From Russia, With Love

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“Bond ordered a double vodka martini. He drank it half down. He felt wonderful.” —Chapter 28

Published: 1957.

Overview: SMERSH Otdyel II plans and executes a daring trap to eliminate their most effective rival, James Bond. A somewhat experimental novel, 007 does not even appear until Chapter 11, and as the book ends, he appears to die. The novel marks the advent of a more recognizable drinking style for Bond, as his choice of libation becomes heavily dependent on his location.

What does Bond drink?

• During the meeting of the Soviet Union’s four intelligence agencies, the participants examine James Bond’s secret file. The first photo they look at, dated 1946, shows him sitting at a sunlit café, a tall glass and a soda-water siphon on the table beside him. While not included in this novel’s count, this drink, probably an Americano (see “From a View to a Kill”), could technically be considered 007’s first, since it predates the Americano he drank in Casino Royale by at least six years. Either way, his first drink is still an Americano.
• Bond has a number of drinks during his lengthy flight from London to Istanbul. During a layover at Rome’s Ciampino Airport, he has two excellent Americanos. When the plane stops again in Athens, 007 has two tumblers of ouzo, chased by ice water. He feels the “drink light a quick, small fire down his throat and in his stomach.” During dinner on the final leg of the flight, Bond has two dry martinis and a half-bottle of Calvet claret.

While hardly a household name in the United States, Calvet is well-known in Europe. The Bordeaux-based winery first began operating in 1818.

• When Bond first meets Darko Kerim, the Head of Station T asks, “Do you like your coffee plain or sweet? In Turkey we cannot talk seriously without coffee or raki and it is too early for raki.” (Bond takes it plain.) Later, when 007 joins Kerim for lunch in the Spice Bazaar, he sees that Kerim is holding a glass of milky liquid, which is in fact raki. Kerim orders some for Bond, which comes in a small tumbler. After raising his glass towards Kerim and tasting it (and noting its similarity to ouzo), Bond drinks the glass down, upon which the waiter immediately refills his glass. Kerim himself has at least two glasses of raki.

Raki, also known as “Lion’s Milk,” is an anise-flavored liquor made from grapes, figs or plums. Due to the anise, it becomes milky white when water is added. Considered Turkey’s national drink, raki has been produced for at least 400 years. It is usually best served cold.

When the second course arrives, Bond and Kerim share a bottle of Kavaklidere, a “rich coarse burgundy like any other Balkan wine.” Along the way, we learn that Kerim hates sad eaters and sad drinkers, and that he himself drinks and smokes too much, which does not go well with making love.
• Following his return from the tunnel of rats, Bond sits in his hotel suite sipping a vodka and tonic as he watches the sunset. (Kerim told him the local vodka is alright if one drowns it with tonic water.)
• When Kerim and Bond eat dinner at the gipsy camp, there is a bottle of raki, a pitcher of water and a cheap tumbler at each place at the table. Additional bottles of raki are also on the table. When Kerim pours himself half a tumblerful, everyone else does the same. He adds water, makes a short speech, and then everyone drinks. As Bond is about to begin eating with his left hand (a gipsy no-no), Kerim quickly warns him of the faux pas, and 007 instead uses his left hand to grab the nearest bottle of raki, pouring another half tumblerful.
• Following the attack by the Bulgars, Bond pours rakis for himself and Kerim. After he adds dashes of water, they each down their drinks in one swallow. Bond then pours a raki for Vavra, the head gipsy.
• At Tempo’s apartment in Belgrade, Bond and Tatiana have Slivovic and smoked ham and peaches.

Slivovic (also called Slivovitz or Slivowitz) is a blue plum brandy produced in Serbia and Bosnia.

• As the train nears Venice, Bond and Tatiana have lunch, which includes Americanos, a bottle of Chianti Broglio, and “wonderful European hors d’œuvres.”
• At dinner, “Red” Grant (posing as Nash) knocks over Tatiana’s glass of Chianti while reaching for the salt. After apologizing profusely, he makes a “great show of calling for another glass and filling it.” He deftly puts chloral hydrate in the glass, causing Tatiana to lose consciousness. Fleming does not indicate whether Bond actually has a drink, but we can assume that if a bottle of Chianti is present and Tatiana has a glass, 007 also does (especially since they shared a bottle for lunch).
• Bond has a pre-noon double vodka martini in the Paris Ritz Hotel Bar just before his fateful encounter with Klebb.

Other people’s drinks:

• When he was in the British army, “Red” Grant fought his monthly urge to kill by going into the woods, drinking an entire bottle of whisky, and passing out.
• When Tatiana visits Klebb’s apartment, she has three glasses of French champagne. She drinks each one rapidly, in Russian style. Klebb also drinks a glass of champagne.
• When the Orient Express stops in Alexandropolis, Greece, Bond and Kerim see Benz (an MGB agent) buying sandwiches and beer from a vendor on the platform. When Bond and Tatiana leave the restaurant car they hear Kerim “calling gaily for brandy and cigars.”

Brand names: Calvet, Kavaklidere and Chianti Broglio.

Other observations: Bond often has his drinks in pairs.

Total: 19. Three Americanos, two ouzos, three martinis (with at least one made from vodka), a half-bottle of claret, five glasses of raki, at least one glass of Kavaklidere, a vodka and tonic, at least one glass of Slivovic, and at least two glasses of Chianti.