For decades the Boulevardier languished in obscurity, overshadowed by its gin-based cousin, the Negroni. But in recent years this forgotten classic from 1920s Paris has experienced a remarkable renaissance. The drink first appeared in print in Harry McElhone's 1927 book "Barflies and Cocktails," where it was named after Erskine Gwynne, an American expat and socialite who was a regular at Harry's New York Bar in Paris.

Gwynne, a wealthy Boston-born writer, had moved to Paris after World War I and founded a monthly magazine called "The Boulevardier" in 1927, chronicling the lives of American expats during the Jazz Age — the same creative community that included Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein. A boulevardier in French parlance is a man-about-town who frequents fashionable establishments and appreciates the finer things in life. Gwynne embodied this archetype, and McElhone created or adapted the cocktail in his honor. The drink itself represents a marriage of cultures: American whiskey meeting Italian Campari and vermouth in a Parisian bar frequented by expatriates.

After its 1920s and 30s moment, the Boulevardier largely disappeared while the Negroni remained popular in Italy. It wasn't until the craft cocktail revival of the early 2000s that bartenders rediscovered it in old cocktail books. Today the Boulevardier is a staple in quality cocktail bars worldwide, finally receiving the recognition it deserves as a sophisticated alternative to the Negroni that whiskey lovers find irresistible.