Casino Royale, 1953.
| 3 oz · 90 ml | GIN | 40 % |
| 1 oz · 30 ml | VODKA | 40 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | LILLET BLANC | 17 % |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 4.5 oz mixed with ice, 1.69 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Shaken: +20 % of the pre-batch, +0.9 oz of water |
| Served | 4.5 + 0.9 = 5.4 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 1.69 ÷ 5.4 = 31.2 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 1.69 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 39 g · about 275 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM GIN
The pine note in juniper berries, and the reason gin tastes like a forest. Co-distilled with the spirit during production. Found in actual pine trees, rosemary, basil, and a good London Dry. The "Christmas tree" smell of gin and the smell of a forest floor share a single molecule.
ALSO IN Negroni · Martini · Gimlet · Gin & Tonic · Aviation · Corpse Reviver #2 · French 75 · Bramble
FROM LILLET BLANC
The bitter from gentian root, used across Campari, Aperol, sweet vermouth, Angostura, and most amari. Bitter compounds activate TAS2R taste receptors that evolved to detect plant alkaloids. The same machinery that makes broccoli taste bad to children also makes a Negroni taste like an adult ordered it.
ALSO IN Negroni · Manhattan · Paper Plane · Boulevardier · Sazerac · Naked & Famous · Last Word · Vieux Carré
Gin, vodka and Lillet Blanc. Shaking, not stirring, aerates and dilutes more aggressively than a standard Martini, Bond's deliberate break from convention. Alpha-pinene comes from juniper and quinine traces from Lillet's cinchona bark. The drink is close to 30% ABV post-shake, a large-format drink.
Ian Fleming named the cocktail after Vesper Lynd, the doomed agent who shares Bond's hotel suite in Casino Royale. The original recipe specified Kina Lillet, a quinine-fortified aperitif wine reformulated in 1986 (modern Lillet Blanc is far less bitter). Bartenders who want the original profile substitute Cocchi Americano for the Lillet or add a quinine tincture. Bond's instruction here is simply to shake it; the 'shaken and not stirred' line arrives in later novels, Diamonds Are Forever and Dr. No.
