"Shaken, not stirred" is a
catchphrase of
Ian Fleming's fictional
British Secret Service agent
James Bond, and his preference for how he wished his
martini prepared. The phrase first appears in the novel
Diamonds Are Forever (1956), though Bond does not actually say
the line until
Dr. No (1958) but says it "shaken and not stirred" instead of
"shaken, not stirred." It was first uttered in the films by
Sean Connery in
Goldfinger in 1964 (though the villain Dr.
Julius No offers this drink and utters those words in the first
film,
Dr. No, in 1962). It was used in numerous Bond films thereafter
with the notable exceptions of
You Only Live Twice, in which the drink is offered stirred,
not shaken (Bond, ever the gentleman, ignores his host's gaffe,
telling him the drink is perfect), and
Casino Royale, in which Bond, after losing millions of dollars
in a game of poker, is asked if he wants his martini shaken or stirred,
and snaps, "Do I look like I give a damn?"
This phrase has become a recognisable catchphrase in western
popular culture and has appeared in many films,[1]
television programmes[2]
and video games[3]
for its cliché value. In
Tom
Clancy's novel
Without Remorse, when ex-Navy
Seal
John Clark is asked his opinion of
CIA operatives he worked with in the
Vietnam War, he replies, "A couple were all right but most of them
spent their time upstairs mixing martinis, shaken, not stirred".[4]
Roger Moore used the phrase in one episode of
The Saint, eight years before he played James Bond himself.[5]
Ironically, while playing Bond, Moore never ordered a martini, although
he received one in
The Spy Who Loved Me,
Moonraker and
Octopussy.
The
American Film Institute honoured
Goldfinger and the phrase on 21 July 2005 by ranking it #90 on a
list of
best movie quotes in the past 100 years of film.
Preparation
Novels
Bond first ordered a drink to be shaken in Fleming's novel
Casino Royale (1953) when he requested a drink of his own
invention which would later be referred to as a
"Vesper", named after the
Bond
girl,
Vesper Lynd. After meeting his
CIA contact
Felix Leiter for the first time, Bond orders the drink from a barman
while at the casino.
'A dry martini,' he said. 'One. In a deep
champagne goblet.'
'Oui, monsieur.'
'Just a moment. Three measures of
Gordon's, one of
vodka,
half a measure of
Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then
add a large thin slice of
lemon peel. Got it?'
'Certainly monsieur.' The barman seemed pleased with the idea.
'Gosh, that's certainly a drink,' said Leiter.
Bond laughed. 'When I'm...er...concentrating,' he explained, 'I
never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that
one to be large and very strong and very cold, and very
well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when
they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to
patent it when I think of a good name.'
A Vesper differs from Bond's usual cocktail of choice, the martini,
in that it uses both gin and vodka, Kina Lillet instead of
vermouth, and a lemon peel instead of an olive. In the same scene
Bond gives more details about the Vesper, telling the same barman that
vodka made from
grain
instead of
potatoes makes the drink even better. Kina Lillet is no longer
available[7],
but can be approximated
[8] by using the sweeter Lillet Blanc along with a dash of
Angostura Bitters.
Russian
and Polish
vodkas were also always preferred by Bond if they were in stock.
Although there is a lot of discussion on the Vesper, it is only ordered
once throughout Fleming's novels and by later books Bond is ordering
regular vodka martinis, though he also drinks regular gin martinis. In
total, Bond orders 19 vodka martinis and 16 gin martinis throughout
Fleming's novels and short stories.[9]
Film
Sean Connery
The shaken Martini is mentioned twice in the first Bond film
Dr. No (1962.) Once when Bond had presumably ordered a drink
from Room Service to his hotel room, it is mixed by a waiter, who says
"one medium dry vodka martini mixed like you said, sir, but not stirred"
(a slice of lime was in the bottom of the glass.) Later,
Dr.
No presents Bond with a drink — "A medium dry martini, lemon peel.
Shaken, not stirred."
Bond did not vocally order one himself until Goldfinger
(1964). However, in the 1967 film
You Only Live Twice, Bond's contact Henderson prepares a martini
for Bond and says "That's, um, stirred not shaken. That was right,
wasn't it?" To which Bond replies politely, "Perfect." Since then, each
Bond has himself ordered the drink, except for two.
