The Boulevardier

Of the 87 or so recipes in the book, I’ve seen a handful of them in the wild. This is one of them.

According to the text, the cocktail was the signature drink of Erskine Gwynne who was an “expatriate writer, socialite and nephew of railroad tycoon Alfred Vanderbilt”. Gwynne edited a magazine called The Paris Boulevardier, hence the name.

• 1.5 ounce bourbon
• 1 ounce Campari
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth

Stir long and well with ice in a mixing glass and then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Continue reading

The Avenue

I almost wanted to call this drink “The Amazon” since I had to order most of the ingredients on-line.

• 1 ounce bourbon
• 1 ounce Calvados
• 1 ounce passion fruit juice or nectar
• 1 dash real pomegranate grenadine
• 1 dash orange flower water

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into a glass. Garnish with a carnation boutonnière

The author found this recipe in a book called the Café Royal Cocktail Book (1937). Times were different 70 years ago, and I hope that it is okay that I left off the boutonnière garnish.

Life is Beautiful

It may seem funny that my second cocktail post doesn’t come from the book that inspired the website, but my love of cocktails was inspired by a number of people as well, including my friends Demetri and Cat in Chicago.

Whenever I would visit we would end up at the bar at the Florentine, which is located in the JW Marriott hotel. On one visit I was introduced to “Life is Beautiful” and not only is it my go-to cocktail when I’m there, it is my go-to at home as well.

The Corpse Reviver #2

I knew that there was something to my desire to do this site when I was trying to decide on the first cocktail to feature. I didn’t want to do them alphabetically, so I just opened a page at random. The first recipe I saw was for “The Corpse Reviver #2”. It just so happens that this was the first cocktail the author tried.

It just so happens I had all the ingredients.