Negronis From the Archives: The Boulevardier, 3 Ways

For Negroni Week, a Negroni from the archives every night.

Happy Negroni Week!

Typically, this newsletter comes out once a week. But this is Negroni Week, not Negroni Night. So to celebrate, we’re going to make a different Negroni-esque drink every single night this week,¹ pulling from the many Negroni-adjacent drinks in this newsletter’s archives.

First up, the Boulevardier, which I first wrote up in early 2021. Somehow I’ve been writing this newsletter for almost three years now.

At heart, the Boulevardier is just whiskey, sweet vermouth, and Campari; it’s basically a Negroni with whiskey instead of gin.

It’s tasty, warming, spicy, and pleasantly bittersweet. It’s also one of the drinks I’ve made most often in my cocktail journey: For many years, if I set out to make a drink but didn’t think about what I was going to make, I ended up making a Boulevardier. It’s very much a comfort-food cocktail for me.

My earliest attempts at the Boulevardier involved equal-parts mixes of whatever bourbon I had on hand — typically Bulleit — plus Dolin Rouge sweet vermouth and Campari. That doesn’t make for a bad drink, exactly, but there are superior ways to construct the drink. At this point, I’ve settled on three different recipes, each of which showcases a different aspect of the drink.

My favorite version relies on a five-part recipe that boosts the whiskey component relative to the other elements and also splits both the whiskey (between bourbon and rye) and the vermouth (between Dolin Rouge and Cocchi di Torino).

The whiskey:vermouth:Campari ratio here is 5:4:4. Along with the ingredient splits, this ratio makes for a Boulevardier that gently elevates both the sweet softness of bourbon and the pepper-spice of rye, while mixing the lightness of Dolin Rouge and the berry-spice of Cocchi di Torino.

5-Way Boulevardier

• 1 ounce Campari

• 1/2 ounce Dolin Rouge sweet vermouth

• 1/2 ounce Cocchi di Torino sweet vermouth

• 1/2 ounce Rittenhouse rye

• 3/4 ounce Buffalo Trace bourbon²

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass.

2. Add ice, then stir until chilled.

3. Strain into a rocks glass over a large piece of ice.

4. Garnish with an orange peel.

Just Three Ingredients

For a less complicated take of the drink, I am also fond of this three-part version, which marries a heavy pour of a spicy bourbon, Wild Turkey 101,³ with single-ounce portions of Campari and the big, boisterous Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth in a 3:2:2 ratio.

I think of this as a sort of baseline version of the cocktail, and it’s the one I’m most likely to mix up on a weeknight.

Basic Boulevardier

• 1 ounce Campari

• 1 ounce Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth

• 1 1/2 ounce Wild Turkey 101 bourbon

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass.

2. Add ice, then stir until chilled.

3. Strain into a rocks glass over a large piece of ice.

4. Garnish with an orange peel.

Serve It Up?

For a spicier, more elegant take, I quite like this rye-forward version, which — unlike the two previous versions — is served up, in a coupe or Nick & Nora glass, rather than over ice.

This is the most whiskey-forward of the bunch, with a 2:1:1 ratio (whiskey:vermouth:Campari). With its presentation and its base of rye whiskey, it’s the version that most emphasizes the connection between the Boulevardier and the Manhattan.

Rye/Up Boulevardier

• 3/4 ounce Campari

• 3/4 ounce Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth

• 1 1/2 ounce Rittenhouse rye

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass.

2. Add ice, then stir until chilled.

3. Strain into a coupe or Nick and Nora glass.

4. Garnish with an orange peel.

A Large Dog Who Would Like Me to Make Him a Negroni (Problem Is, Dogs Don’t Get Negronis)

1. That’s the plan anyway. I’ve never sent out five newsletters in a single week, so we’ll see how this goes.

2. If you can’t find Buffalo Trace bourbon, Elijah Craig makes a pretty good (if not 1:1 comparable) substitute.

3. At one point I made my 3:2:2 version with Rittenhouse rye. I’ve since switched to Wild Turkey 101 bourbon, which gives it a touch of bourbon-y sweetness while retaining some of the whiskey spice.