The Boulevardier

2,5 cl Bourbon
2,5 cl Campari
2,5 cl Red Vermouth

Mixing Technique: Mixing glass
Glass: Cocktail
Garnish: Cocktail cherry
Method:
Pour ingredients into a mixing glass, filled with cracked ice. Stir thoroughly, for about 15-20 seconds, till the mixture is well chilled, strain into a pre-chilled cocktail glass, garnish with cocktail cherry and serve

2018-10-23T16:51:37+01:00By Erskine Gwynne|Categories: Before Dinner Cocktails, Signature Cocktails|

Historical Perspective

The Boulevardier first appeared in Harry McElhone’s 1927 bar guide Barflies and Cocktails, in which McElhone seems to defer to Gwynne as the actual inventor of the drink. The Boulevardier was the favorite signature drink of Erskine Gwynne, a famous American polo-player and a nephew of railroad tycoon Alfred Vanderbilt. Erskine Gwynne was the well-to-do publisher of The Boulevardier, a literary magazine that he published in Paris, from March 1927 until January 1932, under the editorship of Arthur Moss. The Boulevardier was an English-language magazine, very much patterned after The New Yorker. Upon launching the magazine, which was apparently both humorous and literary, Gwynne said it would be "fast but clean." The magazine published advertisements seeking subscribers in both Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails (1919, revised annually) and Barflies and Cocktails (1927), the memoir and recipe collections of Harry MacElhone of Harry's New York Bar in Paris. The Boulevardier, often referred to as the “Bourbon Negroni,” successfully marries three standard cocktail components, bourbon, Campari and red vermouth. Gwynne's original recipe called for three equal parts, making it lean on the Negroni-formula. Bourbon – rather than gin¬ – gives the cocktail a more stringent flavor profile. Gwynne was a welcome guest in the many cocktail bars of Paris he used to frequent. Soon after his entrance in the Parisian social scenery, he contributed his favorite cocktail after his magazine. Most likely Harry’s New York Bar was the birthplace of The Boulevardier, McElhone credited Gwynne, one of his regular customers, with inventing the drink.

Erskine Gwynne

Publisher

Paris, November 21, 1898

France

Publisher, editor, racing enthusiast (born in Paris), Erskine Gwynne was a member of the Vanderbilt Family, his great aunt was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Gwynne became a writer who founded a monthly magazine in Paris called The Boulevardier, which appeared from 1927 to 1932. Erskine married Josephine Armstrong, the marriage ended in divorce. Erskine was in the car with William Kissam Vanderbilt III at the time of the accident in South Carolina that killed the latter (on 15 November 1933). Erskine survived and suffered minor bruises and scrapes. In 1935 Gwynne went back to the States for good, and in the same year, he was involved in a car accident, injuring three people. On account of this accident Erskine later suffered paralysis in 1938. He remained a Ney York citizen until his death in 1948. Erskine's sister killed herself in New York in 1946, Gwynne died 2 years later, in Manhattan (New York City) on May 5, 1948, aged 49. Erskine Gwynne was cremated and his ashes, along with his sisters, were buried with their father at Woodlawn Cemetery.