Bourbon, stirred
Boulevardier
Barline 1h,1,1,R
The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.
- 1 1/2 oz Bourbon
- 1 oz Campari
- 1 oz Sweet vermouth
Stir with ice until cold, then strain.
Rocks, iced.
Taste
An ounce and a half of bourbon against a full ounce each of Campari and sweet vermouth. The whiskey leads a little; Campari is nearly a third of the drink. Stirred, rocks with ice. Bitter orange, grape, and corn whiskey, and the cube.
History
The Boulevardier first appears in print in Harry MacElhone's 1927 Barflies and Cocktails, not in the main recipe list but in Arthur Moss's Cocktails Round Town essay, credited to Erskine Gwynne. Gwynne was an American in Paris who edited a monthly magazine of the same name from 1927 to 1932; Moss prints it as equal parts Campari, Italian vermouth, and bourbon. Ted Haigh notes that Americans had barely heard of Campari in 1927, and that the Negroni would not see print for another twenty years. The bourbon and the rocks glass carry over, and the whiskey leads here at an ounce and a half against an ounce each of Campari and sweet vermouth.
Same shape, other bottles
The Negroni family, with the bottle that changed.
- Brazilian Negronicachaça for bourbon
- Kingston Negroniaged rum for bourbon
- Mezcal Negronimezcal for bourbon
- Negronigin for bourbon
- Cardinalegin and dry vermouth for bourbon and sweet vermouth
- Cin-Cyngin and Cynar for bourbon and Campari
This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour.