Charming Texan “CIA chap” Felix Leiter is probably the closest that Bond comes to having a sidekick – he has a supporting role in six of Fleming’s novels. As well as sometime colleagues, Leiter and Bond enjoy many a tipple together. Being a Southerner, Leiter is particularly partial to bourbon and branch water (branch water being sourced from the same stream that feeds the distillery where the bourbon is made – thus it is seen as the purest way to cut your whiskey). This cocktail is a tribute to Leiter’s favourite drink; a simple, refreshing and delicious Highball, with the character of the bourbon taking centre stage. Sadly branch water is unobtainable outside Kentucky, but maple water – tapped from Canadian maple trees (and the raw material for maple syrup) – makes a delicious substitute.
40ml (1½fl oz) Woodford Reserve Double Oaked bourbon (or other characterful bourbon)
100ml (3½fl oz) maple water
1½ teaspoons honey syrup (see here)
1 dash of Angostura bitters
TO GARNISH
small pine cones
orange twist
Measure the ingredients directly into a Highball glass over large ice cubes or cracked ice and stir well. Garnish with small pine cones and an orange twist.
NOTE: given the level of dilution in this Highball cocktail, we recommend a characterful bourbon such as Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. Its secondary ageing in heavily toasted, lightly charred barrels lends it a distinctive spicy oak note. Maple water can be bought in some supermarkets and online.
FELIX
“Oh, and there’s an American called Leiter here, staying in the hotel. Felix Leiter. He’s the CIA chap from Fontainebleau. London told me to tell you. He looks okay. May come in useful.”
CASINO ROYALE
CHAPTER 4. “L’ENNEMI ÉCOUTE”
Leiter shook a Chesterfield out of his pack. “I’m glad to be working with you on this job,” he said, looking into his drink, “so I’m particularly glad you didn’t get blown to glory.”
CASINO ROYALE
CHAPTER 7. “ROUGE ET NOIR”
There was the shape of a body on Leiter’s bed. It was covered with a sheet. Over the face, the sheet seemed to be motionless. Bond gritted his teeth as he leant over the bed. Was there a tiny flutter of movement?
Bond snatched the shroud down from the face. There was no face. Just something wrapped round and round with dirty bandages, like a white wasps’ nest.
He softly pulled the sheet down further. More bandages, still more roughly wound, with wet blood seeping through. Then the top of a sack which covered the lower half of the body. Everything soaked in blood.
There was a piece of paper protruding from a gap in the bandages where the mouth should have been.
Bond pulled it away and leant down. There was the faintest whisper of breath against his cheek. He snatched up the bedside telephone. It took minutes before he could make Tampa understand. Then the urgency in his voice got through. They would get to him in twenty minutes.
He put down the receiver and looked vaguely at the paper in his hand. It was a rough piece of white wrapping paper. Scrawled in pencil in ragged block letters were the words:
HE DISAGREED WITH SOMETHING THAT ATE HIM
LIVE AND LET DIE
CHAPTER 14. “HE DISAGREED WITH SOMETHING THAT ATE HIM”
There was a medium dry Martini with a piece of lemon peel waiting for him. Bond smiled at Leiter’s memory and tasted it.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
CHAPTER 8. THE EYE THAT NEVER SLEEPS
Bond looked affectionately at the Texan with whom he had shared so many adventures. He said seriously, “Bless you, Felix. You’ve always been good at saving my life.”
GOLDFINGER
CHAPTER 21. THE RICHEST MAN IN HISTORY
Felix means “lucky” (and “happy”) in Latin. It was also the middle name of Fleming’s school friend Ivar Bryce.
The name Leiter was borrowed from Bryce and Fleming’s mutual friend Marion “Oatsie” Leiter. She was a friend of President Kennedy and introduced him to Fleming’s Bond books, thereby greatly contributing to their success in America.
Leiter often drinks Martinis in the books but his next favourite drink is whiskey, in particular bourbon.
Despite the gruesome loss of an arm and a leg to one of Mr Big’s sharks in Live and Let Die, Felix Leiter is summoned back into action to work on the Thunderball mission, and again to help Bond eliminate Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun.
Fleming encouraged the CIA to do more in the area of “special devices” – something they apparently took on board. Declassified letters show that they copied gadgets from both Goldfinger and From Russia, with Love, including the poison-tipped dagger shoe.