Cocktail recipe
Boulevardier
Bourbon's warmth meets bitter Italian orange in a brooding Paris-born classic.
Ingredients
- 45 ml (1½ oz) bourbon
- 30 ml (1 oz) red bitter aperitivo (Campari-style)
- 30 ml (1 oz) sweet red vermouth
- Garnish: 1 orange twist
Preparation
Fill a mixing glass with firm ice. Add bourbon, bitter aperitivo and vermouth, then stir until the edges have softened and the drink is properly chilled. Strain over one large cube; squeeze the orange twist over the surface before setting it at the rim.
Glassware
Chilled rocks glass with one large cube
History
The earliest widely cited published Boulevardier appears in Harry MacElhone's Barflies and Cocktails (1927), in Arthur Moss's contribution, crediting expatriate writer Erskine Gwynne. Gwynne was associated with a Paris magazine called The Boulevardier. The printed recipe used equal parts bourbon, Italian vermouth and Campari; later versions increase the whiskey share. Its resemblance to a Negroni does not erase its independent printed attribution.
Mixology View
We favour a slightly whiskey-forward 3:2:2 formula over the 1927 equal-parts original: bourbon should contribute warmth and texture, not disappear beneath Campari. Both ratios deserve a place in the historical record.