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Ahead of the No Time to Die premiere, David T Smith looks at the Dirty Vodka Martini from SPECTRE. Along with many other 007 fans, I have been re-watching the series in preparation for the release of No Time To Die. As someone who (only slightly metaphysically) lives and breathes cocktails and distilling, I was […]

One of my favourite and most frequently used culinary insights from the James Bond books is the recipe for scrambled eggs from 007 in New York, originally from the US edition of Fleming’s collection of travel writing, Thrilling Cities. Author of the new Bond book Solo, William Boyd, writes his book having been inspired by the […]

Today sees the release of the new James Bond novel – Solo – by William Boyd. It is a special year for Bond books, as 2013 is the 60th Anniversary of the original publication of Casino Royale in 1953. I got the chance to go along to The Dorchester for the launch yesterday to hear […]

Many years ago (even before Casino Royale was released in 2006), I was consulted on the possibility of making a pre-mixed Vesper. In the end, this came to nothing, so I was interested to see that Master of Malt’s Handmade Cocktail Company had released a bottled Vesper to coincide with the release of the latest […]

The drinks of this article come from one of the shorter 007 stories and one of the few books whose title has not been made into an EoN film (as such, there was speculation that this would be the name of Bond23 before Skyfall was announced). The book in question is Risico… Within the first […]

We’ve already covered the signature drink from the latest Bond book, Carte Blanche, but, in true Fleming style, the story is packed full of the finer details on a host of other drinks; some enjoyed by Bond and some by other characters. A few of these drinks are Stolichnaya Martinis; further details on these can […]

May is the month of the Kentucky Derby and so what could be a better choice for this month’s featured James Bond drink, but the Mint Julep? This mix of bourbon, mint and sugar doesn’t actually feature in the books, but it does appear in the film Goldfinger. Traditionally, this is the cocktail of Kentucky […]

I have been putting off writing about the Vodka Martini, the most prominent of Bond’s drinks and a cocktail that gave birth to the most famous bar instruction of all time: “Shaken, not stirred”.

The Vodka Martini is a variation on the original Dry Martini, which, in turn, is descended from the Manhattan. The Martini was originally made with sweet vermouth, but, around the turn of the last century, it became more popular to drink it with dry vermouth. The first reference to the Dry Martini can be found in How To Mix Fancy Drinks from 1903.

Before the Vesper, there was the Americano; this is the first cocktail that James Bond ever orders. He does this at the bar of the Hermitage Hotel whilst he waits for Mathis and Vesper Lynd. When they arrive, Bond orders Mathis a Fine à l’eau and a Bacardi for Vesper.

One of the trademarks of the James Bond books, especially those written by Ian Fleming, is the attention to detail given to what 007 drives, wears, eats and drinks. Since the release of the 2006 film, Casino Royale, the Vesper has rocketed to popularity in bars across the world. So it comes as little surprise […]