Meet the Boulevardier
This cocktail walks the line between bitter, boozy and sweet. If you look at the ingredients you’d be surprised to find how smooth and refined drink it really is.
In simple terms, a boulevardier (pronounced bou·le·var·dyé) is a sophisticated man-about-town. Throughout the ages well all yearn to be that worldly someone who’s able to impress upon others with their sense of style, sophistication and charm.
History
The first boulevardiers got their name from the generally straight and geometrically precise arteries or boulevards of Paris. These individuals must have made a penetrating influence because the word boulevardier was eventually applied to any urbane and socially active man. Calling someone a boulevardier was a high compliment and did not have the same negative meaning as dandy or vanity.
It was in 1927 Paris, when a young American writer named Erskinne Gwynne created a burgeoning literary journal. Gwynne dubbed it The Boulevardier. He leveraged this same name for a cocktail he came across at Harry’s New York Bar, Paris. The cocktail was concocted by a Harry MacElhone, an American who had moved to Paris during Prohibition and wrote the book Barflies and Cocktails: Over 300 Cocktail Recipes. In his cocktail book, MacElhone credits the drink to Gwynne, who was a regular at MacElhone’s bar. Unlike many cocktail origins this story is as simple and straightforward as the cocktail itself.
Ingredients
• 1 1/4 ounces of bourbon or rye whiskey
• 1 ounce Campari
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• Garnish: orange peel twist
Steps
1) Add bourbon, Campari and sweet vermouth into a mixing glass with ice and stir until well-chilled.
2) Allow cocktail to sit for about 30 seconds, then strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Using cocktail ice is best but it’s not a requirement with this recipe.
3) Garnish with a zesty orange twist.
Sit back, take a few sips, close your eyes and imagine yourself strolling along a boulevard in 1920’s Paris, sporting a hat and spats of course, arriving at the Le Dome cafe. Spring is in the air as you thoroughly take in the scenery and general joie de vie. Now that’s what you get with the Boulevardier.