George Lazenby
In
George Lazenby's only film,
On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond never actually orders
himself a drink, but when he meets Marc-Ange Draco for the first time,
Draco tells his Olympe to get a dry martini for Bond. Draco then adds
"Shaken, not stirred."
Roger Moore
Roger Moore's Bond never actually ordered one himself, but has one
ordered for him several times, nonetheless. In the 1977 film
The Spy Who Loved Me,
Anya Amasova orders him one. In
Moonraker, his drink is prepared by Manuela. In
Octopussy,
Octopussy herself greets Bond by mixing his drink.
Timothy Dalton
Timothy Dalton's Bond ordered his trademark Martini in each of his
films. In
The Living Daylights he and Kara arrive in Austria where he
orders a martini "Shaken, not stirred" shortly after entering their
hotel. For his second film,
Licence to Kill he doesn't directly order it. Instead, he tells
Pam Bouvier what drink he'd like as he plays
Blackjack, only to end up disappearing shortly after, leaving
Bouvier to down the entire martini in one long gulp.
Pierce Brosnan
In
GoldenEye, Bond orders the drink in a casino while talking with
Xenia Onatopp, and later, Zukovsky refers to Bond as a "charming,
sophisticated secret agent. Shaken, but not stirred." In
Tomorrow Never Dies,
Paris Carver orders the drink for Bond after the two meet again
after years apart. While Paris' choice of drink had changed, Bond's had
not. In
The World Is Not Enough, Bond orders the drink in Zukovsky's
casino. In
Die Another Day, Bond is coming back on a rather
turbulent
British Airways flight. The air hostess (played by
Roger Moore's daughter
Deborah) serves him his martini, to which Bond replies "Luckily I
asked for it shaken."
Daniel Craig
The Vesper was reused in the
2006 film version of Casino Royale, while Bond is playing
poker to defeat
Le
Chiffre.
Daniel Craig's Bond ordered the drink, providing great detail about
how it should be prepared. The other poker players try variations on the
Vesper as well. Later though, after Bond loses money to Le Chiffre, Bond
orders a martini; when the barman asks whether he would like it shaken
or stirred, Bond snaps "Do I look like I give a damn?"
In Craig's third film,
Skyfall,
when talking to Bond girl Sévérine at a casino bar, the bartender is
seen shaking Bond's martini before pouring it, to which Bond comments
"perfect".
Purpose of shaking
Scientists, specifically
biochemists, and martini connoisseurs have investigated the
difference between a martini shaken and a martini stirred. The
Department of Biochemistry at the
University of Western Ontario in
Canada
conducted a study to determine if the preparation of a martini has an
influence on their
antioxidant capacity; the study found that the shaken gin martinis
were able to break down
hydrogen peroxide and leave only 0.072% of the peroxide behind,
versus the stirred gin martini, which left behind 0.157% of the
peroxide.[10]
Thus a shaken martini has more antioxidants than a stirred one. The
study was done at the time because moderate consumption of alcohol
appears to reduce the risk of
cataracts,
cardiovascular disease, and
stroke.
Andrew Lycett, an Ian Fleming biographer, believed that Fleming
liked his martinis shaken, not stirred because Fleming thought that
stirring a drink diminished its flavour. Lycett also noted that Fleming
preferred gin and
vermouth for his martini.[11]
It has also been said that Fleming was a fan of martinis shaken by Hans
Schröder, a
German bartender.[12][13][14][15]
A part of Ian Fleming's James Bond character was based on people in
his surroundings. One such influence was his friend
Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld, who drank his vodka martini as Bond
did, always shaken, not stirred.
Many bartenders insist that any cocktail that involves nothing but
transparent ingredients - such as martinis, manhattans, and negronis -
must be stirred in order to maintain clarity and texture. The former is
an aesthetic concern, the latter a matter of culinary taste. Shaking a
drink is quite violent, and necessarily introduces air bubbles into the
mix. This results in a cloudy appearance and a somewhat different
texture on the tongue when compared to a stirred drink. However, when
any of the ingredients are opaque (such as citrus juices, dairy, or
eggs), aesthetically-pleasing clarity and texture are not as much of an
issue. Furthermore, studies have shown that, while techniques and type
of ice used do play a role in the final effect of chilling and diluting
a drink, both shaking and stirring result in chilling the drink with
equal effectiveness; stirring merely takes longer.[16]
[17] In essence, then, James Bond doesn't seem to care that
his martini will be ugly upon presentation, though it will reach him
slightly faster because shaking chills a drink faster.
