shake all ingredients well and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with orange twist or brandied cherry.

This recipe doesn’t look like it could possibly work. And yet it does, and when well balanced, it works very, very well. The scotch is strong enough … Continue Reading

I was paging through Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails when I hit The Communist.

The Communist Cocktail

The Communist

1 ounce London dry gin
1 ounce orange juice
0.75 ounce lemon juice
0.5 ounce cherry brandy (Cherry Heering)

Shake until as sold as Mother Russia, double strain into a very proletarian cocktail glass.

With fresh fruit juices and Cherry Heering, this is a little bourgeois for the name. I was initially reluctant to go with the full 3/4 ounce lemon juice, but decided the cherry … Continue Reading

Lo and behold, it’s another Mixology Monday! This 35th incarnation is being hosted by The Scribe at A Mixed Dram, and he bids us: Broaden Your Horizons. Try a new base spirit, a new technique, anything, just as long as it’s something new for you.

The Scribe is apparently precognitive, because the base spirit he gave as an example, tequila, is one that’s fairly foreign to me. Just last week I put up … Continue Reading