Ian Fleming's Goldfinger (1964) Part I

Illustration by Peter Lorenz

In my post on Ian Fleming's From Russia With Love (1963), I stated that From Russia With Love held the distinction of being my favorite of all the Bond movies. Now if there was ever a Bond flick to knock it off the top perch its this one: Ian Fleming's Goldfinger (1964). Goldfinger is a favorite of mine since this one takes a different tact than the prior Bond flicks. As Joseph Walsh (@NitrateStock) of the website Nitrate Stock describes it: Bond is basically held captive the majority of the movie. The action indeed unfolds around him up to the end, often with Bond just watching. In terms of alcoholic drinks, this movie stands out. Goldfinger is the first Bond movie where the setting shifts to the United States. With the action taking place here in the States, specifically in Kentucky, the movie sheds light on the true spirit of the United States: Bourbon. Before, I go into how Bourbon is shown in the movie, there are a few other instances where other spirits are shown in Goldfinger.

It seems that (at least for the first three Bond movies) that there is a swapping of Champagne brands. In Ian Fleming's Dr. No (1962) Dom Pérignon is the preferred Champagne brand with the '55 and '53 vintages being mentioned in the film. In From Russia With Love, Taittinger's Brut La Française and Blanc de Blancs are prominently shown. In Goldfinger, the pendulum swings back in favor of Dom Pérignon. In the scene where Bond is in bed with soon to be unemployed Goldfinger personal assistant Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton), Bond takes out an empty bottle from the ice filled champagne bucket. We see that it is a bottle of Dom Pérignon.

When Bond states that they need another bottle, and that he indeed has another bottle in the refigerator, he states:

"My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!"

I guess Bond isn't a fan of the fab four. Anyway, we see the bottle laying next to Bond after Oddjob karate chops Bond into La-la land. Bond wakes up to find Jill Masterson a victim of death by gold paint. Bond realizes that Goldfinger is a vicious adversary.

The scene shifts to London where Bond meets with MI-6 Head (Bernard Lee), orders Bond to accompany him to dinner with Colonel Smithers (Richard Vernon) to further discuss the Goldfinger situation. Colonel Smithers is ready to enjoy a cigar when he starts the following conversation:

Colonel Smithers: Have a little more of this rather disappointing brandy.
M: What's the matter with it?
James Bond: I'd say it was a 30-year-old fine, indifferently blended, sir... with an overdose of bon-bois.
M: Colonel Smithers is giving the lecture, 007.

M's snarkiness aside, I had no idea about what Bond meant in terms of this particular brandy. With that in mind, off I went to find out more.

According to the Le Cognac website's entry for Bon Bois:

Bons Bois: Cognac is rarely born of a single eau-de-vie or a single growing area, but generally from a blend of different ages and crus, sometimes up to a hundred of them. It can be made also exclusively from certain “cru”, for example exclusively from “Grande Champagne”, but of different ages.

Bons Bois : less chalky but more earthy soil of 16,000 hectares that is well reflected in the eau de vie.

Cognac.com goes into further detail on the Bons Bois Appellation:

In the Bons bois crus, we find sandy soils on coastal locations, in certain valleys, and most especially in all the southern part of the vineyard. These are sands that have eroded from the Massif Central. Vines are quite dispersed, mixed with other crops, surrounded by forests of pine trees and chestnuts. The Bons Bois form a vast belt, of which 9,308 ha (hectares) are destined to Cognac production. 

In terms of what the term "Fine" means, Cognac World's article on Reading the Label (of a Cognac Bottle) describes it as so:

The term "Fine" is authorised by the law of 1938 and qualifies a vintage spirit. For example, a "Grande Fine Champagne" qualifies a Grande Champagne vintage cognac assembled with spirits that come solely from the Grande Champagne region.

On the other hand, the "Fine Champagne" appelation qualifies a cognac with at least 50% of Grande Champagne spirits and the rest from Petite Champagne.

A "Bons Bois" ou "Fine Bons Bois" cognac contains 100% of spirits from the Bons Bois area.

Well, I hope that clarifies to you what Bond meant when he described the brandy to M and Colonel Smithers. I have to say that I need to do some more hands on research on Brandy. Onward we go into Bond and Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe).

By the time Bond is on Goldfinger's personal jet headed towards the United States, he's beaten Goldfinger at golf, followed him to Vienna, been captured, almost had his bollocks (to use a British term) burned off by a laser, was sedated and woke up to the beauty of Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) staring him in the face. It is here that he is offered a drink by Mei Ling. Bond as to form orders his standard: Martini, shaken not stirred.

Now Bond doesn't specify the specify the spirit, but based on his track record up to now we can assume that he's having a Vodka Martini. In the background you can see the bar is stocked with a Martini and Rossi Rosso and Extra Dry Vermouth Bottles.

The Martini and Rossi name has been in business since 1863 producing vermouths and wines. Their website describes their origins as such:

The story of MARTINI® begins with the combination of three very different personalities. Alessandro Martini was a gifted salesman, Teofilo Sola the dependable accountant and Luigi Rossi, creative herbalist and liqueur expert. Any one of them could have made a solo bid for the company, but in the spirit of collaboration, they pooled their talents instead. ‘Martini, Sola e C.ia’ burst into life as a team; forward thinking and with everything to play for.

