The secret, it would appear, is out. James Bond aficionados wondering if the spy will be reunited with his favourite tipple – the vodka martini – when Spectre hits the big screens later this month can relax.
It seems 007 is shaking things up, ditching his straightforward vodka martini with a twist of lemon and replacing it with a dirty martini, combining vodka, dry vermouth, a muddled Sicilian green olive, and a measure of the olive’s brine.
Bond purists were aghast when, as part of an estimated £28m tie-in with the 2012 film Skyfall, actor Daniel Craig clutched a bottle of Heineken in an advertisement for the Dutch brewer. Was Bond now a lager drinker?
Then last year Polish luxury vodka brand Belvedere announced a tie-in to the Bond franchise, revealing no figures but declaring it “the largest global partnership we have done to date”. Fans’ hearts were gladdened and immediately Ajay Chowdhury, president of the James Bond International Fan Club, predicted “very short” odds on Craig reverting to type and ordering up his cocktail in Spectre.
A Spectre source has revealed the martini moment arises when 007 shares a cocktail with French actor Lea Seydoux, who plays Dr Madeleine Swann.
“You can see olives in the glass,” said the source. “Bond is clearly going for a dirty [martini] to impress his dining companion – it’s all very sensual. Traditionalists might find it a bit strange, but the dirty is, in fact, a great choice for a licensed killer who can’t stop seducing women.”
Bond’s penchant for the vodka martini was crystallised in the catchphrase first mentioned in the Dr No book in 1958 when, confronted by the eponymous villain for the first time, the spy declared: “I would like a medium vodka dry martini – with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken not stirred, please. I would prefer Russian or Polish vodka.”
The phrase “shaken not stirred”, regularly voted as one of the 100 most famous lines in film history, appeared in Sean Connery’s third Bond outing, Goldfinger in 1964.
Bond has drunk beer and various cocktails in the Ian Fleming books, but the vodka martini is, perhaps, the cocktail most closely associated with him on film.
“Bond is synonymous with the vodka martini and I always say inside the vodka martini there is nowhere for the vodka to hide,” Belvedere Vodka president Charles Gibb said at the time the partnership with the franchise was announced.
The recipe for Bond’s perfect vodka martini is set out in the book Live and Let Die, when Solitaire pours him a drink: six parts vodka to one part vermouth.
How to make a James Bond dirty martini:
3oz vodka, 1oz dry vermouth, 1/2oz olive brine.
Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker half-filled with cracked ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with Sicilian olives. Serve.
