Left Hand
ClassicA Boulevardier with chocolate bitters. Sam Ross's twist.
Rich and bittersweet, with bourbon's caramel warmth beneath Campari's bitter orange and sweet vermouth's herbal depth. Chocolate bitters pull it all into a cocoa-tinged finish — spirit-forward, complex, and faintly dessert-like without being sweet.
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz Bourbon
- 0.75 oz Sweet Vermouth
- 0.75 oz Campari
- 2 dashes Chocolate Bitters
- Cherry · optional garnish
Method
- 1
Add every ingredient to a mixing glass with ice.
- 2
Stir until well chilled.
- 3
Strain into a chilled coupe.
- 4
Garnish with a cherry.
The Story
The Left Hand was created by Sam Ross at New York's Milk & Honey around 2007, a deliberate riff on the Boulevardier — itself a bourbon Negroni. Ross's addition of chocolate bitters is the whole trick, tying the bitter Campari and sweet vermouth together with a cocoa-dark thread. Alongside his Penicillin and Paper Plane, it cemented Ross as one of the most-copied bartenders of his generation.
Recipe card
The whole recipe in one shareable image.
