Smoky blended Scotch meets the dark sweetness of cherry liqueur and the plush richness of sweet vermouth, while orange juice brings a bright, juicy lift that keeps the whole from turning heavy. Four parts in equal measure are shaken to a deep amber that drinks silky and gently fruited, with an orange peel sending a flash of citrus oil over the top.
Garnish: Orange Peel
Shaken · Coupe · Up
add
Add blended scotch, cherry liqueur, sweet vermouth, and orange juice to a shaker.
shake
Fill with ice and shake well until thoroughly chilled.
strain
Double-strain into a chilled coupe glass.
express
Express an orange twist over the surface; flame the zest if desired.
garnish
Garnish with the expressed orange twist.
Its earliest printed recipe turns up in The Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock's 1930 compilation, where it is listed without credit as equal quarters of Scotch, cherry brandy, Italian vermouth and orange juice. No individual inventor is on record — historians point only to an unnamed British bartender of the 1920s, who took the title from Rudolph Valentino's 1922 bullfighting picture and let the cherry play the blood and the orange the sand. The equal-parts formula has held ever since, now usually poured at three-quarters of an ounce apiece, and the drink remains one of the few classics to put Scotch at its base.