In 1964, James Bond first uttered the words “A Martini. Shaken, not stirred.” The film was Goldfinger, and after recouping its 3 million dollar production cost in a matter of weeks, it went on to become a global sensation. The famous line, as well as Bond’s cool persona, high-class happy hours with supervillains, and collection of impressive gadgets became iconic. 

And as the butterfly flaps its wings, this would set off a pop culture infatuation for clear liquor that superseded quieter trends in home entertaining. In 1950, only 40,000 cases of vodka were sold in the US. By the time James Bond hit the scene, sales were upwards of 4 million. By the 1970s, vodka was the highest selling spirit in the United States. Smirnoff even conquered vodka’s obvious connotation to Soviet Russia in the Cold War era by aligning tightly with the Bond franchise, identifying as strongly as possible with the Brit who fights Russian Bad Guys, and Americans for the large part were amicably blinded and happy to partake.