For wine expert Luigi Rossi, excellent vermouth was the top priority. He wanted to be close to the hills where he could source the best grapes and herbs, but he was also commercially minded, so he encouraged the team to step out of its comfort zone. Searching further afield, Martini, Sola e C.ia chanced upon a piece of land in Pessione, Italy, next to the Turin-Genoa railway. An ideal spot for a production plant which would be the key to the company’s rapid international expansion...Instead of playing safe, they shipped crates of their vermouth across the Atlantic Ocean to New York on a steamship named Hermann. A year later, the figures confirmed, ‘Martini, Sola e C.ia exported three quarters of the vermouth sold in the USA’.

In terms of the Extra Dry Vermouth:

Launched on new year's day in 1900, MARTINI® Extra Dry uses a complex blend that delivers the delicate key notes of the many botanicals it uses. MARTINI® Extra Dry is one of the two key ingredients in one of the most famous cocktails in the world: The Dry Martini Cocktail...

And the Rosso Vermouth:

Luigi Rossi's original vermouth recipe was developed in the 1860s and became one of the most celebrated of Piedmont's aromatic wines. A wine base is blended with rich Italian herbs such as Artemesia and Dittany and other aromatics. It is this special blend of ingredients that gives MARTINI® Rosso its unique taste and made it the original ingredient in many classic cocktails including the Negroni or Manhattan...

When I started writing this post, I didn't think that it would be so long. Especially since I have yet to even touch on Bourbon. For my next post, I will focus exclusively on how Bourbon is shown in Ian Fleming's Goldfinger (1964) Part II, including the cocktail enjoyed by many during the Kentucky Derby: The Mint Julep

Until Then Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla
#siscovanilla
#siscovanillaatthemovies

Ian Fleming's Dr. No (1962)

Ian Fleming's Dr. No is iconic in number of ways. While not the first James Bond story in both print and on the small screen. That honor belongs to Casino Royale published in 1953 and produced for American TV in 1954 (for more information of the TV program read The Curious Legacy of Casino Royale from the MI6-hq.com website). Dr. No introduced us to the James Bond character that 50 years later is still captivating audiences worldwide. While a number of actors were desired for the role (including Cary Grant by Ian Fleming himself) the movie helped to catapult relative unknown actor Sean Connery to superstar status. In terms of cocktails, the term "Shaken, not stirred" was uttered on film, forever changing how the Martini is made both in terms of Gin versus Vodka debate and in terms of preparation of said cocktail.

We find out early in the movie that Bond prefers his martini as a medium-dry Vodka martini, shaken, not stirred. The medium dry part comes in with using less of your standard portion of Dry Vermouth. The drier the Martini, the less Dry Vermouth used.

Our First Glimpse at James Bond's Medium Dry Vokda Martini
"Shaken not stirred" made with Smirnoff Vodka

In the entire movie, the Vodka used in the aforementioned Martini and on the rocks by Bond is Smirnoff Vodka. That got me thinking. Why Smirnoff and not another brand. I think the answer comes in the form of a man named John Gilbert Martin.

In the article Smirnoff White Whiskey -- No Smell, No Taste by Bill Ryan from the New York Times dated February 14, 1995, Ryan describes how, Martin as the head of the Hueblein Corporation, was able to make Smirnoff Vodka an international spirit:

By the late 1930's, with World War II impending in Europe, threatening to cut off liquor imports here, Martin was the president of Heublein, which was still a small company.

Then came Smirnoff.

Martin had learned that in the town of Bethel, about 50 miles from Hartford, a man named Rudolph Kunett was manufacturing vodka on a very small basis. Kunett had fled Russia during the revolution there two decades before. He brought to Connecticut a great quantity of rubles and a patent to make Smirnoff, the only vodka served at the Imperial Russian Court. Unfortunately, the rubles were worthless on the world market and the Imperial Russian Court did not provide much cachet because it no longer existed.

Nevertheless, Kunett had set up a small vodka plant in Bethel and was trying to build an American market. He was enjoying a notable lack of success. Americans did not drink vodka. Most had never even heard of it. Martin offered Kunett a deal. He would buy Kunett's equipment for $14,000, give him a job and a royalty of 5 percent on each bottle of Smirnoff sold for 10 years. Kunett took the offer and Martin set out to see if he could sell Smirnoff, the vodka of the czars, in an age when there were no czars.

Smirnoff vodka is basically a mixture of pure grain alcohol and water filtered through charcoal. It requires no aging and production and sales started in Hartford in 1939 even before Heublein had any caps for the vodka bottles. Instead, caps labeled "whiskey" were used.

One of the first out-of-state sales was to a distributor in Columbia, S.C., who bought 10 cases. A short time later, the distributor ordered 50 more cases, then 500 cases. And Martin went to Columbia to check on the marketing phenomena. He later recalled, with more than a bit of delight, what he had found.

