Features

One element strongly associated with 007 is his drinking, with “shaken, not stirred” almost guaranteed to recall the world’s most famous secret agent in the mind of anyone  in the English speaking world. While his vodka martinis have become something of a cliché, at least Daniel Craig got to drink something else in Casino Royale, with […]

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 […]

Why it doesn’t matter at all that 007 will be seen drinking Heineken in Skyfall. The recent announcement that James Bond would be seen drinking Heineken beer in Skyfall created headlines around the world, with much of the media reporting that was swapping his vodka martinis for beer. In fact, the most likely scenario is […]

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 The Martini was originally made with sweet vermouth, but, around the turn of the last century, it became more popular to drink it with dry vermouth.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.

Video of how to mix James Bond’s vodka martini – shaken, not stirred – using Ian Fleming’s recipe from Live And Let Die