James Bond's First Cocktail: The Americano

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Early in Ian Fleming’s “Casino Royale,” the novel that introduced the world to James Bond, Agent 007, Bond walks into the sumptuous Hermitage Bar near the casino, takes a table by one of its broad windows, and orders a cocktail. It is not, as one might expect, a Martini, but rather an Americano….

As always, his taste was impeccable. It was a warm afternoon, too early for a Martini but precisely the time for something crisp and refreshing, and the Americano was nothing if not crisp and refreshing.
An Americano, Bond knew perfectly well, consisted of 1.5 oz. Campari and 1.5 oz. sweet vermouth, poured over ice into a Highball glass and then filled the rest of the way with seltzer water, stirred lightly—if the barman knew his business—just enough to make sure the ingredients were mixed but not enough to affect the carbonation. And garnished with a lemon or orange wheel. Bond did not specify which to the waiter but made a bet with himself that it would be orange, and it was—a good omen since Bond would shortly be testing his gambling skills against the sinister Le Chiffre.
As he sipped his libation, Bond permitted himself a reprieve from thoughts of his assignment long enough to muse that Campari was not, as many believed, a liqueur, but rather a bitter, created in 1860 by Gasparé Campari of Milan, who also devised the splendid combination of Campari, sweet vermouth, and seltzer water that Bond now enjoyed.
When Italian barmen noticed its popularity among American tourists, Bond reflected, they christened it the Americano. And when, in 1919 Florence, the Italian count Camillo Negroni requested that dry gin be substituted for seltzer water in his Americano, the barmen discovered that this variant was popular with everyone and dubbed it the Negroni.
Bond did not care a damn whether a cocktail would ever be named for him, but he did have definite convictions about what made for a proper Martini and precise instructions to guide the barman. That, however, would have to wait for another time.

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