Any list involving Hollywood and the consumption of alcohol is incomplete without the mention of a number of celebrities, and Errol Flynn certainly deserves to be on the shortlist.

A man who at 33 was able to consume a bottle of vodka a day and at the same time meet and woo his wife-to-be, the 19 year old daughter of an L.A. County Sheriff’s capt., and all this whilst standing trial for the statutory rape of two minors (he was acquitted by a jury of 9 women and 3 men), must, for better or for worse, be included (having been born in Hobart, Australia, his nickname The Tasmanian Devil seemed doubly apt).

Picking Mr. Flynn’s favourite drink is a daunting task, comparable to guessing which tooth of the buzz-saw hit the board first, as the possibilities are endless. His excursions to so many watering holes (as well as to those establishments which offer more exotic pleasures) are legendary: the Cuban Hotels National and Floridita (including meet-and-greets with Fidel), Hollywood’s Cocoanut Grove and Chasen’s, Jamaica’s Titchfield Hotel, and so on and on. The Cuban mixologist Fabio Delgado Fuentes created this cocktail in his honour: The Martini Special:

1½ oz gin (Hayman’s Old Tom Gin if available)
¾ oz vermouth (Carpano Antica Vermouth i available)
2 drops Orange Flower Water
Dash Verte de Fougerolles Absinthe Verte
Dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass. Twist Lemon Peel over glass and discard [1]

[1] This variation was supplied by Savoy Stomp and reduces the orange flower water from the original 1/6 oz. to a few drops – http://savoystomp.com/2009/03/18/martini-special-cocktail/