Audrey Hepburn Only Drank Scotch Neat

Everyone knows that Audrey Hepburn was an actress, humanitarian, and icon of 1940s glamor. Perhaps fewer people know that instead of a "Roman Holiday," Hepburn preferred her holidays to be Scottish. She was a Taurus, and she was a Scotch fan. A 1988 interview with the Sunday Mail (U.K.) reads: "It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but she seized a large Scotch thankfully. 'I'm not a lush', she explained in that distinctive, faintly-foreign accent, a legacy of her Dutch upbringing, 'but I've been up since four and I need a pick-up,'" (via fan outlet Everything Audrey).

To be specific, her go-to drink order was reportedly two fingers of smoky J&B Rare Blended Scotch, served neat and paired with a Kent cigarette -- a combo she was known to enjoy nightly. Before Kents became her brand of choice, Hepburn smoked English-cut Gold Flake Cigarettes in a long-filtered cigarette holder from London.

Notably, even though J&B Rare is produced in Speyside, Scotland, the J&B brand was created in London -- the same city where the British actress enjoyed her first-ever stage debut as a chorus girl in the musical "High Button Shoes" in 1948. At least, this was her first recorded performance credited as "Audrey Hepburn." She performed countless times as a ballerina before this under the name Edda Van Heemstra during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands (when musical performances were made illegal) in Resistance events called zwarte avonden or "black evenings."

Read more: 13 Liquors Your Home Bar Should Have

A Lifelong Bon Vivant With A Penchant For Simplicity

J&B is a mid-to-low range Scotch for such a legendary icon of fashion and style. Today, a 750-milliliter bottle runs for just $34.79 on Drizly. But, according to those who knew her best, Hepburn was all about keeping it simple. Hepburn was known to cook spaghetti al pomodoro once a week, and according to Hepburn's son, Luca Dotti, this was her favorite pasta dish. In the People cover story from August 2017, Dotti tells the outlet that his mother loved Italian food and pasta.

Robert Wolders, Hepburn's longtime partner from 1980 until her passing in 1993, provides the outlet with a detailed account of the late actress's go-to foods: "We had brown bread with jam for breakfast, lunch would be chicken or veal or pasta, often with vegetables from the garden, and for dinner we often had soup with chicken and vegetables. She had chocolate after dinner, baking chocolate. She had a finger or two of Scotch at night."

Through and through, Hepburn was a fan of simple, healthy foods, thoroughly enjoyed — which might make sense considering her favorite drink order was a stripped-down classic that showcases high-quality liquor. After all, Hepburn herself shared famous pleasure-principle prescriptions like, "The most important thing is to enjoy your life -- to be happy -- it's all that matters" and "Never regret anything that makes you smile."

Read the original article on Tasting Table.