The James Bond martini is a vodka martini, shaken, not stirred. It’s the order everyone quotes, and it’s also one of the easiest drinks in the films to make at home. Bond’s bar runs a lot deeper than one martini, though: across the 25 films there’s rum, bourbon, whisky, absinthe and the cocktail he invents at a poker table and names after Vesper.
This list is the recipes. Nine drinks from the films, each with measures and a method from a published source: the International Bartenders Association’s official spec where there is one, Difford’s Guide where there isn’t, and two simple serves we built ourselves where neither has a recipe (we say which). They’re ranked by how easy each one is to make for a party: how many bottles you need, how much work each glass takes, and how fast your guests will recognize it as Bond’s. Every recipe makes one drink. Measures are in millilitres as the source gives them; the ounces are our conversions, rounded.
Mixing for a Christmas party? On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is the Bond film with Christmas in the story. What Bond orders in each scene is on our list of his drink orders, and the bottles themselves are on our 007 bar list.
9 to 7: One Glass at a Time
9. The Sazerac, Live and Let Die (1973)
At the Fillet of Soul in New Orleans, Bond asks for bourbon and Felix orders two Sazeracs instead. It’s a New Orleans classic and a lovely drink, and it’s last here for one reason: the glass needs its own preparation before the drink goes in, and you do it again for every guest.
You need: 50 ml (1¾ oz) cognac (rye whiskey works too), 10 ml (⅓ oz) absinthe, 1 sugar cube, 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters, lemon zest.
Method: Rinse a chilled old-fashioned glass with the absinthe, add crushed ice and set it aside. Stir the cognac, sugar and bitters over ice in a mixing glass. Tip out the ice and any extra absinthe from the first glass, then strain the drink into it. Garnish with lemon zest.
For a party: Four things you won’t use anywhere else on this list, a mixing glass, crushed ice and a two-glass routine per drink. Make one for yourself after the guests leave.
Most likely to have one too many: The cousin who just got back from New Orleans and has mentioned it four times since he took off his coat.
8. The Mojito, Die Another Day (2002)
In Havana, Bond orders a mojito in Spanish and later talks Jinx into trying one. The drink is built in the glass, which sounds easy until you’re crushing fresh mint for the eighth person in a row.
You need: 45 ml (1½ oz) white Cuban rum, 20 ml (¾ oz) fresh lime juice, 6 mint sprigs, 2 tsp white cane sugar, soda water, a lime slice.
Method: Press the mint with the sugar and lime juice in a tall glass. Add a splash of soda water and fill the glass with ice. Pour in the rum, top with soda water and stir lightly. Garnish with mint sprigs and the lime slice.
For a party: Fresh mint, fresh limes and a muddling job in every glass. Buy more mint than you think. Then buy more.
Most likely to have one too many: Whoever was in charge of the playlist and put on steel drums. In December.
7. The Mint Julep, Goldfinger (1964)
At Goldfinger’s Kentucky stud farm, Bond accepts a mint julep and adds two notes of his own: sour mash, and not too sweet. The sour mash is about the whiskey, and our bar list covers the bottle. The sweetness is up to you: the official recipe uses one teaspoon of sugar, and Bond would want no more than that.
You need: 60 ml (2 oz) bourbon, 4 fresh mint sprigs, 1 tsp powdered sugar, 2 tsp water, cracked ice.
Method: In a julep cup (any short glass will do), gently press the mint with the sugar and water. Fill with cracked ice, add the bourbon and stir until the outside of the cup frosts. Garnish with a mint sprig.
For a party: Cracked ice by the bagful and a frosty cup that takes its time. Beautiful, slow and best made for the guest who asks nicely.
Most likely to have one too many: The guy who asks if you have a silver cup, then tells you why it matters.
6 to 4: Worth the Extra Step
6. The Rum Collins, Thunderball (1965)
At Largo’s estate in Nassau, Bond takes a Rum Collins when it’s offered. It’s the tall, easy-drinking one on this list: aged rum and lemon, lengthened with soda.
You need: 60 ml (2 oz) aged Caribbean rum (6 to 10 years), 22.5 ml (¾ oz) fresh lemon juice, 15 ml (½ oz) rich sugar syrup (two parts sugar to one part water), 1 dash Angostura bitters, 60 ml (2 oz) soda water, a lemon slice and a cherry.
Method: Shake the rum, lemon juice, syrup and bitters with ice. Strain into an ice-filled Collins glass and top with the soda water. Garnish with the lemon slice and cherry on a pick.
For a party: You can squeeze the lemons and make the syrup before anyone arrives. After that it’s a shaker per glass and a top of soda. More work than a highball, less than muddling.
Most likely to have one too many: The coworker who calls it “a little vacation in a glass,” mentions the trip she never took, and spends the rest of the party staring quietly into it, wondering who she’d be now if she’d gone.
