A Short History: Blood & Sand and Irish 8th

   

For our upcoming Shaken & Stirred, we are featuring two cocktails, Blood & Sand and Irish 8th.  Purchase tickets below!

 

Blood & Sand

This recipe first popped up in the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, with the title thought to be a nod to Rudolf Valentino’s 1922 silent film of the same name (itself, an adaption of a 1909 Spanish novel) about the rise and fall of a bullfighter. This mix of equal parts Scotch, sweet vermouth, cherry liqueur and orange juice, shaken and strained into a coupe, makes for one of the rare cocktails based on Scotch.

  

The Irish 8th

A CLOCK house cocktail. The name is derived from the triangular Irish 8th ward of Baltimore located between, Greenmont, Monument, and Gay street. It was the strongest Irish neighborhood in Baltimore. The rise of anti Irish/anti Catholic gangs called the "Know Nothings" caused the ward to band together and protect themselves forming their own gang known as the "Irish Bloody 8ths" that would often fight with the Know Nothings. The ward also would not allow anyone inside who could not speak Gaelic.

 

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