A Negroni with bourbon where the gin was, the Boulevardier drinks spirit-forward and rounder, the warmth of the whiskey pressing against sweet vermouth and the bittersweet bite of a red aperitivo. Stirred cold and served up, it pours a deep garnet and moves silky and slow across the palate, while an expressed orange peel lifts bright citrus oil over the long bitter finish.
Garnish: Orange Peel
Stirred · Coupe · Up
add
Combine the bourbon, sweet vermouth, and bitter aperitivo in a mixing glass with ice.
stir
Stir well until properly chilled and diluted.
strain
Strain into a chilled stemmed coupe (or cocktail glass), served straight up with no ice.
express
Express an orange twist over the surface and drop it in as garnish.
The drink shares its name with Boulevardier, the Left Bank magazine that American-born writer Erskine Gwynne founded in Paris and ran from 1927 to 1932. That same year it made its print debut in Harry MacElhone's Barflies and Cocktails, credited to Gwynne and mixed in equal measures of whiskey, vermouth and bitter. After a long stretch out of fashion, Ted Haigh revived it in 2007 with a heavier hand on the whiskey in a 3:2:2 ratio — the proportions the IBA adopted as its standard in 2020.