recipes – The Whiskey Trail

I must admit, Gentle Reader, that Goldfinger was the first Bond movie that drew me to a new cocktail. As I explained before, during the COVID pandemic I made a nice list of James Bond films, and proceeded to watch them in order. Watching Goldfinger I noticed that when he visited Churchill Downs, he was served a mint julep, and I was so moved, I paused the movie, and made myself a mint julep myself. I muddled some fresh mint leaves into some simple syrup in a glass, added bourbon, and then filled the glass with crushed ice and garnished it with another sprig of mint.

One nice thing was that I had, and have, fresh mint. Back in 2014, I built a new deck to support my barbecue efforts. Then a couple of years later, I decided to pot some fresh peppers and herbs, including some mint. At the end of the growing season, when they all died off, I clipped them all, and then stored the pots under the back porch, and moved on.

The next spring, though, I discovered that the mint had started growing back. After some research I found that this was a normal thing. In fact, I have since found that some people plant mint in a garden, only to find that it grows wildly and takes over their garden. So, every spring, I make a point to add some new potting soil and a little fertilizer, and in just a a few weeks, the mint is back.

So now, let us enjoy Bond’s drinks from Goldfinger:

Champagne

The movie starts with Bond visiting Miami, to try to prevent Auric Goldfinger from cheating in a card game with a fellow MI6 agent. Bond meets Goldfinger’s assistant Jill Masterson, and after some time together, they share a bottle of Dom Perignon.

Sadly, Goldfinger discovers it was Jill who Bond used to stop his stealing, and he kills her by painting her body in gold paint all over.

I must admit, I did not drink champagne this time watching the movie.

Vodka Martini

Later in the movie, Bond is flying on Goldfinger’s plane, and is served a vodka martini. He makes sure to ask for it shaken, not stirred.

I don’t have a glass like Goldfinger’s so I made mine in a normal Martini glass.

Mint Julep

Finally, we arrive at my favorite.

In the movie, Goldfinger plans to invade the US gold storage facility at Fort Knox, Kentucky, outside of Louisville. So they meet at Churchill Downs, and Bond is served a mint julep.

I made mine in a classic rocks glass, with Evan Williams Black bourbon.

Coming next – Thunderball.

As you may recall, I recently posted about my plan to watch all the James Bond movies in order, and drink the cocktails he drinks. I did some research online and created a list of the cocktails in each movie.

After some planning, I came up with a watch plan for each movie:

Prepare ingredients for each listed cocktail
Watch the movie, and drink the cocktails in the order that Bond drinks them
Photograph the preparation of the cocktails when I can, and compare them to how I make them

The first movie, Dr. No, was released in 1962. Agent 007 travels to Jamaica to investigate the murder of the British Station Chief there. He also meets up with CIA agent Felix Leiter, who is investigating the radio jamming of NASA launches from Cape Canaveral. He eventually meets Dr. Julius No, a member of SPECTRE, who is the one who is leading this.

Bond’s first drink in Dr. No is a medium dry vodka martini, which he orders through room service at a hotel. The room service waiter brings a cart with some Smirnoff vodka, Lillet Blanc, and limes. He pours the ingredients in a shaker with some ice, shakes, pours it in a cocktail glass, and tells Bond “one medium dry vodka martini, mixed like you said sir, not stirred.” I found it interesting that this foretold Bond’s favorite martini, the Vesper, which is classically made shaken, not stirred.

I was also prepared to drink a Negroni, which was listed in the site I visited. However, watching the movie, I never saw Bond drink a Negroni. In fact, when he and Quarrel go to a bar, and are photographed, they drink scotch with the photographer.