Before the story, a practical note: I've assembled the ready-made list of every ingredient you'll need to try this one at home. Onto the tale.
The Vesper is the cocktail that James Bond himself invented. In Ian Fleming's 1953 novel "Casino Royale", Bond orders the drink with surgical precision and names it after Vesper Lynd, the tragic double agent and his first love. Fleming based the recipe on his own taste in martinis and on conversations with his friend Ivar Bryce, who drank something similar on the island of Jamaica.
The Vesper is also the source of the most famous order in cinema: "Shaken, not stirred." After the novel, the drink slipped out of fashion for decades — partly because one of its original ingredients, Kina Lillet, was reformulated in 1986 — before roaring back with the 2006 film adaptation of Casino Royale, which put Daniel Craig and the Vesper back on bar menus worldwide.
The best way to honor these historical cocktails is to serve them with the right attention. A complete barman kit on Amazon is the fastest way to get started and make a good impression from day one. And if you want to go deeper and give your house the proper bar vibe, a professional cocktail bar station is the final, definitive touch.