The 10 best cocktails on the big and small screen
SEX IN THE CITY: COSMOPOLITAN
Manhattan’s most fabulous girls, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, ordered themselves countless ‘Cosmos’ on their frequent nights out in the Big Apple. The pink mix in a Martini glass consists of lime juice, Cointreau, cranberry juice and Absolut Citron. This cocktail became an icon for a whole generation who followed the adventures, dramas and love affairs of these four great friends for six seasons. They taught us that being single and in your thirties is not only compatible with a fulfilling life but is badass at the same time. Here’s to you, girls!
THE GREAT LEBOWSKI: WHITE RUSSIAN
“The Dude”, played by the consistently exceptional Jeff Bridges, made his role in The Coen Brothers cult classic into one of cinema’s most beloved characters. The Dude appears strolling around the supermarket in his dressing gown, looking for some cream, the only ingredient he is missing to make his favourite drink, the White Russian: ice, vodka and coffee liqueur.
EL GRAN GATSBY: JULEPE DE MENTA Y GIN RICKEY
Hay dos cócteles que destacan indiscutiblemente, tanto en la novela de Scott Fitzgerald de 1925, como en la adaptación cinematográfica con Leonardo DiCaprio de 2013. Daisy Buchanan bebe a sorbos un julepe de menta -bourbon, agua, hielo picado y menta fresca– mientras discute con Jay Gatsby y su esposo Tom en Nueva York. Antes de hacer salir a Tom de la habitación expresando que le apetece “una bebida fría”. Mientras Tom mezcla una ronda de Gin Rickeys: agua con gas, chorrito de limón y whiskey o ginebra, Buchanan le declara su amor a Gatsby.
JAMES BOND: MARTINI SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED
Probably the world’s most famous cocktail for the world’s most self-indulgent man. Sean Connery is for many – including yours truly – the real James Bond, and one of the reasons, apart from that innate elegance, is that he first uttered the famous “a Martini, shaken, not stirred” in 1964’s “Goldfinger”. As described by Ian Fleming himself in his first novel, ‘Casino Royale’ (1953), the mixture is three measures of Gordon’s to one measure of vodka and half a measure of Kina Liget, shaken well until ice cold, before adding a slice of long, thin lemon peel. A noteworthy exception is when an agitated Daniel Craig as Bond in ‘Casino Royale’ (2006) replies to a waiter asking him how he wants his Martini: “Do I look like I give a damn?”
NORTH BY NORTHWEST: THE GIBSON
The Gibson appears in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 classic when the advertising executive, played by Cary Grant, comes across a femme fatale, played by Eva Marie Saint, on a train. But the combination had already made another cameo before in Hollywood, specifically in the classic movie “All About Eve” during the famous tension-filled party scene led by the one and only Bette Davis. The Gibson is, in essence, a dry gin martini with a cocktail onion.
