Classic Boulevardier Cocktail Recipe

The Boulevardier cocktail is equal parts bourbon whiskey, sweet vermouth, and Campari. You can think of the Boulevardier as a moodier, more contemplative relative of the Negroni—served in a rocks glass over ice and likewise crowned with a fragrant twist of orange. The Boulevardier maintains a simple ratio which allows all ingredients to shine, a technique seen in most other whiskey cocktails, like the Manhattan.

Boozy but civilized, backed by a botanical Italian bitterness and fresh burst of citrus, the Boulevardier cocktail emerged from a jubilant post-war period in Paris. The term “boulevardier” loosely translated as a sophisticated man-about-town, seen in all the right places by all the right people—not unlike its fellow “flâneurs,” who leisurely strolled the city by foot. The recipe appeared in print in 1927, featured in barman Harry MacElhone’s guide and memoir, Barflies and Cocktails. While the drink was most likely “invented” in an official sense at MacElhone’s famed Parisian spot, Harry’s New York Bar.