Boulevardier

How you serve this drink is down to preference. Serving it with ice will keep the drink cold longer, but will eventually add some dilution.

The dilution can still work in your favor when the person who drinks the cocktail isn’t entirely keen on spirit forward recipes. This would allow them to take their time with the drink and still enjoy it.

Alternatively, if you’re concerned about this drink being too spirit forward, always remember that recipes in this category lend themselves to playing with proportions. You could easily bring down the bourbon and increase the sweet vermouth to provide the same flavor combination while reducing its booziness.

The original version of this recipe used equal parts for all three ingredients.

If you don’t have bourbon, you can try this cocktail with rye whiskey and bring a spicy note to the recipe.

Your choice of vermouth will greatly change the taste of this drink. When playing with variations of this recipe, start by swapping the vermouth, then the whiskey.

This drink lends itself to adding a very small amount of an additional ingredient in order to take it in an entirely different direction. For instance, try adding a small amount of cherry brandy or a rich and peaty whisky.

This recipe was created in Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in the 1920s. The drink was made for Erskine Gwynne, an American socialite who lived in Paris. Gwynne ran a magazine called The Boulevardier which is where the drink gets its name.

The Boulevardier later appeared in Harry MacElhone’s Barflies and Cocktails. A book which includes the code of the barflies, selected toasts, a list of fly traps (bars), among other interesting tales from the period.

Originally, the term Boulevardier referred to someone who frequented Parisian boulevards. A wealthy, sophisticated and fashionable man who spent a lot of time in public places.