Juliet's Vesper

Ingredients

• 45 ml Juliet Gin
• 20 ml Latitude 42 Vodka
• 15 ml Lillet Blanc
• 1 dash lemon bitters

Method

Stir (never shake). Serve in a Chilled Martini glass. Garnish with Lemon twist (long, thin).

Latitude 42 Vodka: the one occasion both spirits collaborate.

The story

Ian Fleming invented the Vesper in Casino Royale in 1953 — gin, vodka, and Kina Lillet, shaken 'until ice cold.' It was an act of fiction dressed as bartending instruction, and it has been causing arguments ever since. The 'shaken not stirred' instruction produces a cloudy, over-diluted martini; most professionals stir it. This version uses Juliet Gin's lemon and cherry notes to lead a more spring-appropriate variation: lighter on the vodka, heavier on the gin, and substituting Lillet Blanc for the now-unavailable original Kina. The result is closer to a proper martini than to Bond's specification, which is to say it's better. Serve to anyone who opens a conversation with 'I like a good martini.'

Tasting note

Crystal clear and ice cold. The gin leads with its lemon and cherry botanicals; the vodka provides extra density; the Lillet adds a honeyed, citrus-bitter note that elevates the whole composition. This is what the Vesper should always have been.