A couple of months ago I posted my recipe for a smoky take on the classic Boulevardier cocktail. I made that with Bowmore 12 in place of the regulation bourbon and as I made it for our Oscar party I named it the Boulevardier of Broken Dreams. It was quite nice but I’ve been playing with some variations since then, fueled by the fact that my bottle of Bowmore 12 got emptied that night. Most of these variations have involved tinkering with the proportions of the components. I’ve found that more heavily peated malts don’t work quite as well (or at least I haven’t managed to figure out the proportions). Then I hit on the idea of bottle “aging” a regular Boulevardier in a recently emptied peated whisky bottle. This, I am happy to say, has been quite a success—though continued experimentation is, of course, necessary.

Smoky Boulevard

4 oz Bourbon (I used Old Grand Dad 80 proof)
4 oz Campari
4 oz Sweet Vermouth
4 dashes Orange Bitters

Stir together well in a mixing glass and fill carefully into a recently emptied bottle of Laphroaig 10. “Roll” the contents carefully around the inside of the bottle, cork it and place in the refrigerator for a day or two. Stir again over ice and strain into glasses.

I made a small batch as this was experimental. Since it worked out quite well the next time I’ll make a larger batch and fill the bottle up completely. And I think I’m going to make my next batch in a bottle that had held a peated and sherried malt (hmm this Caol Ila is all but gone).