Brian James Smith reviews The Spy Who Loved To Have A Drink (2026)

By: Brian James Smith

Published:
2026-08-20

The Spy Who Loved To Have A Drink, review, recension

I remember seeing journalist Nina Myskow on television doing her dinger (that’s Scots for passionately losing one’s temper) when it was announced that Daniel Craig’s James Bond would be drinking Heineken. ‘Everybody knows Bond only drinks martinis, shaken not stirred,’ she fumed. I feel compelled to cut her some slack as we were born in the same town and her mum was one of my teachers, but if she had read Ian Fleming’s books, she would know that Bond occasionally enjoys a beer. Now she doesn’t even need to read Fleming, as we have this wonderful new book from Žiga Vižintin.

In The Spy Who Loved To Have A Drink, Žiga Vižintin is our guide to the drinks featured in the Bond novels of Ian Fleming. Every champagne, wine, beer, spirit, cocktail and coffee is discussed within the context of story, location and character. His drinks dossier includes supplemental information about the makers of the drinks and their history. Although I believe English is not the author’s first language, you wouldn’t know it. The Spy Who Loved To Have A Drink is beautifully written and there’s a gentle undercurrent of humour.

The extent of my ‘Bond Lifestyle’, for want of a better phrase, starts and ends with Ian Fleming. There were no commercial considerations when he mentioned a brand. If Bond liked something, it was because Fleming liked it - and he had very good taste. Some of that taste has rubbed off on me in a way that movie Bond’s hasn’t. I prefer Löwenbräu to Heineken, and Taittinger to Bollinger (although I’ve never refused a glass of Bollinger).

I found this book endlessly fascinating, entertaining and highly readable. Vižintin really knows his subjects – the drinks, the bars & restaurants and the works of Ian Fleming.

I heartily recommend The Spy Who Loved To Have A Drink and will raise a glass – martini or beer, it doesn’t matter - to this superb addition to the James Bond bookshelf.

Review by Brian Smith. Copyright © 2026 From Sweden with Love. All rights reserved.

Editor's Note:
Available The Spy Who Loved To Have A Drink editions:

>Hardback edition (from Amazon.co.uk)
>Paperback edition
>Hardback edition (from Amazon.com)
>Kindle edition

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Brian James Smith reviews The Spy Who Loved To Have A Drink (2026)

I found this book endlessly fascinating, entertaining and highly readable. Vižintin really knows his subjects – the drinks, the bars & restaurants and the works of Ian Fleming.

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