5. The Dirty Vodka Martini, Spectre (2015)
On the train, Madeleine orders a dirty vodka martini and Bond asks for the same. Dirty means olive brine, and the brine does most of the talking. The order in the scene names no method, so this is the stirred version.
You need: 60 ml (2 oz) vodka from the freezer, 22.5 ml (¾ oz) chilled dry vermouth, 15 ml (½ oz) chilled green olive brine, 3 green olives.
Method: Stir everything with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the olives on a pick.
For a party: One jar of olives covers the brine and the garnish, but every drink still needs stirring and straining. Ask before you pour: olive brine divides a room.
Most likely to have one too many: Your boss’s 22-year-old nephew, who orders his “extra dirty” and follows it with a spring break “Woooo!”
4. Malt Whisky and Branch Water, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
At the bar at Piz Gloria, undercover as the genealogist Sir Hilary Bray, Bond orders a malt whisky with branch water. Branch water is American slang for plain water, so this is the easiest drink on the list. It’s also from the Bond film that brings Christmas into the story. Blofeld greets Bond with “Merry Christmas, 007,” and Bond’s escape from the mountain runs through a Christmas festival in the village below. (The mountaintop is a real restaurant you can visit.)
You need: 45 ml (1½ oz) single malt Scotch whisky, still water.
Method: Pour the whisky into a rocks glass. Add the water a teaspoon at a time and taste as you go. No ice; Bond didn’t ask for any. (Our own serve: there’s no published recipe for whisky and water.)
For a party: One bottle, a jug of water and no tools at all. Guests can mix their own. It ranks fourth only because nobody at the party will guess it’s a Bond drink until you tell them the story.
Most likely to have one too many: Your sister’s new husband, who adds water one drop at a time, sniffs after each drop and wants to tell you about a distillery tour on Islay.
3 to 1: Pour These for the Whole Party
3. Large Mount Gay with Soda, Casino Royale (2006)
Bond’s first drink order in Casino Royale is a large Mount Gay with soda, at the Ocean Club bar in the Bahamas, right before he wins a car at cards. Barbados rum, soda water, ice. That’s the whole recipe, and that’s the point.
You need: 60 ml (2 oz) Mount Gay rum, 120 ml (4 oz) soda water, ice. The bottle is on our bar list.
Method: Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the rum and top with soda water. Stir once. (Our own serve: we read Bond’s “large” as a double.)
For a party: Two bottles, no shaker, ten seconds a glass. If the party only gets one tall drink, make it this.
Most likely to have one too many: The guy who heard “large” and took it as a challenge.
2. The Vesper Martini, Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008)
At the poker table in Montenegro, Bond dictates the whole recipe: three measures of Gordon’s gin, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet, shaken over ice, with a thin slice of lemon peel. Later he names it after Vesper. In Quantum of Solace, a barman on the flight to Bolivia recites the same drink to him and mentions it’s his sixth. Kina Lillet is no longer made, so the official recipe swaps in Lillet Blanc and keeps Bond’s proportions exactly: six parts gin, two parts vodka, one part Lillet.
You need: 45 ml (1½ oz) gin, 15 ml (½ oz) vodka, 7.5 ml (¼ oz) Lillet Blanc, lemon zest. Bond names Gordon’s for the gin; the bottles are on our bar list (Gordon’s, Lillet Blanc).
Method: Pour everything into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon zest.
For a party: Three bottles and a shaker. The ratio is simple enough to scale in your head, and it’s the most Bond drink you can hand anyone. It misses the top spot by one bottle.
Most likely to have one too many: The guest who recites the recipe out loud, word for word the way Bond does, and has clearly watched the scene several times this week to get it right.
1. The James Bond Martini, Dr. No (1962) to No Time to Die (2021)
A vodka martini, shaken, not stirred. It’s the drink your guests mean when they ask for “a James Bond,” and Bond says the catchphrase himself in seven films. Shaking makes the vermouth taste stronger, so a shaken martini wants less of it than a stirred one. That’s why this recipe is so dry.
You need: 75 ml (2½ oz) vodka, 7.5 ml (¼ oz) dry vermouth, lemon zest. Bond’s usual vodka is on our bar list.
Method: Shake the vodka and vermouth hard with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Squeeze the lemon zest over the drink and drop it in.
Gin instead: The first time Bond asks for it shaken, not stirred, he’s on Goldfinger’s jet, and he never says vodka. For that one, use 75 ml (2½ oz) gin with the same 7.5 ml (¼ oz) dry vermouth, shaken the same way.
For a party: Two bottles and a lemon, and the one drink on this list people will order by name. Keep the vodka in the freezer and the glasses cold, and you can turn these out as fast as you can shake.
Most likely to have one too many: The dad who’s been waiting all year to say “shaken, not stirred.”
The Verdict
Nine drinks, and the two most famous are also the easiest to pour for a room: the James Bond martini and the Vesper. The Sazerac is the best reason to stay late.