Vesper (cocktail)
| IBA Official Cocktail | |
|---|---|
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|
| Vesper Martini | |
| Type | Cocktail |
| Primary alcohol by volume | |
| Served | Straight up; without ice |
| Standard garnish |
lemon peel |
| Standard drinkware |
 |
| IBA specified ingredients* |
|
| Preparation | Shake over ice until well chilled, then strain into a deep goblet and garnish with a thin slice of lemon peel. |
| Cocktail glasses are commonly used instead of Champagne goblets in modern versions of this drink. | |
| * Vesper recipe at International Bartenders Association | |
lemon peel
The Vesper or Vesper Martini is a cocktail that was originally made of gin, vodka, and Kina Lillet.
The drink was invented and named by Ian Fleming in the 1953 James Bond novel Casino Royale.
Fleming continues with Bond telling the barman, after taking a long sip, "Excellent ... but if you can get a vodka made with grain instead of potatoes, you will find it still better," and then adds in an aside, "Mais n'enculons pas des mouches" (English: But let's not bugger flies—a vulgar French expression meaning "let's not split hairs").
Bond in the next chapter, "Pink Lights and Champagne", names it the Vesper. At the time of his first introduction to the beautiful Vesper Lynd, he obtains her name in a perfect interrogation indirecte, "I was born in the evening,..on a very stormy evening..," and asks to borrow it.
A Vesper differs from Bond's usual cocktail of choice, the martini, in that it uses both gin and vodka, Kina Lillet instead of the usual dry vermouth, and a lemon peel instead of an olive. Although there is a lot of discussion on the Vesper, it is only ordered by Bond once throughout Fleming's novels – although Bond drinks the Vesper in the film Casino Royale – and by later books Bond is ordering regular vodka martinis, though he also drinks regular gin martinis. Felix Leiter ordered a Vesper for Bond in the novel Diamonds Are Forever, albeit with Cresta Blanca in place of Kina Lillet, which Bond politely remarks is the "Best Vermouth I ever tasted." It may be that Fleming decided not to have Bond order a Vesper again due to the way in which Casino Royale ends.
In actuality, the book version of the Vesper was created by Fleming's friend Ivar Bryce. In Bryce's copy of Casino Royale Fleming inscribed "For Ivar, who mixed the first Vesper and said the good word." In his book You Only Live Once, Bryce details that Fleming was first served a Vesper, a drink of a frozen rum concoction with fruit and herbs, at evening drinks by the butler of an elderly couple in Jamaica, the Duncans, the butler commenting, "'Vespers' are served." Vespers or evensong is the sixth of the seven canonical hours of the divine office and are observed at sunset, the 'violet hour', Bond's later chosen hour of fame for his martini Vesper.
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Wikipedia