Damien McGee, the owner of James Bond-themed bar Vesper in Glenwood Park, will open a new cocktail lounge later this fall. Called Spectre, the Bond theme carries over into the space next door on Garrett Street just steps from the Beltline.
Named for the criminal organization in Bond films like “Thunderball, “You Only Live Twice”, and “Diamonds Are Forever”, McGee describes Spectre as more “seductive” and “moodier” than Vesper. The design calls for a rich color palette of plum, chartreuse, and dark walnut with a bit of extravagance from swanky chandeliers and gold-toned carpeting.
Spectre and Vesper will share cocktail and tapas menus, with the new lounge also acting as a private events space.
Vesper opened in the fall of 2020 when bars across Georgia were allowed to reopen following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns earlier that year. McGee took inspiration for its name and theme from his parent’s love for James Bond films.
British novelist Ian Fleming supposedly invented the Vesper cocktail while visiting a bar in London. Fleming wrote a series of popular postwar spy novels in the 1950s on which the James Bond films were later based. His main character, British secret agent James Bond (007), first orders the custom cocktail in “Casino Royale”. Fleming named the drink after Bond’s love interest, Vesper Lynd.
A boozy concoction riffing the martini, the Vesper sees three ounces of gin, one ounce of vodka, and a quarter to one-half ounce of Kina Lillet “shaken, not stirred.” At Vesper in Glenwood Park, the bar’s eponymous cocktail replaces the subtle sweetness of the French-made aperitif Kina Lillet (now known as Lillet Blanc) with the crisp bitterness of the Italian aperitif Cocchi Americano.
Vesper, 924 Garrett Street, Glenwood Park. Open daily at 5 p.m. Spectre should open in October 2024.