Colonel Sun

"Greece I know a little and love what I know. Ouzo I know much better: a Greek version of Pernod with a much more sinister smell but similar effects. Love would be too starry-eyed a word to use there." "That's a slander. And not accurate. The French took it from us and flavoured it with aniseed and dyed it green. Horrible!" —Chapter 6

Published: 1968.

Overview: M has been kidnapped, and James Bond follows the trail to Greece. Along the way, he thwarts a plot by Chinese Colonel Sun Liang-tan to change the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean.

This James Bond novel was the first written after Ian Fleming's death, and the only continuation book to be released during the peak of 007's popularity in the 1960s. Colonel Sun was written by Kingsley Amis under the pseudonym Robert Markham. While we don't otherwise analyze non-Fleming Bond novels (and drink totals from this novel do not count on the big board), Amis presents a special case. First, he helped polish The Man with the Golden Gun for publication (giving him a direct tie to the official novels), and he was perhaps a more accomplished drinker than Fleming (he wrote several books on tippling). All in all, Colonel Sun is a good debut, on a par with some of Fleming's lesser books.

Amis also wrote two other books related to 007: The James Bond Dossier, and The Book of Bond, or Every Man His Own 007, credited to Chief of Staff "Lt.-Col William ('Bill') Tanner." (You can find excerpts from the latter at the Commanders Club Web site.)

What does Bond drink?

• As James Bond and Bill Tanner play golf, we learn they had lunch at Scotts (they also dined there in Diamonds Are Forever). Their cold beef and potato salad was accompanied by a well-chilled bottle of Anjou rosé.

Bond's first post-Fleming drink is rosé? In a 1981 letter, Amis defended Bond's choice: "I don't like it either, but Bond did. He drank a well-iced pint of it in Goldfinger, p 170 (Cape edn.), admittedly with a sole meunière, but if rosé goes with anything it goes with anything, right?"

• As they play golf, Bond thinks back on his life of several years before, including the daily "round of gin and tranquillizers he had been trapped in...." Following the game, Bond has a gin and tonic in the clubhouse bar. Tanner also has a drink, most likely a gin and tonic. Before they leave, Bond orders another round. (De Graaf, who is tailing Bond, thinks it would be awkward if Bond and Tanner "lingered over the drinks these people felt bound to consume at this hour.")
• When a drugged 007 is first found by the police, they think he is drunk.
• Following M's kidnapping, Bond and Tanner meet in the study at Quarterdeck, and drink scotch and sodas. Bond had had to "harden his heart" to bring in the silver drink tray from the kitchen (it had been prepared by Hammond right before he died). Bond drinks "deeply and gratefully."
• When Bond first arrives in Athens, he heads to an outdoor cafe and drinks a carafe of cheap wine.
• That evening, Bond sits in the Hotel Grande Bretagne bar (Amis does not reveal what he has). After rescuing Ariadne Alexandrou, 007 asks what she'd like to drink. She asks the waiter for ouzo and ice (she specifies Boutari instead of Sans Rival). Bond orders the same with plenty of ice. (Amis goes into great detail about the cloudy appearance of the drinks.) Later, Ariadne says she is being sentimental by ordering ouzo: "The newest people want vodkatini, or Scotch and soda."
• As Bond and Ariadne have dinner in an Athens restaurant (named Dionysos after the Greek wine god) they drink retsina, a white wine infused with resin.
• At the Soviet safe house in Athens, Gordienko offers Bond an ouzo: "It is known that you prefer whisky, but our budget wouldn't allow this." The Russian also has an ouzo, saying he'd also rather have something else, "but at least the use of neutral drink will make sure that our respective national egos aren't offended."
• At the home of Ariadne's friend, Bond looks through the cabinets and finds "ouzo, cheap red wine, local brandy, and—blessedly—Bell's Scotch." He mixes it half and half with Nigrita (a Greek mineral water), drinks it in two swallows, and feels the "familiar spreading, smouldering glow" move through his body and overcome his fatigue. "An illusion...the body must warm alcohol to blood heat before absorption can even begin. Yet, as always, illusion or not, it worked." He also has a weaker follow-up drink.
• As they discuss their current situation aboard the Altair, Bond, Niko Litsas and Ariadne each have two ouzos over ice. As Litsas says, "In Greece you consider nothing unless with some stimulating drink, and it's the wrong time for coffee." Litsas says the ouzo is from the barrel, stronger and less sweet than from a bottle. The ouzo has the "bland fieriness" Bond looks for "in all short drinks: cool and dry in the mouth, warmly powerful in the belly."
• During dinner, the trio drinks light Mamos retsina. After eating, they have Botrys (Amis spells it Votris) which Litsas declares the "only drinkable Greek brandy." Bond has two small glasses, which carry "the hint of treacliness which he could never stand in a drink."
• After his early-morning attack on the enemy cruiser, Bond drinks a glass of Botrys. For the moment, he does not "mind the sweetish tang of the brandy." As they discuss what happened, Ariadne takes a drink from Bond's brandy. After telling how Yanni dispatched one of the attackers with a knife, Litsas reveals that the teenager turned down an offer of brandy, because "he thought he mustn't start drinking at his age."
• After Ariadne returns to the Altair (following her meeting with Arenski), she and Bond and Litsas each have another ouzo.
• At the tavern in Vrakonisi's harbor, Bond, Litsas and Ariadne have lunch, "accompanied by a sensible modicum of retsina."
• Aboard the Cynthia, Litsas announces that he is going to have a beer. He offers bottles to Ariadne and Bond, but both decline. We learn that 007 has had enough of the "thin, soapy local brew." (Since this means he has had at least one, we'll count it as a single drink.) Litsas seems to pour the bottle of beer down his throat without swallowing.
• As they prepare to abandon the Cynthia, Litsas offers Bond the bottle of Botrys, saying "I know you don't think much of it, but it feels just the same as cognac when you're in the water." 007 drinks, and passes the bottle to Ariadne. He finds the "spreading fire" of the brandy comforting.
• After his capture, Bond asks Colonel Sun for some whisky. Sun says he's been keeping a bottle of Haig for the occasion, and asks if he'd like it with ice and water. Bond replies he'd like it neat. After receiving a "generous measure," 007 takes a sizeable drink of the "honey-coloured fire." Before being led away, he drains the whisky.
• The novel ends in a banquet room in the Hotel Grand Bretagne, where we learn there is a drinks table. As Bond speaks with Yermolov, the Russian asks 007 "you have enough to drinkhas enough to drink (we'll count this as an undetermined drink). Later, when Bond asks to speak "naturally," Yermolov says he'll need a serious drink, and insists that Bond join him. He offers Stolichnaya, "not the best there is, but perfectly wholesome." (By the way, this is only the second time that the literary Bond has a name-brand vodka. In Moonraker, Bond drinks pre-war Wolfschmidt.) When the drinks arrive, Yermolov offers his respects, and says "Long live England." Bond savors the "smooth ferocity" of the vodka.