Some connoisseurs believe that shaking gin is a
faux
pas, supposedly because the shaking "bruises" the gin (a term
referring to a slight bitter taste that can allegedly occur when gin is
shaken). In Fleming's novel Casino Royale, it is stated that Bond
"watched as the deep glass became frosted with the pale golden drink,
slightly aerated by the bruising of the shaker," suggesting that Bond
was requesting it shaken because of the vodka it contained. Prior to the
1960s, vodka was, for the most part, refined from potatoes (usually
cheaper brands). This element made the vodka oily. To disperse the oil,
Bond ordered his martinis shaken; thus, in the same scene where he
orders the martini, he tells the barman about how vodka made from grain
rather than potatoes makes his drink even better. Shaking is also said
to dissolve the vermouth better making it less oily tasting.[18]
While properly called a Bradford,[19]
shaken martinis also appear cloudier than when stirred. This is caused
by the small fragments of ice present in a shaken martini. This also
brings into question the movie versions which are never cloudy.
In "Stirred",
an episode of
The West Wing, President
Josiah Bartlet disagrees with Bond in a conversation with
Charlie Young:
- Bartlet: Can I tell you what's messed up about James
Bond?
- Young: Nothing.
- Bartlet: Shaken, not stirred, will get you cold water
with a dash of gin and dry vermouth. The reason you stir it with a
special spoon is so not to chip the ice. James is ordering a weak
martini and being snooty about it.[20]
Other 007
drinking habits
Spirits
Bond's drinking habits mirror those of his creator, Ian Fleming.
Fleming as well as Bond throughout the novels had a preference for
bourbon. Fleming himself actually had a fondness for gin, drinking
as much as a bottle a day; however, he was converted to bourbon at the
behest of his doctor who informed him of his failing health.[21]
Otherwise, in the films James Bond normally has a fondness for vodka
that is accompanied by
product placement for a brand. For instance,
Smirnoff was clearly shown in 1997's
Tomorrow Never Dies, in which Bond sits drinking a bottle while
in his hotel room in
Hamburg.
Other brands featured in the films have included
Absolut vodka,
Stolichnaya and
Finlandia. In the film
GoldenEye, Bond suggests
cognac when offered a drink by
M, who gives him bourbon instead, as it is her preference. In
Goldfinger, Bond drinks a
mint julep at Auric Goldfinger's
Kentucky
stud
farm; in
Thunderball, Largo gives Bond a
Rum Collins. Bond is also seen in
Quantum of Solace drinking bottled beer when meeting with Felix
Leiter in a
Bolivian
bar. In
Die Another Day, Bond drinks a
mojito.
In Casino Royale, Bond orders a
Mount Gay rum
with soda.
In the novel
Moonraker, it is noted in the card club Blades, Bond adds a
single pinch of black pepper to his glass of vodka, much to M's
consternation; he claims it sinks all the poisons to the bottom.
Wines
In several of the Bond films, he is known to prefer
Bollinger and
Dom Perignon[22]
champagne. Never primarily a red wine drinker, Bond tended to favour
Château Mouton Rothschild; a 1947 vintage with Goldfinger,
and half a bottle On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, a 1934 ordered
by M in Moonraker, and a ’55 in Diamonds are Forever—where
Bond unveiled the assassin Wint posing as a waiter because the latter
didn’t know that Mouton-Rothschild is a
claret. In the
Jeffery Deaver novel Carte Blanche, Bond expresses a
knowledge and appreciation of
South African wine.
Others
In You Only Live Twice, Bond opts for sake over his usual
martini, indicating that he especially likes it when it's served at the
correct temperature of 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit (37° Celsius, normal body
temperature). Tiger, his host, is impressed and tells Bond he is
exceptionally cultured—for a European.
Outside of alcoholic beverages, in the novel
Live and Let Die Bond expresses his fondness for
Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.