Casino Royale cocktail question

[AlabasterDisaster]

I just watched Casino Royal (2006) last night. Now I know about the Vesper and the usual Bond martini but he orders some other cocktail near the start of the movie. When Bond is at the resort in the Bahamas, he orders a drink at the bar before he plays poker (and takes the guy's Aston Martin.) It sounds like he lists the ingredients and I thought I heard "Campari." He gets a highball glass with ice, filed to the top with somethng that looks like watered-down giner ale. I rewound it several times but I couldn't understand what he said. I even found the script online but the scene was not in it. Any ideas?

[JonParker]

My interest in what James Bond drinks died when I realized he was a fan of shaken vodka martinis. Ugh. The man was a heathen.

[joffeloff]

True enough. He's worse in the movies than in the books, though. The reboot with Daniel Craig has really improved the series, including his taste. :p

I'm just generally interesting in actual drinks in popular culture personally. I like when there's an actual name rather than something fluorescent in a 'martini glass'.

[tigercrane]

What's your gripe with shaken vodka martinis?

[JonParker]

I think a martini should be made with gin. Since vodka is so neutral it ends up being vermouth flavored vodka.

Still, people can drink what they like. More troubling is the shaking. In general, a drink made entirely of spirits should be stirred. Shaking ruins the clarity leaving a cloudy drink that can even contain ice shards

[tigercrane]

Shaking also dilutes it, which some people prefer. In a gin martini, the shaking aerates the gin, which changes the taste. I agree that ice shards are nasty, but I believe some like it...the Reverend Horton Heat says "Make it with a layer of ice this time" I assume that's what he's talking about.

[JonParker]

Actually, stirring dilutes it too. It's an essential part of the drink.

[JonParker]

Here's a graphic depiction of the differences between shaken and stirred drinks.

http://cocktailhacker.com/?p=995

[tigercrane]

When at home I neither shake nor stir, I just keep my gin in the freezer. No water at all. Am I doing it wrong?

[JonParker]

I'd say yes. The idea is to blend the gin and vermouth with some of the melted ice, which brings the flavors together. By using cold gin, you're not going to allow that dilution to happen. Place all the ingredients. Including the ice, into a shaker. Stir with a bar spoon (a table knife is an acceptable substitute) for 60 seconds. Strain into a cocktail glass, garnish and serve.

It is acceptable to keep your glasses in the freezer though.

[tigercrane]

But frozen gin is so delicious. When you freeze it, it aquires an oily texture that you don't get from the shaker.

[davis_sq_pro]

Agreed with JonParker -- you're doing it wrong. A mixed drink needs dilution so as to avoid being fiery/harsh and to help bring out some of the nuances in the various ingredients. If you're freezing your ingredients only minimal dilution is going to occur and you're basically just drinking a glass of straight spirits. Which is fine if you want to drink a glass of straight spirits, but it's not the foundation for what most consider to be a well-made, balanced cocktail.

[joffeloff]

What you can do is to take gin, vermouth, and ice, and stir it for the appropriate time. *Then* freeze it in a bottle, with water content and all. Flavors get time to meld. The 'Handmade Cocktail Company' makes a premixed bottled martini, without added water mind you, and this bottled martini actually won out in a blind test with several martini drinkers. The idea has some merit. Another added bonus is that if you mix up enough to spend your entire bottle of vermouth, you won't have your vermouth go bad on you as you drink martinis. It is preserved when mixed with the gin.

[hazelhurst]

The late Bernard DeVoto claimaed that one could "no more store a martini in the refrigerator than store a kiss there." See his classic book "The Hour." Just reportin'

[joffeloff]

That is one opinion, and one that can be weighed. I won't say anything against it as I have yet to actually experiment with bottling cocktails, so I'll reserve judgement, but I don't see why this should be so beforehand.

I'm not a great martini fan so in my case I'd be bottling Negronis. I don't see why the martini should be any less bottle-able, though.

edit - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/din... I just read this article and I am tempted to consider the book more of a tongue-in-cheek effort than any serious cocktail book. Apparently this man believes that no drink made with rum can be a cocktail, Scotch cannot be used, the Manhattan is not a cocktail, and the Daiquiri or indeed anything containing fruit juices is not a cocktail.

'In fact, Mr. DeVoto shrinks the cocktail universe to two drinks: “a slug of whiskey” and the martini. The first, of course, is not even a mixed drink. The second he surrounds with more caveats and fine-print instructions than a car-repair manual.

First, no olives or onions or orange bitters. The martini can be shaken or stirred, but no ice particles should enter the drink. The strainer must be perforated, not encircled by a coiled wire. Only American gin is permissible. The drink should not be premixed and stored in a refrigerator, lest “the fragile tie of ecstasy” be snapped. You may hum, but not whistle, as you make the drink, which must be consumed in the city, for it is essentially an urban cocktail. In a spasm of gender generosity, Mr. DeVoto states outright that there is no reason why a woman cannot mix a proper martini.'

Uh...

[hazelhurst]

You are now ready to graduate to the ANSI (National Standards) pamphlet on the proper fabrication and safety manual for the American Standard Dry Martini, which was issued in the 1960's. No joke (well...sort of) it is a real Standard designation. Of course, the Committee that wrote it includes such notables as WC Fields. I have a copy somewhere. Lotsa fun.

[joffeloff]

Just read that. The 'radiation mixing method' is somewhat hilarious.

[hazelhurst]

I also like the acceptable methods of stirring: (A) Clockwise; (B) Counter clockwise (With illustrations)

[joffeloff]

I realize this thread is old, but I just watched this scene again with subs and I can confirm Bond ordered a (quote\unquote) 'Large Mount Gay with soda'. So it's basically an aged rum highball with no garnish. (glass had only spirits, soda and ice)

[MC Slim JB]

I only saw the film in the theater, and don't remember that scene well, so this is just a guess. It is possible that he orders an Americano, as he does in the original book. This is one of my favorite highballs: Campari, sweet vermouth, and seltzer built in a highball glass over ice, garnished with a twist of orange. Very refreshing, a nice aperitif, a bit like a lighter, less boozy Negroni.

[CDouglas]

This site is obsessed with the drinks and drinking Bond does in all of his films. They list the Bahamas drink as (what appears to be a rum and coke). Noting that later he orders a Mount Gay and tonic in the Casino Royale.

http://007.atomicmartinis.com/24.htm