Other people’s drinks:

• At the Greek house where Colonel Sun is headquartered, Evgeny Ryumin brings out a tray of drinks. Luisa has a vodka on the rocks, while Doni has a Fix beer. Ryumin also has a Fix. Colonel Sun does not drink. Later, De Graaf has a half-tumbler of vodka.
• As Aris tells Colonel Sun about the failed attack on the Altair, he drinks two brandies.
• After revealing that Bond is in the area, Colonel Sun tells M that he might be allowed to have a glass of wine with lunch. "You'll want to drink to the safe arrival of your friend and colleague."
• After switching his own ship with Litsas for 3,000 drachmas, George Ionides sits aboard the Altair and has a glass of kitró (a liqueur made from citrus leaves which is native to Naxos). Later, he and his cousin sit on deck and have beer with a lunch of bread, cheese and olives.
• As he is being led downstairs in Colonel Sun's headquarters, Bond sees Von Richter hand a drink to Willi.
• Litsas finishes a drink as he says goodbye to Bond in the Grand Bretagne banquet room.

Brand names: Fix beer, Bell's whisky, Boutari ouzo, Mamos retsina, Botrys brandy, Haig scotch whisky, Stolichnaya vodka.

Other observations:

• In Colonel Sun, Bond's drinking habits run somewhat closer to those of Amis (gin and scotch) than those of Fleming (vodka and bourbon). While none of the drink choices is highly atypical of 007's earlier adventures (he often enjoyed local liquors when visiting exotic locales), the total absence of bourbon is somewhat surprising.
• One old Fleming favorite gets a mention. As Bond stands on the porch of Quarterdeck, he imagines Hammond fetching a bottle of the "Infuriator," M's favorite Algerian wine, from the basement.

Total: 24. Half of a bottle of rosé wine, a carafe of wine, two gin and tonics, a scotch and soda, two scotch and waters, a straight scotch, five ouzos, at least three glasses of retsina, four glasses of Greek brandy, at least one beer, one undetermined drink, and a straight vodka.