We all have that one drink that that we order over and over again whenever we rock up to a bar. You may try new cocktails from time to time but you’d find yourself always going back to that one drink. It’s your signature. It is what everyone knows to get you if they want to buy a round. As a matter of fact, they can’t possibly imagine you drinking anything else. Movie and television characters are no different. Here are three signature cocktails of three iconic characters.
1. Vodka Martini – Shaken not stirred
Who drinks this: James Bond
Let’s be honest, “shaken not stirred” was a style of cocktails you already knew before you had even tried your first cocktail. It first appeared in Iam Fleming’s novel Diamonds Are Forever in 1956 and first uttered by Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger in 1964. Since then, it has come to be known as the Vesper Martini, British Secret Service Agent James Bond’s own invention, which he named after a Bond girl Vesper Lynd. It is a cocktail that encompasses all the qualities of an early-50s debonair males such as Bond.
Recipe:
3 partsGordon’s Dry Gin
1 part vodka
1/2 measure of Kina Lillet
Lemon peel for garnish
2. The Old-Fashioned
Who drinks this: Don Draper
For a show – Mad Men – set in the 60s and responsible for a retro-cocktail resurgence, it is perhaps fitting that Don Draper’s go-to cocktail is unequivocally the Old-Fashioned. As the Creative Director for Manhattan advertising firm (an industry that has an unfortunately high level of alcohol dependency), Draper is often seen with a glass of Old-Fashioned. This is a cocktail with no frills or embellishments; just whiskey, sugar, bitters and an orange peel. A straight-up drink for a seemingly straight-up kind of guy.
Recipe:
2 dashes of angostura bitters
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
2 parts whiskey
1 dash of brandied cherry juice
Orange peel for garnish
3. The White Russian
Who drinks this: The Dude in The Big Lebowski
While The Big Lebowski is film about thugs, kidnapping, ransoms and nymphomaniacal trophy wives, it is also known for one cocktail: The White Russian, which The Dude – played by Jeff Bridges – emphatically sips throughout the many scenes. There was even one in which The Dude had his White Russian spiked, which led to an unconscious hallucinatory sequence involving bowling.
Recipe:
1 part Kahlua
2 parts vodka
Fill to the top with cream
Mix well with ice
