This easy Boulevardier cocktail recipe comes to us from Greg of the Behind the Bar channel. We love his style and easy presentation. Be sure to check out their other videos and subscribe to their channel here.

Step 1 – Add 40mL American whiskey into mixing glass

Step 2 – Add 20mL Campari

Step 3 – Add 20mL sweet vermouth

Step 4 – Add some ice

Step 5 – Stir it

Step 6 – Srain into ice filled glass

Step 7 – Garnish with orange

Easy Boulevardier Cocktail Recipe Video

Video Transcript

Cara: So, this one is called the Boulevardier. It’s pretty obviously a…well, it’s actually not a variation of a Negroni because it kind of came first.

Man: Probably.

Cara: Probably. But the Negroni obviously has a little bit of a higher proof al, so it’s sort of seen in that family of drinks. What actually is the history of this one.

Man: So the story goes with this one that there was a very famous bar in Paris in the 1920s called Harry’s New York Bar, and Harry MacElhone was an expatriate Ameican who was a bartender who had gone over to Paris because it was during American Prohibition. So it couldn’t work in the U.S. so he went and opened this bar in Paris.

And the story behind this particular drink goes…he invented it for another American expat who was living in Paris at the time, a bit of a socialite by name of Erskine Gwynne, and Erskine Gwynne ran a magazine called the “Boulevardier” so Harry came up with this drink for him and named it after the magazine.

Cara: Cool. Now, we’re going for Woodford Reserve in this one because, as we kind of mentioned when we’re talking about styles, Woodford is a little bit special because it’s triple distilled, which makes it a little bit of a lighter body. And as much as this is obviously being made with a dark spirit, it is still kind of made to be an apéritif style drink.

Man: Absolutely, so that lighter body from the Woodford Reserve is going to work well with it.

Cara: Yeah. Now, obviously, the Negroni is pretty famously equal parts. Usually go 30 of the gin, 30 Campari, 30 sweet vermouth. You can absolutely do that for this drink but because we are doing American whiskey today, I’m going to do 40 mills of this and then 20 of your two other ingredients just to make sure that this really shines through. I mean, I always think this kind of family of drinks, like, they’re all delicious in whatever proportions you do generally really.

Man: Pretty much. It just depends on how much of that base spirit you really want to punch through.

Cara: Yeah, because I also quite like doing like reverse ones where you do more of the vermouth because obviously I’m a bit of a…you know, I like my fortified wines.

Man: Absolutely.

Cara: And that can be fun to play with as well and also means that you can have a cupholder if you’re on the floor. This one will probably knock me down after one.

Man: That’s true. Especially with some of the lighter style vermouths, it sometimes tends to put them in a little bit heavier.

Cara: Yep, so then we’ve got obviously our classic bitter Campari which is going to make it nice and pink as well, 20 mills of that. And as we all now, Campari’s best friend really is a little bit of orange. So I’ll do a little orange twist for this one.

Now, this drink can be served up or on the rocks. I’ve had it both ways. Do you know what the original was or has it sort of been lost in the midst of time?

Man: I’m pretty sure the original version was served up as most drinks of the time were, but for me when it comes to a drink like this, I generally prefer to have it on a big chunk of ice if there’s one available just so that it stays nice and cold throughout the time that I’m drinking it.

Cara: Yep, so we are going to serve this on the rocks. So I’m going to give this one a little stir. So obviously the general rule of thumb with cocktails is, if something has citrus or juice in it, then you shake it. And then if it’s all booze, then you stir it. It’s really a texture thing.

Man: Absolutely.

Cara: I think all of these drinks you want to be sort of silky smooth and ice cold rather than being more shaken up and spritzy.

Man: That’s it. Especially when you’re using whiskey as the base ingredient, most good whiskeys are going to have a really nice kind of rounded texture going into the drink, so you don’t want to ruin that vibe, shaking it up, if you can avoid it.

Cara: Just pour this over the largest bit of ice you can find. Give your orange twist a good sharp fold over the top. When I’m serving things on the rocks, I tend to be lazy and just leave the twist kind of as is. I reckon the rustic look looks pretty good like that anyway, just a nice, big, chunky bit. And there you go. Boulevardier.

Man: Thank you. That’s good. Still plenty of whiskey character but nice and light. It’s very good. It’s like a good summer whiskey drink.

Cara: Yeah. The Boulevardier. So now you know. It’s really great to hear from you and see what you’re enjoying. So any comments, and likes, and shares are greatly appreciated.

Conversation / Tasting Notes

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