As any film buff will know, James Bond insists on his vodka martini being ‘shaken, not stirred’.
The iconic cocktail is made with vodka, vermouth and ice, garnished with ‘large thin slice of lemon peel’.
But it turns out that Ian Fleming’s superspy may have been ordering the classic drink all wrong.
That’s according to Darcy O’Neil, a scientist and beverage writer based in Canada, who has revealed how to make the perfect martini.
Unfortunately for Bond, the expert explains that shaking the cocktail before serving creates smaller shards of ice. While this makes for a colder drink, it also carries a greater risk of diluting the ingredients, lessening the overall flavour.
‘The key difference comes down to dilution,’ Ms O’Neil, who runs the Art of Drink YouTube channel, told the Daily Mail.
‘Shaking tends to be a more energy–intensive process and also creates small shards of ice that melt quickly. This creates more dilution, assuming shake and stir times are equal.’
The news comes as rumours swirl over who could play the next James Bond – with a House of Guinness star the latest to be named as a ‘contender’ by bookies.
Famously, the iconic cocktail is made with vodka, vermouth and ice, garnished with ‘large thin slice of lemon peel’. Bond can’t take credit for creating the vodka martini, but he certainly popularized it. Pictured, James Bond (Daniel Craig) in ‘Casino Royale’ (2006)
According to Schott’s Food And Drink Miscellany, a martini – which is actually traditionally made with gin instead of vodka – should always be ‘agitated’ with ice before being drained into a cocktail glass.
But whether this agitation should be in the form of shaking or stirring is a question that has vexed drinkers for decades.
Of course, Bond, a man of taste and sophistication, has always insisted on the former, in both the books and their on–screen adaptations – although as Amazon takes over the 007 franchise, Bond’s drinking habits could soon dramatically change.
In the 1958 book ‘Dr No’, he says: ‘I would like a medium Vodka dry Martini – with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred, please. I would prefer Russian or Polish vodka.’
This is the first time the character utters his preference for shaken over stirred – assumed to be because it makes for a colder drink, helping Bond keep his cool.
But the result is that he is sipping back a more watery and aerated beverage.
According to Ms O’Neil, a shaken martini has more air bubbles, making the drink more cloudy and with a ‘thinner, less viscous mouth feel’.
‘A stirred martini is typically perfectly clear, with no air bubbles,’ he told the Daily Mail.
In the 1958 book ‘Dr No’, Bond says: ‘I would like a medium Vodka dry Martini – with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred, please. I would prefer Russian or Polish vodka’. Pictured, Sean Connery as Bond in the 1962 film adaptation
‘People often experience a smooth, viscous sensation when drinking a stirred martini, and don’t experience that with a shaken one.’
According to the expert, small air bubbles can change the flavour and texture of the drink slightly, although they dissipate quickly.
‘Depending on a person’s mood, the drink may be finished before the bubbles are gone,’ he said.
English writer William Somerset Maugham was one connoisseur who appreciated a difference, but unlike Bond he opted for a stirred martini.
Maugham once said a martini ‘should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously on top of one another’ – but O’Neil thinks he ‘was using some literary license when expressing that statement’.
Vermouth, vodka and gin are miscible, meaning they form a homogeneous mixture when added together, he pointed out.
‘So from a chemistry point of view, they will disperse evenly amongst each other,’ he said. ‘And the key molecules are ethanol and water, which make up 99.9 per cent of a martini.’
In his 2022 book Love and Let Die, cultural historian John Higgs says shaking a martini is perceived by some to ‘bruise’ the gin, giving a bitter taste, but how exactly the drink is prepared is perhaps less important than how resolute Bond is in his choice.
A shaken martini has more air bubbles, making the drink more cloudy. Pictured, Pierce Brosnan as Bond in ‘Die Another Day’ (2002)
‘It is not whether this is the best drink that matters here,’ Higgs said. ‘It is that Bond needs to believe that he knows what is best.’
To cocktail purists, Bond also commits something of an offence by ordering vodka in his martini instead of the more traditional gin – although in the first Bond book he opts for both.
Bond can’t take credit for creating the vodka martini, but he certainly popularized it.
‘It was a drink specially chosen to express Bond’s modern sophistication – he does not drink whisky or brandy like the older establishment, neither does he drink anything common like beer,’ Higgs said.
‘Bond’s drink of choice became so iconic because of what it said about his character – that he recognised quality and the minutiae of the material world.
‘This has kept Bond ordering martinis in the films long after the associations they had in the 1950s had gone.’
