To make this puzzling experience so much more fun, combine it with the “Red, White and Bourbon” cocktail.  This patriotic potion is a simple variation on two wonderful classic cocktails, the Boulevardier and the Old Pal.  Both of these two old cocktails can also be considered as variations of the classic Negroni, which we highlighted a few weeks ago during Negroni week.  That cocktail famously combines equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari.  The Boulevardier and the Old Pal both date back to about 1927, during Prohibition time in America, when you had to find yourself in Paris, at Harry’s New York Bar, and mingle amongst the expats and literati, to enjoy a great cocktail.  Harry McElhone, the proprietor, wrote about these cocktails in his book from that era, “Barflies and Cocktails”, and true to the title, he describes the drinks as well as the regulars who invented them.  The Boulevardier, which substituted bourbon for the gin but otherwise maintained the 1:1:1 Negroni proportions of bourbon, sweet vermouth and Campari, was the favorite drink and creation of Erskine Gwynn, an American expat who came to Paris in 1927 to start a magazine styled after the New Yorker, which was called, you guessed it, the “Boulevardier”.  The Old Pal cocktail was slightly modified from this.  The bourbon was switched for high proof rye whisky, and the original recipe called for dry vermouth rather than sweet.  The original proportions remained equal, but more modern recipes double the rye for a 2:1:1 ration.  Harry McElhone also recounts this drink’s creator, the sports writer William “Sparrow” Robinson, who was apparently fond of calling everyone “my old pal” and who dedicated the drink to his old pal, McElhone.  For the “Red, White and Bourbon” cocktail I use the bourbon from the Boulevardier, and the dry white vermouth from the Old Pal, with modern proportions which let the bourbon balance better with the Campari, for an American take on these old favorites.

The "Red White and Bourbon (1776)" Cocktail

The Red, White and Bourbon Cocktail (1776 Cocktail):

1 1/2 oz bourbon

3/4 oz dry white vermouth

3/4 oz Campari

Stir over ice, pour and garnish with lemon peel.  Firecracker optional.

Show your independence this July 4

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and try any one of these great cocktails while solving a puzzle, watching some fireworks, or making some fireworks of your own!

Happy 4th of July!