Diamonds Are Forever

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“The waiter brought the Martinis, shaken and not stirred, as Bond had stipulated, and some slivers of lemon peel in a wine glass. Bond twisted two of them and let them sink to the bottom of his drink. He picked up his glass and looked at the girl over the rim. ‘We haven’t drunk to the success of a mission,’ he said.” —Chapter 9

Published: 1956.

Overview: James Bond follows a diamond smuggling pipeline from London to Las Vegas to Africa, in the process shutting down the crime syndicate run by the brothers Spang. Features a whopping 27 drinks, 007’s highest total until Goldfinger, and marks the first appearance of Bollinger, the official “Champagne of James Bond.” By the way, there are many alcohol-related discrepancies between the British Jonathan Cape first edition (used for this updated review) and the American Signet paperback version; for more, see our special section, Bitter Champagne.

What does Bond drink?

• After meeting with M, Bond offers to buy Bill Tanner lunch at Scotts (established in 1851 and still open today), where they will have “dressed crab and a pint of black velvet.”

A Black Velvet consists of equal amounts of Guinness Stout and champagne, although there are recipes that call for three or four parts of champagne to one part beer. Legend has it that the drink originated in London’s Brooks Club in 1861, created on the occasion of Prince Albert’s death. (Supposedly, the steward ordered that even the champagne should be in mourning.) Ian Fleming himself was fond of Black Velvets, and it would be almost impossible to invent a more appropriate beer-based drink for 007. This is the first time that the literary Bond has a brew.

• During the first leg of his flight to New York, Bond wishes he could join Tiffany Case in the downstairs cocktail lounge, but instead waits for the steward to bring around cocktails along with caviar and smoked salmon canapés.
• When the plane stops at Ireland’s Shannon Airport, 007 has steak and champagne for dinner, followed by a “wonderful goblet of hot coffee laced with Irish whiskey and topped with half an inch of thick cream.”
• When Felix Leiter takes Bond to Sardi’s, the Texan orders 007 a medium-dry martini with a twist of lemon peel. Bond thinks the drink is excellent, but doesn't recognize the brand of vermouth. Leiter reveals that it’s a new brand from California, Cresta Blanca. Bond admits it’s the “Best vermouth I ever tasted.”

Established in 1880, Cresta Blanca was one of California's earliest wineries, and was known for Bordeaux-style wines and vermouth. The winery closed in 1965; its vineyards now belong to Wente.

Leiter goes ahead and orders another round. As they talk, Leiter sips his martini reflectively. After they eat lunch, Leiter reveals that Tiffany Case suffered a bout with alcoholism, and was once known in the Florida Keys as the “boiled sweet.” We also learn that she later joined Alcoholics Anonymous.
• In chapter nine, titled “Bitter Champagne,” Bond and Tiffany meet for dinner at New York City’s famed 21 Club. The chapter begins with Tiffany telling Bond not to waste his money trying to get her drunk and into bed. “I just don’t want to drink your Vodka martinis under false pretences,” she says. She has three of the cocktails, although it appears that Bond has only one. He orders a bottle of Clicquot Rosé champagne; when it arrives, he notes that it is ice-cold, delicious, and seems “to have a faint taste of strawberries.” At one point during their coversation, 007 looks "down into the pink pool of champagne." After dinner (caviar, cutlets and asparagus with mousseline sauce), they both have stingers made with white crème de menthe. When Bond ruins the mood by asking too many questions about the Spangled Mob, he senses the beginning of a vin triste, a French term for an alcohol-induced feeling of melancholy. She tells Bond to take her home because she's "getting tight."
• After sending a coded message to London, 007 goes to Voisin, where he has two vodka martinis, Oeufs Benedict and strawberries.
• During their drive to Saratoga, Bond and Leiter stop for lunch at a roadside restaurant named "Chicken in the Basket." "...The scrambled eggs and sausages and hot buttered rye toast and the Millers Highlife [sic] beer came quickly and were good, and so was the iced coffee that followed it...."
• After he checks into the Sagamore Hotel in Saratoga, Bond walks to an air-conditioned restaurant where he has two bourbon Old Fashioneds and a chicken dinner.
• Following the first day of racing at Saratoga, 007 spends an hour in a restaurant drinking bourbon and branch water, which Leiter has told him is fashionable in racing circles. "Bond guessed that in fact the water was from the tap behind the bar, but Leiter had said that real Bourbon drinkers insist on having their whisky in the traditional style, with water from high up in the branch of the local river where it will be purest. The barman didn't seem surprised when he asked for it, and Bond was amused at the conceit."

Order branch water in a bar today, and all you're likely to get is a blank stare. For those of us from the era of designer H₂O, branch water is really just an obsolete term for spring water.

