This week's cocktail: The Vesper Martini.
45ml Vodka
15ml Gin
5ml Lillet Blonde
Orange peel garnish
Shake with ice and strain into a Martini glass.

Dale Degroff says the recipe was invented by London Bartender Gilberto Preti for Ian Fleming at the publication of Casino Royale. Since then product placement in the movies has meant Smirnoff and Gordons get pride of place which is all bit of a joke. This is also the source of the Shaken not stirred myth and stuff about potato based vs grain based vodkas. At the end of the day it's all a bit of a waste of time. at 12:1 you can barely taste the Lillet. And the vodka so dilutes the gin you can barely taste that either. It's pretty much a vodka shot diluted with ice water and with a bit of orange or lemon zest. It does mean though that you can use dirt cheap vodka, and gin, though that's probably not exactly the classy image James Bond would want to portray.

If you were going to buy some Lillet Blonde purely for this drink I wouldn't bother, however it is an interesting and elegant alternative to Noilly Prat and makes a damn fine classic Martini with some premium Gin at about 5:1 or 6:1.75 Trinity Rd