Some cocktails are quick and easy, like the original Blood and Sand cocktail made with equal parts. But it's a bit too sweet for my taste, so I tried to change that with my twist on the Blood & Sand I call "Blood and Quick Sand". I made Lacto-fermented smokey orange juice and used cherry preserve and maraschino liqueur. Now, this is Blood and Sand to my taste. The smokiness is added to the orange juice in the fermentation process with Lapsang souchong black tea and it’s a big game-changer here. I hope you will try it too.
Blood and Quick Sand
● 37,5 ml (1.25 oz) Naked Grouse
● 22,5 ml (0.75 oz) sweet vermouth
● 22,5 ml (0.75 oz) Lacto-fermented smoky orange juice*
● 2 barspoons cherry preserve
● 2 dashes Luxardo Maraschino
Shake with ice and serve it up.
Lacto Fermented Smoky Orange Juice*
● 40 g Orange peels
● 500 g Orange wedges
● 8,1 g Salt (that’s 1,5% total weight, you can go up to 10,8 g (2%) if you’re worried about spoilage, but the end result will be a bit saltier)
● 1 g Lapsang Souchong black tea
Mix everything well and place in a vacuum-sealed bag. Leave to ferment until the bag fully inflates. Then, to give the juice a bit more time to ferment and develop flavors, poke a hole to leave out all the CO2, seal the hole and leave to inflate again. Open the bag, do a smell test to check nothing went foul, then juice the contents. Store in the fridge and “burp” the bottle every day, just in case any more pressure builds up within the bottle.