All the sugar, cayenne and scraped vanilla beans to a bowl and stir and mash together with a fork until the beans are distributed evenly. You can store this sugar in a jar if you make it ahead of time and in that case, keep the vanilla pod in the jar! Make a double or triple batch… hint hint.

In the bottom of a chilled glass, add the simple syrup, bitters and an orange slice or two. Muddle together until the orange slices have broken down. Add crushed ice and pour the bourbon and blood orange juice over top. Stir to mix. Top off with the club soda and garnish with an orange slice and fresh herbs for color.

To make simple syrup, combine equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Whisk constantly until the sugar dissolves and let the mixture come to a simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let cool completely then stored in a sealed jar in the fridge.