Shaken, not stirred: How to whip up the elusive 007 Vesper martini

You’d be forgiven for thinking good martinis ought to be shaken, not stirred, when the classic recipe calls for the cocktail to be stirred rather than shaken. Blame it on James Bond and his iconic Vesper martini.

As the story goes, Ian Fleming, author of the now-famous Bond books, was rumoured to have enjoyed visiting Dukes Bar. A bit of a London institution, Dukes still has a reputation as a world-class bar known for its martinis, which average about £20 (more than R440).

As the Dukes Bar website reads: “Frequently visited by James Bond author Ian Fleming, the legendary DUKES Bar is said to be the inspiration for the classic line, ‘shaken, not stirred’.” 

It was on one of Fleming’s visits that he asked the bartender to make him an off-menu cocktail and the result so impressed him that it became the inspiration behind the Vesper martini, James Bond’s signature drink.

But what exactly made the Vesper different to a standard martini? To get to the bottom of it, we asked local mixologist Mish Chinnah. According to her, the original Vesper recipe was made using 60ml gin, 20ml vodka and 10ml Kina Lillet. This was shaken with ice and served in a chilled coupe or martini glass.

“Kina Lillet, later changed to Lillet, was a mentioned staple in bars long before modern drinking as we know it,” says Chinnah, who describes the French drink as an “aromatised wine-based aperitif”. “Lillet has been a staple cocktail ingredient for close to a hundred years. It is called for in many classics featured in The Savoy Cocktail Book.

“It's something that is so hard to replicate that it's obvious why it has always been that the Vesper Martini is synonymous with Lillet.”

Classic cocktails like the Vesper often stay true to the recipe — or, as Chinnah says, they’re called classics for a reason. “We did not have Lillet in the country for years, so we had to make our own substitute, which never came close, so many bars never listed a Vesper on the menu.”

Lillet Blanc is now available in South Africa, though not readily. But if you’re willing to improvise, Chinnah says the newly launched Lillet Rosé makes for a good twist on the original recipe — simply swap out the Lillet Blanc for 10ml Lillet Rosé.

“But,” she says, “people should adjust recipes at home to suit their palate. If you feel you could do with a touch more Lillet Rosé, you should try it. It might not be the classic Vesper recipe, but a drink is best enjoyed the way you like it” — as long as you don’t get into the habit of asking your local bartender to change all their drinks to reflect your personal recipes.