The hostess of the documentary, British actress and former Bond Girl Joanna Lumley (the English girl from Her Majesty's Secret Service) is looking through a number of notebooks that belonged to James Bond creator Ian Fleming. She remarks that Ian Fleming could have been a copywriter for an advertising agency based with how he created little scenes/dialogue based around a particular gin: Booth's High and Dry Gin. Now I've heard about the Booth's brand in the past through some of the old ads I've seen online. Aside from that I really didn't have much knowledge about the brand. Let's take a trip across the pond.
From what I could find out, Booth's High and Dry Gin was produced by Booth’s Distillers LTD. This company was a family owned company that was distilling since the 1740's in England. The High and Dry was produced by Booth's Distillers and was produced after World War I. It differed from the flagship product in look. Where the High and Dry was crystal clear, the Booth's Finest London Dry Gin was actually yellow in color. Difford's Guide states that the High and Dry was referred to as being the "World's Driest Gin." By 1937, Booth's joined the Distiller's Company LTD, which was a predecessor of what would become part of Diageo.
The UK version of the gin was 40% ABV, while other versions distilled in other places around the world varied in ABV. By 2018 the brand was sold by Diageo to Sazerac with the Booth's branded gin apparently still being available in the United States. Though I have seen conflicting information that states that Booth's is not being produced anywhere.
And about Booth's connection to Ian Fleming and James Bond? It is believed that the famous Bond drink of a martini is in part based on the martini recipe used by Fleming's friend William Stephenson. Stephenson was the head of the ‘British Security Co-ordination’ Office (BSC) which was basically an arm of British intelligence in the United States. According to page 118 of the book Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939 - 1941 by Lynne Olson:
A suave and charming host, Stephenson was known for his potent martinis; another colleague, writer Ian Fleming called them "the most potent martinis in America." After a couple of them, the six-foot-seven Sherwood was once heard to say: "If I have another cocktail, I'll just call timber and fall on my face." Fleming, who would model his famous fictional character James Bond in part on Stephenson, noted that the BSC chief was the source of Bond's martini recipe: "Booth's gin, high and dry, easy on he vermouth, shaken not stirred."In terms of the influence that Stephenson had on Fleming and his James Bond franchise, Page 70 of the book The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising By Kenneth Roman delves into this a bit further:
Fleming drew on Stephenson's intelligence operations for several Bond stories. The giant fish tank at the Hamilton Princess hotel in Bermuda, a BSC station, became the glass wall that separated Bond from Dr. No's sharks. A plan concocted by BSC to rob Martinique of gold, to keep it out of German hands after the Nazis conquered France, led to the novel Goldfinger. Bond earns his double-O classification by shooting a Japanese cipher agent in Rockefeller Center, where the BSC's code-breaking operations were based in New York. Stephenson was the source of Bond's martini recipe, according to British Special Operations secret agent Vera Atkins: "Billy mixed the deadliest martinis. Booth's gin, high and dry, easy on the vermouth, twist of lemon peel, shaken not stirred." Fleming respected Stephenson's martinis, served in quart glasses.I'm glad I came across that documentary randomly on YouTube. Inspiration comes from the darndest places. Which is why I like to live by the statement: Learn something new everyday. See you all soon.
Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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