Good drinks tell a story, and this is the story of those drinks. Here, we'll be serving up a remedial cocktail lesson for bartending beginners to help you get the most out of your glass, with recipes, interviews, and histories coming right up.
Do you often find yourself strutting about, strolling the streets to see and be seen? Then you, my friend, might be a "boulevardier."
Just as that urban type is a close cousin of the flaneur, the Boulevardier is a relative of the Negroni. You'll find no Boulevardier week, but Negroni Week arrives on June first with variations galore on the perfectly balance drink. The Boulevardier is one you'll want to know, but also be aware that in San Francisco Huxley is doing a low-proof, juniper and coriander infused sherry Negroni variation and Mr. Holmes has dreamt up a boozy cream-filled donut, the Doughgroni. And that's just the start. You can search for participating bars, which can be found all over the map.
The Boulevardier is sort of named for the man-about-town type, but more specifically, it's a reference to a magazine of the same name. The Boulevardier, founded in 1927, fancied itself a kind of The New Yorker magazine for American expatriates in 1920s Paris. Its publisher, a well-off great-nephew of Cornelius Vanderbilt named Erskine Gwynne, along with co-founding editor and poet Arthur Moss, ran some impressive stuff. The Boulevardier included contributions from the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Noel Coward, and Sinclair Lewis.
The Boulevardier became a drink, which has long outlived the publication, at Harry's New York Bar. That storied watering hole for writers and lushes was founded and run by Harry McElhone, but Gwynne seems to have had the idea for the Boulevardier.
It's a Negroni in its balance of (roughly) thirds, but in addition to the Campari and vermouth and instead of gin is the very American choice of bourbon.
As Gary Regan reprints it in his book The Negroni: Drinking to La Dolce Vita, with Recipes & Lore, it was immortalized in rhyme in McElhone's 1927 guide Barflies and Cocktails.
"Now is the time for all good barflies to come to the aid of the party, since Erskinne (sic) Gwynne crashed in with his Boulevardier cocktail: 1/3 Campari, 1/3 Italian vermouth, 1/3 Bourbon whiskey."
One final twist: if you use rye whiskey instead of bourbon you've made another McElhone classic, "My Old Pal."
The Boulevardier
1 oz. bourbon
1 oz. vermouth, dry or sweet
1 oz. Campari
Garnish with an orange slice or a cherry.
Previously: Learning To Drink Vol. 17: Count Negroni
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