Secret agents. Double agents. Public relations agents...

If you've been reading my posts the last couple of weeks, you'll notice that I have been getting bombarded with all things Bond. I only posted the two or three things I thought the most interesting. Or funny. (You'd be amazed at the incredible variety of stuff that gets tied-in to a major motion picture release.)

Then I got an email that started: "Bond got it wrong." Ok. I'm listening. It went on to explain that cinema's most famous drinker of martinis "shaken, not stirred" wasn't drinking a martini. And what he was drinking was meant to be stirred, not shaken. Interesting.

Apparently, the email continues, when Bond creator, Ian Fleming, was writing Casino Royale he wanted a unique cocktail for his hero. A fan of the classic martini, made with Plymouth gin, the same English gin used in the original martini, (and, as you are guessing by now, the people who sent me the email), Fleming decided to give it a twist. He added vodka to the mix and dubbed it The Vesper Martini. Why the Vesper? Vesper Lynd is Bond's beautiful assistant/Russian double agent in the book.

To toast with a Vesper Martini of your own you'll need:
3 oz. Plymouth Gin
1 oz. Absolut vodka
1/2 oz. Lillet vermouth

Stir until ice cold.
Impress date with knowledge of martini history.
Serve in chilled martini glass with large, thin slice of lemon peel.
Enjoy.

www.plymouthgin.com