This is the drink that James Bond orders for Rene Mathis when the latter introduces him to Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale.
This drink – just cognac (or Brandy) with water – is a simple drink which was once very popular:
The most popular way to drink Cognac used to be the “Fine à l’eau” until World War II. Take a measure of Pierre de Segonzac Prestige, pour in 3 measures of pure water and that’s it : contrary to a popular belief, water gives you the chance to appreciate aromas during the first ten minutes.
You can also use sparkling water as well. A brandy and soda is a fairly frequently ordered drink in the Bond novels.
Later, in From A View To A Kill, Bond is sitting outdoors at a French café pondering his libation options, lamenting that outdoors on pavement is not a place for serious liquor like vodka, whisky or gin. He considers other options, including the fine a l’eau.
A fine a l’eau is fairly serious, but it intoxicates without tasting very good.
Makes you wonder why he ordered the drink for Mathis if this was his opinion of it.
A very popular expression in Paris in the 1950s, which we Americans learned and thought we were very sophisticated.
Correction/addition: “and thought we were very sophisticated when we ordered a “fine a l’eau.”
Dickie Greenleaf’s usual drink when in France, according to the memory of Tom Ripley…
It was the regular drink of Ernest Hemingway in A Movable Feast,” and of his protagonist Jake Barnes in “The Sun Also Rises.” Both of those take place in Paris of the ‘20s, in the desolation left over from the Great War.