After an adequate steak, Bond has a final bourbon and departs. (While it appears 007 may have had more, we'll count this as two bourbons.)
• After Shy Smile is disqualified from the Perpetuities Stakes, Bond walks into the racetrack bar, intending to get a bourbon and branch water.
• As Bond tells Leiter what happened to Tingaling Bell at Acme Mud and Sulphur, he drinks a whisky and water (almost certainly bourbon). Later, when they go to the Pavilion, they both have very dry martinis, made with Cresta Blanca vermouth. (An interesting note: in the UK first edition, Leiter's martini mysteriously changes into a whisky.) After a dinner of broiled lobsters (and learning that 007 is heading to Las Vegas), Leiter suggests that Bond have one last bourbon and branch water. “It’s desert where you’re going...no branches to get the water out of. You’ll be drinking it with soda and then mopping it off your forehead.” The whiskey arrives after Leiter orders it.
• During his first night in Las Vegas, Bond has a dry vodka martini in the Tiara casino bar, and then walks over to the Diamond Ring restaurant. When he tries to order a martini, the waitress curtly tells him the wine waiter will be right over. Bond eats a dinner of steak and cherrystone clams. During this chapter, Fleming mentions the courtesy drinks that are served to gamblers in casinos.
• After Bond wins $5,000 in the fixed blackjack game, he orders a bourbon and branch water at the casino bar. The bourbon is Old Grand-Dad and the water (despite Leiter’s earlier assertion) comes from a place near the Boulder Dam. After finishing his drink, 007 walks over to the nearest roulette table.
• When Bond is taken to Spectreville, he is led into the Pink Garter Saloon. (The faded sign for the establishment offers “Beers and Wines,” and the piano music coming from inside reminds Bond of nursed drinks.) After he defeats Frasso and McGonigle, 007 turns to find Tiffany, Seraffimo Spang and Wint and Kidd standing in front of a mahogany and brass bar. Bond also notices advertisements for “long-vanished beers and whiskies.” He is taken aboard Spang’s train, where the mob boss angrily begins questioning him. Bond cooly replies “I shall need a drink if we’re going to talk.” Spang tells Wint to get him a drink, and 007 requests a bourbon and branch water, “Half and half.” When Wint brings the drink, he thrusts it into Bond’s hand, spilling some of it onto the carpet. Bond takes two healthy swallows of the drink, which is “strong and good.” When he learns his cover is blown, 007 finishes the drink with one last deep swallow, the ice rattling hollowly.
• In Los Angeles, Bond, Tiffany and Felix have martinis in the bar at the Beverly Hills Hotel. When talking about his new-found respect for gangsters, 007 says he used to think they just filled themselves with pizza and beer.
• When Tiffany complains of seasickness aboard the Queen Elizabeth, Bond tells her to stay in her cabin and “live on Dramamine and champagne.” (By the way, the rusting hulk of the Queen Elizabeth makes an appearance in the film version of The Man with the Golden Gun.) When 007 and Tiffany meet for cocktails in the ship’s Observation Lounge, he orders them both dry vodka martinis with lemon peel. She makes a comment about Bond hiding her away like she was Miss Rheingold 1914.

Established in 1883, Rheingold was once one of New York's oldest and most popular beer brands. The company launched the Miss Rheingold contest in 1940 (so there was no Miss Rheingold 1914), and popular voting began two years later. In the 1959 contest, more than 22 million ballots were cast, but the competition came to an end in 1965. In 1999, a descendant of the original brewers brought the brand back, complete with a modern-day Miss Rheingold contest.

After Tiffany asks for another drink, Bond orders a second round, but it’s unclear if they actually receive these martinis since they then abruptly leave the bar.
• Tiffany sends a quarter-bottle of Bollinger to Bond’s cabin, along with steak on toast canapés and a small bowl of Sauce Béarnaise she has made herself. He pours himself a glass of the champagne.
• After dinner in the Veranda Grill, Bond and Tiffany go to the Auction Pool. She tells 007 she’d like more coffee and a stinger made with white crème de menthe. Later, she asks for another stinger, but after Bond orders it, she tells him to have it, since she wants to stay sober.

Other people’s drinks:

• As Tiffany waits between phone calls in her room at the Trafalgar Palace, she orders a double dry martini from room service.
• After Bond first notices Wint and Kidd in the airport departure lounge, they both order double brandy and waters at the bar. Wint uses his drink to take a Dramamine pill.
• When Leiter visits Bond’s hotel room in Saratoga, he smells of “liquor and cheap cigar smoke.” This is because he has spent time at "The Tether" restaurant and bar, Saratoga's home to the racing underworld.
• Before the Perpetuities Stakes, Bond watches Rosy Budd (Shy Smile’s trainer) drinking beer from a stein.
• Ernie Cureo tells Bond that champagne and caviar are served on Seraffimo Spang’s private antique train. (We also learn that Spectreville, the ghost town owned by Spang, has a house made out of whiskey bottles.) When Bond is later led through the train’s dining area, he notices an open bottle of champagne in a silver ice bucket.

Brand names: Clicquot Rosé champagne, Bollinger champagne, Old Grand-Dad bourbon, Miller High Life beer, Rheingold beer, Cresta Blanca vermouth.

Other observations:

• While Bond had previously ordered his martinis shaken (as early as Casino Royale), this novel marks the first time that Fleming uses the phrase "shaken and not stirred."
• At Sardi’s, Leiter orders Bond Brizzola, a delicious (yet fictitious) cut of beef.

Total: 27. One Black Velvet, 11 martinis (six vodka, four gin and one undetermined), at least half a bottle of Clicquot Rosé champagne, a quarter-bottle of Bollinger, at least one glass of undetermined champagne, an Irish coffee, two stingers, a Miller High Life beer, two bourbon Old Fashioneds, and at least six bourbon and branch waters. Three of the gin martinis are made with American vermouth.