a large twist of lemon, to garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour in the gin, vodka and Lillet Blanc. Shake vigorously until it’s ice cold. Then strain into a Martini glass and garnish with a large, thin twist of lemon peel.
Note: Bond says Gordon’s gin; I prefer something with 40 per cent alcohol.
‘When I’m…er…concentrating,’ says Bond, ‘I never like to 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.’ Well… this is strong, and arguably enough for two ordinary mortals lacking in Bond’s super-human capacity for alcohol!
The Bronx
One of the Five Boroughs Cocktails, this drink was allegedly created by Bronx-born restaurateur Joseph Sormani in Philadelphia around 1905. Its proportions vary from recipe to recipe, ranging from equal parts of gin and the two vermouths with just a dash of orange juice and orange bitters, to the much drier version I use here. The Bronx also exists in silver and gold versions – the silver contains an egg white, and the gold an egg yolk. If you fancy either version, make sure you shake it vigorously before you add the ice so that it emulsifies properly, then shake again.
15 ml (½ fl oz) fresh orange juice
10 ml (2 tsp) red vermouth
10 ml (2 tsp) dry vermouth
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) gin
a twist of orange, to garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the orange juice, vermouths and the gin. Shake until it’s very cold, then strain into a Martini glass and garnish with a twist of orange. Serve at once.
The Queens
This is apparently a genuine Harry Craddock cocktail, or so says Robert Vermeire, author of Cocktails: How to Mix Them, published in 1922. He ought to know. Craddock was his contemporary, and the author of The Savoy Cocktail Book, one of the pre-war bibles of mixology.
Appropriately, for a Five Boroughs cocktail, it is very similar to the Bronx, replacing the orange juice with fresh pineapple.
½ slice of fresh pineapple
20 ml (¾ fl oz) red vermouth
20 ml (¾ fl oz) dry vermouth
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) gin
Crush the pineapple with a muddler in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice, then pour in the two vermouths and the gin. Shake well, then strain into a cocktail glass.
The Gibson
There are various stories about the Gibson’s origins. Two of them involve characters named Gibson, who would ask bartenders to serve them water in a Martini glass with a silverskin onion garnish so they could tell their drink apart from their friends’ alcoholic Martinis. A third version says that the Gibson – a much drier version of the Martini than was fashionable before the Second World War – sported its onion to single it out from its more vermouthified colleagues. Martinis have become drier and drier over time, but I think the Gibson’s onion makes it a perfect dinner cocktail, preferably served with a rare grilled steak.
5 ml (1 tsp) white vermouth
60 ml (2 fl oz) gin
1–3 pearl onions, to garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour in the vermouth. Stir vigorously to coat the ice, then pour in the gin. Stir again. When the cocktail is perishingly cold, strain into a Martini glass and garnish with the onions.
KAY’S TIP: Replace the gin with vodka for a Vodka Gibson.
The Fine & Dandy
I think the Fine and Dandy is a bit of a forgotten gem. It’s fresh and sophisticated, and its pale peach hue is a delight to behold. The thing is, I cannot find out where it came from. So, since every cocktail should have an origin story, here goes mine.
Fine and Dandy was a show written in 1930 by Kay Swift, the first woman to score a full Broadway musical, and a long-time paramour of the legendary George Gershwin. It was a massive hit, and its title number was covered by everyone from Charlie Parker to Barbra Streisand. So I’m going to stick my neck out and say the drink was named for it. On a side note, Kay Swift eloped with a rodeo cowboy in 1939. She sounds like my kind of girl.
20 ml (¾ fl oz) fresh lemon juice
20 ml (¾ fl oz) Cointreau
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) gin
a dash of Angostura bitters
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all the ingredients. Shake until icy cold and strain into a cocktail glass.
KAY’S TIP: Some people garnish this with a maraschino cherry. I feel it’s better without. Either way, sup with Peggy Lee’s recording playing in the background.
The French 75
Is this a gin cocktail or a Champagne cocktail? I say gin, but either way it’s said to have the kick of a French 75mm field gun. This was created by Harry MacElhone of Harry’s Bar, New York, in 1915. It definitely packs a punch – you have been warned!
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) gin
20 ml (¾ fl oz) fresh lemon juice
10–20 ml (2–4 tsp) sugar syrup
chilled Champagne, to top up
a twist of lemon, to garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup to taste. Shake well, then strain into a Champagne flute. Top up with Champagne and garnish with a twist of lemon.
Tom’s April Sour
Our friend Tom Williams’ fragrant cocktail evokes memories of English spring and early summer with its bright citrus tang and hints of elderflower and cucumber. He designed it specifically to pair with similar notes in the Hendrick’s gin, while the egg white gives it a dreamy lemon meringue finish. Sip while sprawled on a cool grass lawn.
50 ml (1¾ fl oz) Hendrick’s gin
25 ml (¾ fl oz) fresh lemon juice
25 ml (¾ fl oz) elderflower cordial
a dash of egg white
a thin slice of cucumber, to garnish
Pour the gin, lemon juice, elderflower cordial and egg white into a cocktail shaker and shake until emulsified. Fill the shaker with ice and shake again until it’s very cold. Strain into a glass and top with the cucumber float.
The Negroni
This is alleged to have been invented in Florence by Count Negroni, who asked the bartender at the Hotel Baglioni to strengthen his Americano with a spot of gin, but no one knows if this is actually true. Orson Welles was one of the first Americans to write about it, saying ‘the bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other out’. James Bond orders one in the short story Risico. So consider it a drink endorsed by proper drinkers.
20 ml (¾ fl oz) gin
20 ml (¾ fl oz) Campari