T I P S F ROM THE TOP
With drinks historian THE AUTHOR AND FOUNDER OF GINSTITUTE, 47, ON BOND THE ALCOHOLIC, HOW HIS FIRST PUSH FOR NEGRONIS FELL FLAT AND McDONALD’S COCKTAILS
The most famous drinker in history is James Bond – and his favourite tipple is vodka Martini…
It’s the drink Bond is most synonymous with but if you examine the books, it’s one of many. He’s more likely to order American whiskey, such as Old Grand-Dad, which we don’t see in the UK often, also Jack Daniel’s, Harpers and Jim Beam. Lots of Bond’s drinks were his creator Ian Fleming’s favourites – and Fleming drank up to a bottle of gin a day until his doctor told him to switch to American whiskey as it would be better for his health. In You Only Live Twice, Bond actually orders a pint of
Jack Daniel’s to have in his hotel room before bed, alongside a double portion of eggs benedict.
Hang on – was Bond cool or just an alcoholic?
People probably did drink more back then, although not to the level James Bond enjoys his drink – and there’s some wonderful research by doctors in Derby who read his novels and tallied up his drinking. The books take place over a period of 88 days and Bond gets through 92 units a week. At his worse he manages 225 units in one week – and once he knocks back 50 units in a day, which is enough to kill most people. So Bond was an irresponsible drinker – but a sophisticated one. He orders an Americano, Sazerac and Stingers, which were all popular cocktails at the time. Fleming wrote his first book in 1952 and by then the vodka Martini, which had been invented in New York in 1947, was the fashionable drink of the day.
Shaken or stirred?
Like Fleming himself, Bond preferred his vodka Martinis shaken rather than stirred – which is something most modern-day bartenders wouldn’t agree with, because it can appear cloudy and aerated. Instead, we’d stir it with ice in a mixing jug to make it crisp and clear. However, I always tell my bartenders that there’s only one right way to serve a drink – and that’s the way your customer wants it.
How did you become a drinks historian?
My fascination dates back to the age of 15 when I did a GCSE history module on prohibition in America. I found it far more interesting than the postwar peace treaty. I was washing-up in restaurants from the age of 15 but I hated being in the kitchen and was always lingering around the bar, because it seemed so glamorous and exiting. At 18, I became a junior bartender but this was in 1992 so most cocktails were Sex On The Beaches and not very sophisticated concoctions. Within a year, I was promoted to bar manager and I tried to introduce some classic cocktails to the good folks of Leeds. I put negroni on the menu and it sold two glasses in a year – and both came back undrunk. But the UK enjoyed a cocktail renaissance in the late
1990s and it allowed me to turn my hobby into a career.
And what happened next?
In 2004, we did a menu inspired by historic recipes and recreations and in 2011, we opened Ginstitute in London, which involved putting together a history of gin for our guests. I recently wrote a book on 12 classic cocktail – and I’m normally found with my nose buried in old archives.
What’s fun about drinks history?
It’s like storytelling. Just reciting old recipes and names isn’t that interesting – but trying to pad out stories of characters involved, looking at the drinking culture and how it related to other parts of history at the time. In particular, the histories of gin and London are so intertwined. Bartenders tend to serve twisted classics but I like to see how recipes are evolved. Some drinks have changed beyond all recognition. A Martini made in 1882 is almost unrecognisable as it’s sweet and a different colour and has a cherry
instead of an olive.
How have modern drinkers changed?
We’re more sophisticated. Cocktails used to be overly sweet fruit juice concoctions with salacious names – now people have rediscovered classics such as negronis and Manhattans. There are more alcoholic products available to bartenders than any part of history. When I started we had four types of gin – now we have 1,000.
Mistakes – you’ve made a few?
There’s an old drink called the Bullshot, which is a cousin of the Bloody Mary but blends a beef bourguignon. We didn’t have beef so we tried blending a McDonald’s cheese burger instead – it wasn’t a good combination. As a drinks historian, I love buying old bottles and books and recently found an incrediblelooking bottle of gin on eBay with an ornate label, which looked like it was early 1900s. It was remarkably cheap – but when it arrived, it was a 2cm-tall novelty bottle, not a historic find!
What’s your advice for would-be drinks historians?
It’s easier than ever for a home historian. Old cocktail books from the 1800s change hands for a lot of money but loads of them are available free on websites, so you can learn histories of the classics by looking online. My favourite resource is the British Newspaper Archive, which has millions of scanned newspapers dating back to 1700s. Just type in Martini cocktail and go hunting for gold!
Feast like Bond every Thursday at Jake F Burger’s five-course immersive dinner, the-distillery.london