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Shaken: Drinking with James Bond and Ian Fleming, the Official Cocktail Book
Readers can explore James Bond creator Ian Fleming’s writing on the pleasures of drinking and mix themselves fifty delicious cocktails from recipes inspired by his books and developed by award-winning London bar, Swift.
Both Bond and Fleming were partial to a stiff drink. In both fiction and real life, cocktails were an important and well-chosen accompaniment to adventure and daring and often relaxing. Fleming made the Martini famous with Bond’s ritual of always ordering it “shaken, not stirred”. But in every James Bond book a wide selection of strong, sophisticated and carefully crafted drinks are essential details to the story.
The recipes in Shaken are divided into five Straight Up; On the Rocks; Tall; Fizzy; and Exotic. Sip on inventions such as Smersh, Moneypenny, That Old Devil M and Diamonds Are Forever, as well as classic Bond cocktails such as the Vesper—and, of course, the Dry Martini. Each recipe is illustrated by a stunning full-color photo of the drink and wonderful extracts from Fleming’s writing—taken from the passage where the drink was featured or a place, character, or plot that inspired it.
Shaken features a foreword written by the novelist’s nephew, Fergus Fleming, as well as plenty of his writing on whisky, gin, rum, and other spirits.
Both Bond and Fleming were partial to a stiff drink. In both fiction and real life, cocktails were an important and well-chosen accompaniment to adventure and daring and often relaxing. Fleming made the Martini famous with Bond’s ritual of always ordering it “shaken, not stirred”. But in every James Bond book a wide selection of strong, sophisticated and carefully crafted drinks are essential details to the story.
The recipes in Shaken are divided into five Straight Up; On the Rocks; Tall; Fizzy; and Exotic. Sip on inventions such as Smersh, Moneypenny, That Old Devil M and Diamonds Are Forever, as well as classic Bond cocktails such as the Vesper—and, of course, the Dry Martini. Each recipe is illustrated by a stunning full-color photo of the drink and wonderful extracts from Fleming’s writing—taken from the passage where the drink was featured or a place, character, or plot that inspired it.
Shaken features a foreword written by the novelist’s nephew, Fergus Fleming, as well as plenty of his writing on whisky, gin, rum, and other spirits.
- GenresCookbooks
224 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 14, 2019
30 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Ian Fleming
746 books3,356 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units: 30 Assault Unit and T-Force. He drew from his wartime service and his career as a journalist for much of the background, detail, and depth of his James Bond novels.
Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952, at age 44. It was a success, and three print runs were commissioned to meet the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels centre around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Fleming also wrote the children's story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Fleming was married to Ann Fleming. She had divorced her husband, the 2nd Viscount Rothermere, because of her affair with the author. Fleming and Ann had a son, Caspar. Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker for most of his life and succumbed to heart disease in 1964 at the age of 56. Two of his James Bond books were published posthumously; other writers have since produced Bond novels. Fleming's creation has appeared in film twenty-seven times, portrayed by six actors in the official film series.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units: 30 Assault Unit and T-Force. He drew from his wartime service and his career as a journalist for much of the background, detail, and depth of his James Bond novels.
Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952, at age 44. It was a success, and three print runs were commissioned to meet the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels centre around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Fleming also wrote the children's story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Fleming was married to Ann Fleming. She had divorced her husband, the 2nd Viscount Rothermere, because of her affair with the author. Fleming and Ann had a son, Caspar. Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker for most of his life and succumbed to heart disease in 1964 at the age of 56. Two of his James Bond books were published posthumously; other writers have since produced Bond novels. Fleming's creation has appeared in film twenty-seven times, portrayed by six actors in the official film series.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 16, 2024
Super enjoyable read for James Bond fans. I’m not even interested in the cocktails themselves (there are some truly weird ingredients, sesame oil in a cocktail?! Noooo thank you)
I love that the cocktails are named after characters and places from his novels, those names each have excerpts from the many stories, and there are bits of trivia about Ian Fleming and his writings.
I love that the cocktails are named after characters and places from his novels, those names each have excerpts from the many stories, and there are bits of trivia about Ian Fleming and his writings.
May 3, 2021
More a nice object to own than an indispensable bible, this largely contains the kind of recipe that calls for one rare and weird ingredient you will never use again (thyme liqueur, anyone?), or requires you to knock up some syrup infused with pandan leaves. But plenty of these would be fun to construct for a special occasion, and the photos, and Fleming quotations, are lovely.
March 16, 2023
I got this as a birthday gift as my husband knows I'm a big cocktail fan and so far I've had a lot of fun trying some of the recipes out. My only criticism is that a lot of these cocktails were created for this book and only 'inspired' by the Bond books/characters, so don't be surprised if some of them are unfamiliar/didn't exist before. There are also a lot of unusual/hard to find ingredients that could make some of these cocktails impossible to make. Apart from that, a fun book with lots of interesting Fleming/007 stuff!
August 28, 2023
This book isn't just a cocktail book with recipes for drinks and mixology for Bond fans.
This is a book for fans of Fleming, fans of James Bond and fans of drinking. Each recipe is followed by two pages of excerpts from the Bond Novels, Fleming's own letters or even conversations with his friends. These excerpts all relate to the drink, so maybe if the recipe has coffee in it we get a passage from Casino Royale when Le Chiffre gives Bond coffee.
Its a good read in addition to being a recipe book and it is an interesting way to re-read Fleming's words about Bond and his world!
This is a book for fans of Fleming, fans of James Bond and fans of drinking. Each recipe is followed by two pages of excerpts from the Bond Novels, Fleming's own letters or even conversations with his friends. These excerpts all relate to the drink, so maybe if the recipe has coffee in it we get a passage from Casino Royale when Le Chiffre gives Bond coffee.
Its a good read in addition to being a recipe book and it is an interesting way to re-read Fleming's words about Bond and his world!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews