James Bond To Ditch Martinis For Beer?

The vodka-based martini made famous by Ian Fleming's James Bond character is already cause enough for contention. So imagine the reaction when it was revealed recently that the British secret agent would be adding beer into his beverage rotation in the new Bond film Skyfall.

Predictably, some die-hard Bond fans were miffed.

According to Advertising Age, Daniel Craig's James Bond character will opt for a Heineken instead of his usual "shaken, not stirred" vodka martini at some point in the new movie. Per a report in The Independent, "Heineken has struck a deal for a Bond campaign. There will be a new Heineken ad tied to the Bond film and Bond will reportedly be shown drinking Heineken in at least one scene in the movie itself."

The article raises the interesting question as to whether seeing the super-suave Bond knocking back a brewski compromises any of his mystique or sophistication. And moreover, for fans of the iconic series, there's the simple, unpalatable fact that it bucks with tradition.

As a professor at the Amsterdam School for Cultural analysis told the New York Post, "It is scandalous that Bond is ditching the martini for a beer, since it breaks a 50-year tradition that many Bond fans are heavily invested in."