A Boulevardier Is The Cocktail To Make For Your Next Fall Party

The best cocktails for fall have a warmth to them that will keep your spirits high as the first chill of harvest wind hangs in the air. To that end, Jordan Hughes, a content creator and cocktail recipe developer who mixes and pours under the handle HighProofPreacher, recommends a twist on the classic Negroni called a Boulevardier. A little bitter and a little sweet, with a twist of orange to give it brightness, a Boulevardier is just the pick-me-up your autumn get-together is begging for.

Despite having just three ingredients — bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth — the Boulevardier is "quite popular at parties," says Hughes. Campari is notoriously bitter, but, he says that in a Boulevardier, the spirit is "balanced nicely with the other ingredients." Like the strongest alcoholic drinks in the cocktail world, a Boulevardier is all liquor, but as Hughes reports, it is "complex and interesting" in taste.

Those who are fascinated by the history of cocktail names will be interested to know that "Boulevardier" is French slang for a worldly, sophisticated person, which dates back to the glam bootlegger era of the 1920s. After one hundred years, a Boulevardier is still a fashionable sip for the hip, including all your loved ones at a fall shindig.

Perhaps the most attractive quality of the Boulevardier for fall parties, other than its innate toastiness, is how simply it comes together. It's two parts bourbon to one part each of Campari and sweet vermouth. Batching these is easy as can be, says Hughes, as "you can simply scale up those measurements."

You already know that different cocktail glasses have different uses, but the Boulevardier is not fussy about where it is poured. A mason jar makes for a cute, casual vessel that can stand up to some jostling and passing around at a party. To keep it cool, we recommended that you use a single, large piece of ice, like a single craft sphere rather than regular cubes, to prevent diluting the strong taste.

The red color of the Boulevardier comes from the sweet vermouth and makes the cocktail delightfully festive for autumn. For a slightly spicy twist, you could substitute rye for bourbon on a 1:1 basis. A twist of orange peel is the typical garnish (and adds another warm color to the drink that's reminiscent of fall foliage), but you can add a curl of lemon zest or even a skewered cherry if you'd prefer. Sip this one slowly, as it has a kick that could give a whole new meaning to "fall" if you aren't careful!