"We had a salesman down there and he had put up a great streamer: 'Smirnoff White Whiskey -- No Smell, No Taste,' " The Hartford Times quoted Martin as saying in a 1964 article. "It was strictly illegal, of course, but it was going great. People were mixing it with milk and orange juice and whatnot."

Martin, in conjunction with restaurateur Jack Wilson of the Cock-'n-Bull in Hollywood, created an iconic drink that combined Smirnoff Vodka and Ginger Beer known as the Moscow Mule. The combination of the Vodka and Ginger Beer helped to further popularize Vodka within the United States. It wasn't until the Cold War began post World War II that Smirnoff Vodka became the most popular and best selling vodka of its time:

It was early in the cold war with Russia, and New York bartenders, in a parade down Fifth Avenue, carried a huge banner: "Down with the Moscow Mule -- We Don't Need Smirnoff Vodka." The Daily News put the poster on the front page. Martin later recalled that Heublein employees rushed in to see what he was going to do about the bad publicity. "Do! It was great," Martin said. "All the people who saw the sign were rushing into the bars to buy the drink."

Martin began a campaign to get people to drink the vodka with not only ginger beer but practically anything else, including iced tea and beef bouillon. It was all promoted by exotic high-gloss magazine ads showing Smirnoff with celebrities or in strange and wondrous places. Smirnoff, thanks in part to the campaign, eventually became the world's best-selling vodka, and it still is.

It would make sense that by 1962 Smirnoff Vodka would be the vodka used in Dr. No.

The next spirit that was featured somewhat in Dr. No was a scotch whisky that was noticeable by its distinctive use of Black and White Scottish terriers as their mascot: Buchanan's Black and White Scotch Whisky. As you can see in the picture, the bottle to the left of Bond has a small black diamond with a white circle inside with the aforementioned black and white terriers.

Buchanan's Black and White Scotch Whiskey is seen to the far left
while Bond and Quarrel interrogate Dr. No's agent

At first I had difficulties in trying to figure out what this spirit was. Luckily for me I know someone who is one of the most knowledgeable people that I know when it comes to whisky: The Coopered Tot.

After finding out that the bottle was indeed a bottle of Buchanan's Black and White, I asked whether it was still being sold or if it had been rebranded. According to Joshua the scotch was popular here in the United States from the 1930's until the mid 1970's. The distinctive feature of the long running ad campaign were the same black and white dogs that you see on the label in that screen picture from Dr. No. According to the Alternative Whisky Academy:

This brand was first known as House of Commons, but the customer simply asked for the black bottle with the white label. Therefore it was renamed Black and White.

Now both Joshua and I were unsure about where the dogs came in aside from the dogs being Scottish terriers. They were cute. Maybe that was the reason. There is an 1968 ad entitled The Story of the Black and White Scotties: And the man who made them famous which would give us the answer we are looking for. Unfortunately the text in the screen shot is blurry and hard to make out. I guess I have some more research to do.

The last item that I noticed in Dr. No was during the scene where Dr. No is "hosting" dinner for both Bond and Honey Ryder. Dr. No has his servant bring James Bond a medium dry Martini with a Lemon Peel Shaken, not stirred while Honey Ryder is served what looks like a red wine which is not mentioned.

While at dinner, Bond is served some Dom Pérignon '55 to which Bond tries to get under the skin of Dr. No by saying that he prefers the Dom Pérignon '53.

The Dom Pérignon '55 being served by Dr. No's servant

The Dom Pérignon website describes the origin of this brand:

In 1668, young monk Dom Pierre Pérignon took office as the cellarer and procurator of the Benedictine abbey of Hautvillers on the northern slopes of the Marne, in the heart of Champagne. Under his watch the abbey prospers, especially the vineyards.

Until his death in 1715, he makes no exception to his ambition for perfection, to create "the best wine in the world" as said in his own words on September 29, 1694. Dom Pierre Pérignon invents, perfects and passes on the enhanced techniques to create a wine whose reputation is second to none.

In terms of why the champagnes of Dom Pérignon are dated with what seems oddly numbered years, here is the explanation:

Dom Pérignon is Vintage only. Each Vintage is created from the best grapes grown in one single year. To reinvent itself in interpreting the unique character of the seasons. To dare to not release the Vintage when the harvest does not meet the ideal. Such is the commitment of Dom Pérignon.

The first vintage of Dom Pérignon was the 1921 and a total of 40 vintages have been produced (1921, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1934, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004).

A number of these been featured in a number of Bond films.

Well, there you have it folks. I hope you like my first installment of SiscoVanilla at the movies. I look forward to watching more movies with a keen eye to what is being consumed and served. If you have any recommendations, feel free to drop me a line at Siscovanilla@gmail.com, to my Twitter @SiscoVanilla, my Google+ at SiscoVaniila and at my Facebook Page SiscoVanilla.

I leave you with two more pictures of James Bond enjoying some Smirnoff Vodka in Dr. No.:

Until Then Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla
#siscovanilla
#siscovanillaatthemovies