Blood and Sand is one of the few classic mixed drinks that includes Scotch whisky. It was named for Rudolph Valentino’s 1922 bullfighter movie Blood and Sand. The cocktail itself isn’t generally thought to be a good mixture of flavours, it’s possible that it was only ever created to market the film.
The red juice of the blood orange in the drink helped link it with the film, which also received its fair share of criticism. The recipe is first known to have appeared in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.