The Shaft is the espresso martini's unpretentious Canadian cousin: cold coffee, vodka, Irish cream, and coffee liqueur shaken and poured over ice, traditionally with a straw and a social obligation to finish it quickly. It's a drink with an unusually specific paper trail for something this casual — created around 2000 by bartender Mark Smith at The Living Room in Calgary, named for the 1971 film's leading man, and later adopted so thoroughly by Victoria, British Columbia that the city treats it as a hometown drink.
An espresso martini that skipped the stemware, found a straw, and made more friends.
History
Smith's original at The Living Room was modest — espresso, a splash of coffee liqueur, skimmed milk — and the drink evolved as it migrated west: the modern build runs on cold brew, vodka, and Irish cream. Victoria, B.C. is where it became a phenomenon, ordered by the round and drunk fast through the straw, a ritual somewhere between a toast and a dare. The name honors John Shaft; the film's cool did the rest of the marketing.
The Spec
Two parts cold brew to one each of vodka and Irish cream, half a part coffee liqueur — shaken hard, strained over ice in a rocks glass, straw in, no garnish. Cold brew's low acidity is what keeps the cream happy.
Cold Brew, Not Hot Coffee
Hot coffee curdles the ritual twice — it melts the ice and its acidity can split the Irish cream. Brew ahead and chill, or use a good concentrate cut to drinking strength. Espresso, fully cooled, is the period-correct alternative.
The Straw Is Canon
The Shaft is drunk through a straw, quickly, and often communally — bars in Victoria sell them in flights. Sipped slowly like a nightcap it's still pleasant; it's just no longer entirely a Shaft.
Bottom Line
The Shaft is coffee-cocktail joy with the ceremony removed: cheap to make, impossible to fumble, and engineered for a table of friends. Make a round, hand out the straws, and don't overthink it — the drink certainly doesn't.