Drink Battle: Original Blood And Sand vs PDT Blood And Sand

Note: This is just too good to be true, and probably the only type of drink I ever need to write about on this website: it’s a drink named after a movie!!!  Get it?!  Cinebriated = drunk on film, but this drink gives one the potential to actually drink while watching a film it’s been directly inspired by!  Granted I still haven’t watched the whole movie (travesty I know) but if you’re interested, it’s right below for your viewing pleasure.  If you like this, they even remade it as a talkie (which you can also find below)!  But I digress...

In celebration of both #NationalScotchDay (yesterday) and #WhiskeyMonth (all July), I needed to have a Scotch cocktail (I’ve got all month to drink different Whiskeys; only 1 DAY to focus on Whisky without the e).  Penicillin is one I’ve loved at #EtsiBravoBar, as well as #BlackCypress for some time.  However, one that I couldn’t recall having recently was a wholly different beast: Blood and Sand.

What makes this wonderful:  it’s named after a movie (apologies: I just can’t stop being excited about this). This drink completely encompasses a solid combination of what we originally set out to do with this site.

Ingredients:

• Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Scotch Whisky - special thanks to Joe here, this Whisky is named after a condition stirrers of the malt (I’m going to start searching for that when looking for a job on LinkedIn) obtained, until better work practices came into play
• Orange Juice - fresher the better (though this unfortunately had an expiration date of April 2014...)
• Cherry Liquor - what I’ve read to be recommended everywhere has been Cherry Heering Liquor is the standard in the drink, but I happened to recently invest a good deal of coin in Luxardo Maraschino and used this instead, though I’ve since learned that it’s much more herbal than the recommended spirit from this guy (which was a great site to uncover in general): 
  discovering dionysus
• Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth - some good stuff recommended by PDT, and I happened to still have it!  - note if you’re my roommate (I’m looking at you Joe), and you see a shot full of this sitting on the counter, it isn’t for you...

Blood and Sand PDT

• Smell it and the scotch comes right through, though I’m not complaining; it’s the prime ingredient.  Did someone say this was a   Why drown a good thing (assuming you can handle it) in all that nonsense.  
• taste has bite, and you might be able to tell about orange juice right off, but everything else isn’t clear which is exactly how you want it to be.  Plus that look… daymn

Blood and Sand - Savoy

• Original recipe supposedly had equal parts of the drink, which create for a sweet and tasty drink, but the scotch is gone.  Plus, cherry overpowers this way to easily.  Where’s the titular “Blood and Sand”? Only in the color I think
• Smell - pretty delicious.  I think I’m getting a cool fast cocktail, which could be worth pursuing in the first place.  

Winner - PDT!!!

At first I thought they might be crazy for changing a classic drink like this, but now I’ve realized they made such a good choice.  Now I may be way off base for using Luxardo vs. Heering, but I’d still recommend this drink in particular.  

Now I need to try and find time to watch that silent film...

Drink Battle Royale: Algonquin vs The Benchley

For something different here at Cinebriated (…is there actually enough to show what “different” is? Or maybe its just that someone actually posted here!) I’ve taken it upon myself to indulge you with my month to month libation exploration.

Inspired by the book The 12 Bottle Bar, I’m devoting anytime I spend mixing/drinking to one specific spirit per month.  This is dictated by whichever chapter I might be on in said book (the whole purpose of the book is to provide standards for just having 12 bottles in you home bar, along with very wonderfully colorful commentary, history, and recipes for drinks as well as syrups and other ingredients).  As there is so much information in each chapter (and trying each drink quickly might easily lead to forgetfulness via more paths than one) I decided to devote a whole 30 +/- 2 days to each.  Great lessons have been learned through the introductory chapters of Brandy, Genever, Gin, Amber Rum, White Rum, and now Rye Whiskey (specific variety of whiskey is dictated for many reasons; bourbon lovers just need to chill and open up).

To keep you on top of my adventures during this #WhiskeyMonth, you can follow us on Twitter @Cinebriated.  As for now, you can see my first ever Drink Battle Royale, and that is:

Algonquin vs The Benchley*

*note: this is not about some sort of fictional battle between Vicious Circle's Robert Benchley and the city of Algonquin, IL… it’s just drinks people**

 **note:  too bad, because that battle could be (weird) awesome

The Algonquin is a supposedly famous drink from the Manhattan hotel of the same name according to The PDT Cocktail Book, which some have referred to as their “Bartending Bible.”  The recipe here is as follows:

• 2 oz Rittenhouse Rye (also recommended by The 12 Bottle Bar)
• .75 oz Nolin Prat Dry Vermouth
• .75 oz Pineapple Juice 

The 12 Bottle Bar however believes this drink has a missing component.  Instead of the previous measurements and pineapple juice, they recommend a unique twist in what they call “The Benchley” (after… you guessed it): 

• 1.5 oz Rye Whiskey
• .75 oz Dry Vermouth
• .75 oz Pineapple-Sriracha Syrup

The final ingredient is made with equal parts pineapple juice and sugar (1/2 cup in this case), with an addition of Sriracha Sauce to taste.  Mixed over low heat, the result is inspired.

I made both to try together and see the difference.  Each was made according to its specifications except that Cinzano Extra Dry Vermouth was used, as was Old Overholt Rye (neither of which was instructed according to PDT, but Old Overholt is recommended by The 12 Bottle Bar, and for good reason).

I created, I imbibed, and I discovered...

The Algonquin was fine, but truly did taste watered down and lacking: like a high class beverage requested in an alley bar that didn’t understand the term “Manhattan.”  It wasn’t bad, but pineapple aftertaste wasn’t exactly inspiring either.

The Benchley, however, was truly welcoming.  It may have to do with the fact that actual sugar was involved, and I have to wonder how I would judge the drink having just Pineapple syrup without Syracha, but overall it was uniquly flavored as such.  Between the two, there was almost no chance for me to go with the original. Just to confirm, I had Joe check both as well.  He agreed the latter was better.

Winner: The Benchley!

Even if this wasn’t a competition, The Benchly would receive high marks from me while the Algonquin might be relegated to something you’d get at a Denny’s bar.

Watch out:  I hope to have more parings in the near future.

World Traveler: Ksarak

Having grown up in the US of A, I understood there to be a number of standard libations all the adults partook in: Whiskey, Vodka, Tequila, etc.  However as I grew, I began to question how there could only 10 or so options.  In a world as big as ours, surely there had to be more?  

And so began my obsessive and continuing interest in discovering all the other countries and cultures of the world has created.  I have already ventured extensively into Italy with Fernet and Amaro travels, but there is so much more to see.  

Case in point - I present Ksarak, a pure grape alcohol from Lebanon with a similar taste to other concoctions like Sambuca and Absinthe (strong licorice flavor)