Spirit-Forward · Aperitivo · Autumn

Boulevardier

Swap the gin in a Negroni for whiskey and you land here. Campari and sweet vermouth stay; the drink turns warmer and rounder.

Base: Whiskey
Glass: Old fashioned glass
Method: Stir
Strength: 25.79% ABV

Ingredients

45 mlBourbon1 swap
Rye whiskeymedium
Spicier, less sweet
30 mlBitter Campari1 swap
Any red bitter aperitivomedium
Bitterness/sweetness varies
30 mlSweet Red Vermouth

How to make

Technique

Stir · 20–30s

Stirring chills and dilutes gently while keeping the drink silky and clear.

Pour all ingredients into mixing glass with ice cubes.
Stir well.
Strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Serve

Glass

Old fashioned glassAlso fine: Double old fashioned glass, Rocks glass, Tumbler

Garnish

Garnish with a orange zest, optionally a lemon zest.Orange for warmth, lemon if you want it sharper.

optional

Taste & nutrition

25.79%ABV

200kcal

2.67Drinks

StrengthBoozy

Sweet to dryBalanced

Estimated from ingredient amounts and assumed ABVs — not a lab measurement.

Good to know

Stir, never shake — it stays clear and silky.

History

Year1927

PlaceParis, France

Created byErskine Gwynne / Harry McElhone (pub.)

Essentially a whiskey Negroni, the Boulevardier swaps gin for bourbon or rye alongside Campari and sweet vermouth. It appeared in Harry MacElhone's 1927 Paris book, credited to writer and socialite Erskine Gwynne, who ran a magazine of the same name. The name evoked the wealthy Americans strolling — or "boulevarding" — between Paris bars. Warmer and richer than a Negroni, it has become a modern favourite.

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