Live and Let Die

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“‘Here’s luck,’ he said to Strangways, and took a deep swallow. He sat down and enjoyed the tough hot taste of his first drink for more than a week.” —Chapter 18

Published: 1954.

Overview: James Bond takes on Mr. Big, a SMERSH agent using Caribbean pirate treasure to finance Soviet activities in the United States. The book features the debut of what will become Bond’s signature drink, the vodka martini.

What does Bond drink?

• Bond’s suite at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan has a sideboard with bottles, glasses and an ice bucket. When Felix Leiter comes into the sitting-room, he goes to the sideboard and mixes martinis for Bond, Captain Dexter and himself. When lunch is brought into the suite, it includes “as good a Liebfraumilch as you can get in America.”
• When Bond and Leiter meet in the King Cole Bar in the St. Regis, the CIA agent orders them medium dry martinis made with House of Lords gin, Martini and Rossi vermouth and slices of lemon peel. Fleming claims the gin is an American brand with a higher proof, although House of Lords was owned by Booth’s, a British distiller. Bond thinks the gin tastes harsh.
• When the two agents travel uptown to Harlem, they stop first at Sugar Ray’s (a bar owned by legendary boxer Sugar Ray Robinson), where they order scotch and sodas made with Haig and Haig Pinch Bottle. Later, at the Savoy Ballroom, Bond and Leiter each have another scotch and soda. They follow that with a visit to a club named Yeah Man where it is implied that they will have another drink (in keeping with the evening’s theme, probably scotch and soda). At Mr. Big’s club, the Boneyard, the two friends again order scotch and sodas, this time accompanied by ham sandwiches. At one point, Bond takes “a deep draught of his whisky.” After Bond is captured, he is taken to Mr. Big’s office, which appears to be in the warehouse of a liquor store.
• When Bond returns to his hotel room following his escape from Mr. Big’s henchmen, he pours himself three inches of Haig and Haig on the rocks, and then downs the scotch in two long drinks.
• As Bond and Solitaire travel through New Jersey on the Silver Phantom, he orders Old Fashioneds from the Pullman attendant, specifying Old Grand-Dad bourbon.
• As the train passes through Raleigh, North Carolina, Bond orders two dry martinis, which arrive in miniature bottles along with glasses and ice. Bond thinks the bottles are so small that he orders four more.
• After Bond and Solitaire arrive at the Everglades Cabanas, Leiter produces a bottle of Haig and Haig, along with soda and ice. Both men have a scotch and soda.
• After they discover Solitaire has been kidnapped by Mr. Big’s men, Bond and Leiter have “a stiff drink together.” After dinner, they continue drinking, until “Bond had drunk enough to drown his thoughts.” When he awakes the next morning, he notices the half full bottle of whisky on a table in the living room.
• After Leiter is transported from the hotel to the hospital, Bond has a stiff drink.
• Before he goes to Ourobouros Worm and Bait to avenge Leiter, Bond has dinner at a grill named Pete’s, where he drinks “a quarter of a pint of Old Grand-Dad.”
• Following his battle with the Robber, Bond stops at the Gulf Winds Bar and Snacks, where he has two double Old Grand-Dads on the rocks.
• Bond has a cocktail on the first leg of his flight to Jamaica.
• As he prepares to brief Bond about the Isle of Surprise, Strangways fixes them both strong whisky and sodas.
• As Bond prepares to make his night swim from Beau Desert, Strangways fixes himself a whisky and soda. Later, Bond takes the bottle and pours himself half a glass over three ice cubes. He uses the whisky to wash down a Benzedrine tablet. (Benzedrine is an amphetamine.)
• Back at Beau Desert following Mr. Big’s defeat, Solitaire brings a cocktail shaker and two glasses outside to Bond, who is sitting in a chair on the lawn. She says “I hope I’ve made it right...Six to one sounds terribly strong. I’ve never had vodka Martinis before.” She pours a martini for Bond, and pours half a glass for herself. Later she remarks that Strangways has left them “a case of the best champagne in Jamaica.”

Other drinks mentioned: Rye whiskey.

Brand names: House of Lords gin, Martini and Rossi vermouth, Haig and Haig Pinch Bottle scotch whisky, and Old Grand-Dad bourbon whiskey.

Other observations: During the week that he trains at Manatee Bay with Quarrel, Bond does not have a single alcoholic drink.

Total: 23. Two gin martinis, at least three pre-packaged gin martinis, a vodka martini, at least one glass of German white wine, five scotch and sodas, five straight scotches (some on the rocks), an Old Fashioned made from Old Grand-Dad bourbon, at least three double Old Grand-Dads, and two undetermined drinks.