Rye Whiskey Takes the Lead In This Frozen Boulevardier
A rare summer-friendly drink with Rittenhouse Rye.
I started this newsletter with an argument that rye whiskey — and in particular Rittenhouse Rye — is the most essential bottle for a home bartender. I stand by that argument; Rittenhouse remains the most-often-used bottle in my collection.
I’ll be honest, though: It doesn’t get much use during the summer. Sure, I’ll still make a Manhattan every now and then for my wife. But when it’s warm out, rye whiskey tends to take a back seat to rum, mezcal, gin, and tequila.
Yet Rittenhouse remains a favorite, and I do feel a sense of obligation to readers of this newsletter: If I’m going to argue that Rittenhouse is the foundation of a home bar, then I ought to be able to show people how to use it all year round. So I’m always on the lookout for summer-friendly cocktails to make with rye.
As it happens, I stumbled on one recently while working on the frozen Negronis I featured last week.
Portland-based bar wiz Jeffrey Morgenthaler had the smart idea to make a frozen, blended Negroni with two additions to the classic format — orange juice and simple syrup. It’s mellow and sweet and juicy but manages to retain the essential character of a Negroni in slushy form.
As readers know, my general theory when it comes to cocktails is that where there’s one good drink idea, there are probably more good drink ideas.
So I started playing around with Morgenthaler’s basic concept — and eventually, with some modifications and departures, I landed on a kinda-sorta frozen version of a Boulevardier that is really, really tasty. And of course it’s built on a base of Rittenhouse rye.
I fully endorse every drink I write about in this newsletter1 — those I created as well as those developed by others — but this is one I’m particularly fond of, and even proud of.
It’s relatively easy to make, relying on just three different bottles of liquor that you’re likely to have around the house, and it’s also surprisingly satisfying — perhaps my favorite way to use Rittenhouse Rye in a warm weather drink that I’ve yet to encounter.
A Cocktail Conversion
One reason I’m so fond of this is that the Boulevardier is one of my all-time favorite cocktails. It is possible that it’s the drink I’ve made most often in my life. Almost certainly it’s in the top three or four.2
A Boulevardier, of course, is basically just a Negroni with whiskey swapped for the Negroni’s base of gin.
That whiskey can be either bourbon or rye, and the drink can be served up, like a Manhattan, or on the rocks, more like an Old Fashioned. One of the pleasures of the Boulevardier is that it supports so much variation.
I like Boulevardiers served in both formats, though if I’m just making a basic one I will typically make it with bourbon on the rocks.
My favorite way to make the drink, however, is a somewhat over-elaborate five part split, with both bourbon and rye, and two types of vermouth, served on ice. It’s subtle and soft with the sweetness of the bourbon offsetting the peppery bite of the rye, and both pairing with the bitter and sweet spices of Campari and two types of vermouth.
But that subtlety and that softness just doesn’t come through in a frozen cocktail. Although blended drinks can certainly display layers of complex flavors, more nuanced interactions tend to get lost in the ice and chill. For a frozen drink, you want flavors that are loud and lively while still pleasing and harmonious: Think boisterous brass band, not soft string quartet.