Boulevardier Cocktail Recipe

History of the Boulevardier Cocktail

The Boulevardier cocktail recipe was invented in the 1920s by an American writer living in Paris. Erskine Gwynne was a young man-about-town who spent his days hobnobbing with the socialites in Paris. When he wasn’t flitting from brunches and lunches to dinners and cocktail parties, he spent his time creating a magazine inspired by The New Yorker called The Boulevardier.    

To go along with the launch of the magazine he decided that he needed a cocktail of the same name. Whether this was by clever design or because he couldn’t think of anything else, the Boulevardier cocktail was born. The magazine fizzled out after five years, but the Boulevardier cocktail recipe not only endured but thrived. It’s on the International Bartenders Association of official cocktails and even if old Erskine never got to see it there, it’s still a feather in his beret.    

Variations

Negroni lovers will tell you that the Boulevardier is a riff on it, and Boulevardier lovers will tell you the opposite. We’re here to tell you, who cares! Because they are both ridiculously good. Where the Italian Negroni is bittersweet with bracing herbal and citrus notes, the Boulevardier is round, warm, and spicy with a lingering oaky finish. For two cocktails with two-thirds of the same ingredients, they couldn’t be further apart in flavour. If you’d like to try a whiskey version, just replace the bourbon with your favourite tipple.   

When to serve

The real question is where does the Boulevardier not fit in? It’s a great all-rounder that works at cocktail and dinner parties, brunches, and barbecue cookouts. One thing to bear in mind is that the recipe for a Boulevardier cocktail packs a punch so drink responsibly.