Boulevardier
The whiskey Negroni.
Bourbon or rye, Campari and sweet red vermouth, stirred and served up. Warmer and rounder than a Negroni, it lets the whiskey's vanilla and oak soften the bite of the bitter.
- IBA · The Unforgettables
- Aperitif
- Stirred
- Glass
- Cocktail glass
- Method
- Stirred
- Strength
- Strong
- Time
- 3 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Ice
- No ice
Ingredients
Measures for 1 serving
-
Bourbon whiskey
45 ml
-
Campari
30 ml
-
Sweet red vermouth
30 ml
Garnish
- Orange twist
- Lemon twist (optional)
Proportions
How to make
- Chill a cocktail glass.
- Fill a mixing glass with ice.
- Pour the whiskey.
- Pour the Campari.
- Pour the sweet red vermouth.
- Stir well.
- Strain into the chilled glass.
- Garnish with an orange zest (and optionally a lemon zest).
The story
Origins
DocumentedOrigin attested by written sources of the time.
The Boulevardier first appears in 1927 in Barflies and Cocktails by Harry MacElhone, the Scottish bartender of Harry's New York Bar in Paris. It is not in the book's alphabetical list but in a closing section written by journalist Arthur Moss, who reports that Erskine Gwynne turned up with his Boulevardier Cocktail: one third Campari, one third Italian vermouth and one third bourbon. Gwynne, an American socialite linked to the Vanderbilts, had founded with Moss an expatriate society magazine called The Boulevardier, published in Paris from 1927. Compared with the 1927 recipe, the IBA version raises the whiskey.
Taste profile
- Bitter
- 4 out of 5
- Strong
- 4 out of 5
- Sweet
- 2 out of 5
- Herbal
- 2 out of 5
