why did james bond want his martinis shaken not stirred
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/3/2019 Why Did James Bond Want His Martinis Shaken Not Stirred
1/2
Threadspotting:Oh, inconstant moon! What
would you do on this fullmoon night?
BEST OF THE STRAIGHT DOPEMESSAGE BOARD
Send your nominations forThreadspotting and Weird Earls [email protected]. Do it today!
To infinity and beyond! Forreal?
A-hunting we will go.Submitted by Jaguars!
Check out Boo!, our forum forall things Halloween.
4 rent, room with a vu.(NSFW)Submitted by Musicat, who alsowrote the tag, thanks!(Nudity/mature situations.)
VISIT THE STRAIGHT DOPE MESSAGEBOARD
66Like 4
ENTER KEYWORDS SEARCH
8
A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
Why did James Bond want his martinisshaken, not stirred?
November 28, 2000
Dear Straight Dope:
Why does James Bond care if his martini is shaken instead of stirred? What
difference does it make anyway?
SRusmisell
"Shaken, not stirred." The very phrase conjures up images of Sean Connery,
natty in his tuxedo, about to break the bank at baccarat before bedding thebeautiful double agent, doesn't it? James Bond has probably created more
martini drinkers than all the gin joints in the world.
The reason the debonair Bond wants his martini shaken is that he is an
iconoclast. He's not drinking a martini at all! He's drinking a vodka martini.
There's a difference, as we shall see. Pay close attention--we will not use the
terms interchangeably but it's easy to get confused.
Let's start by looking at Bond's drink. He takes vodka and gin in them. Ian
Fleming gives a recipe for his Bond's preferred libation in the first Bond book,
Casino Royale (1953), chapter 7:
"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 i t very well until it's ice-cold,then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?"
He calls this a vesper, after the beautiful double agent from the book (n.b.:
Kina Lillet is a brand of vermouth). In other appearances, Bond requests a
"medium vodka dry martini," sometimes ordered shaken not stirred. From
his vesper recipe, I take "medium vodka dry" to mean he wants a "medium"
amount of vodka mixed in with his gin, but who knows? Thanks to John Cork
of the Ian Fleming Foundation for digging up the vesper recipe and Bond's
other (vodka) martini orders.
A traditional martini (as opposed to a vodka martini) is made with gin, dry
vermouth and either an olive or a lemon peel. Nothing else. (Well, they used
to make them with extra-dry white wine rather than the dry-wine variant
vermouth, but we shan't address that age-old argument here) And a proper
martini is stirred, not shaken.
A vodka martini substitutes vodka for the gin (or adds it to the gin, as Bond
does) and sometimes allows other ingredients. Why? Well, because martini
purists such as your correspondent are snobs, whereas vodka martini
drinkers are more open to experimentation and allow more variations to
carry the name of their drink. But both martini drinkers and vodka martini
drinkers agree that one is not the other. Bond is the only person whom I have
come across who takes both spirits--I told you he was unique!
There are three main differences between a martini (or a vodka martini)
which has been stirred and one which has been shaken. First, a shaken
martini is usually colder than one stirred, since the ice has had a chance to
swish around the drink more. Second, shaking a martini dissolves air into the
mix; this is the "bruising" of the gin you may have heard seasoned martini
drinkers complain about--it makes a martini taste too "sharp." Third, a
shaken martini will more completely dissolve the vermouth, giving a less oily
mouth feel to the drink.
In a vodka martini, cold is key: a vodka martini that is not ice-cold tastes like
lighter fluid. So you shake them. The experience of a traditional martini ismore dependent on it being smooth and on not ruining the delicate flavors of
the gin. Ergo, one stirs it. Simple enough, no?
Recent Additions:What's the scoop on the mysterious buried treasure atOak Island?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Could WWIII be started by a flock of geese showing upon radar?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Is the government spraying stuff into the atmosphere toprotect us?By Cecil Adams
Is it healthy literally to "lick your wounds"?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Are you being poisoned by your silver tooth fillings?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Is it true men can suffer penile fracture?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
In medicine, what's the difference between an -ectomy,an -ostomy, and an -otomy?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Could I take down a T. rexwith my Beretta 9mm pistol?By Cecil Adams
Can soap ever get dirty?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Why does my body jerk when I'm falling asleep?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
How do they decide when you're dead enough to be anorgan donor?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Is "cracking your back" to relieve backache a good idea?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
How much would I have to hollow out the earth to makethe days longer?By Cecil Adams
Why can't I revive the "glow light" I bought at a concert?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Can I get cheekbone implants?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Does acupuncture really work?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
What causes sleep paralysis?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Why does everybody get so worried about radiationlevels in milk?By Cecil Adams
Can spy satellites read the headlines of a newspaper on apark bench?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
Do "close door" buttons on elevators ever actually work?A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams
SEARCH THE STRAIGHT DOPE ARCHIVE
Send questions for Cecil Adams to:[email protected]
Send comments about this website to:
Terms of Use / Privacy Policy
Advertise on the Straight Dope! Your direct line to thou-sands of the smartest, hippest people on the planet, plus afew total dipsticks.
Page 1 of 2The Straight Dope: Why did James Bond want his martinis shaken, not stirred?
13/10/2011
-
8/3/2019 Why Did James Bond Want His Martinis Shaken Not Stirred
2/2
This question captured the imagination of the SDSAB more than any since
the great exploding mosquito dustup of 1997
(www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_206.html). It was suggested by some
that even an experienced martini drinker could not tell the difference
between a stirred martini and a shaken one.
It's exactly that kind of insistence on the facts that made the Straight Dope
what it is today. So in the interests of science and in the best Cecilian
tradition,SDSTAFF Gaudere, Gaudere's brother and I repaired to the King
Cole Room at New York's St. Regis hotel, a global center of martinidom if
there ever was one, to conduct a blind taste test. There, we managed to
convince Kwaku the bartender to make one proper, stirred martini and one
shaken one (but made from gin, not vodka), all from the same mix. We then
each closed our eyes and drank. The results were about as one would expect:
martinis all over the bar and an angry bartender. But the experimental
outcome was stunning: each and every one of us was able to distinguish the
shaken martini from the stirred one. I pegged the stirred one even before
tasting the other one. A second scientific conclusion reached that evening is
that "martinis upset ulcers," so it may be a while before your humble
correspondent repeats the experiment.
Finally,SDSTAFF Karen notes that a study in the on-line edition of theBritish
Medical Journal(www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7225/1600) posits
that shaken martinis may enhance the antioxidant effects of alcohol, making
them healthier than the stirred variety. Feh. If you're drinking for your
health, have some carrot juice.
Manny
STAFF REPORTS ARE WRITTEN BY THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD,CECIL'S ONLINE AUXILIARY. THOUGH THE SDSAB DOES ITS BEST, THESE COLUMNS AREEDITED BY ED ZOTTI, NOT CECIL, SO ACCURACYWISE YOU'D BETTER KEEP YOUR FINGERSCROSSED.
COMMENT ON THIS ANSWER
Publishers - nterested in subscribing to the Straight Dope?Write to: [email protected].
Copyright 1996-2011 Creative Loafing Media, Inc. All rightsreserved. No material contained in this site may berepublished or reposted without express written permission.The Straight Dope is a registered trademark of CreativeLoafing Media, Inc.
Other Creative Loafing Media, Inc. sites:
Creative Loafing Atlanta | Creative Loafing Charlotte |Chicago Reader | Creative Loafing Sarasota | CreativeLoafing Tampa | Washington City Paper
Page 2 of 2The Straight Dope: Why did James Bond want his martinis shaken, not stirred?
13/10/2011