Seelbach Cocktail

March 2, 2018 by Jennifer

Sunday is the Academy Awards, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve already got your plans all set. I used to get together with my mom, order in Chinese and watch from the opening monologue all the way to best picture. But these days I tend to party it up. We’ll invite a few people over, have some appetizers, a few desserts and of course plenty of champagne. I mean, it’s the Oscars, a time to celebrate! And what better way to celebrate your favorite picture winning best actress than with a glass of champagne?

While you could go with a plain, ordinary glass of champagne (I love them), a cocktail made with champagne is so much more interesting. So, I found one… that dates all the way back to the early 1900’s. It was created at the Seelbach Hotel. The vintage hotel is still standing in Louisville, Kentucky and was a glitzy place where all the big names from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Dutch Schultz used to go. Even presidents from FDR to JFK stayed at the luxurious hotel. A hotel of this stature has to have its own cocktail and that cocktail was of course called the Seelbach.

A delicious combination of bourbon, Cointreau, bitters and of course, champagne, this drink is perfect for any spiffy occasion. As a matter of fact, it was originally created for a special occasion. The way the story goes, a couple from New Orleans was staying at the Seelbach while on their honeymoon in 1912. They stopped in at the bar and ordered a couple drinks. He ordered a Manhattan, while she wanted a Champagne cocktail. While carrying the drinks over, the bartender spilled the bubbly into the Manhattan. He set the mistakes aside and made a new round of drinks. But the mistake got the barman thinking. Soon, the Seelbach cocktail was born.

It’s a great story, right? There’s only one problem. It’s not true. Turns out Adam Seger, the bartender who’d taken over the bar at the Seelbach in 1995, made the whole thing up. According to the New York Times, Seger was an unknown barman who wanted to make a name for himself. So, he started digging into the hotel’s history. He said he found old menus and assumed with a legacy like the the hotel had there just had to be a Seelbach cocktail. There wasn’t. So being a smart and savvy bartender, Seger created one. After mixing up the drink, he needed a story to go along with it, and so came up with that 1912 couple who were on their honeymoon and the clutzy bartender.

No matter when the cocktail was created, it’s a perfect choice for any special occasion, whether it be your honeymoon, New Year’s Eve or the Academy Awards. So, while it may not be a “classic” per se, it’s still a delicious drink and one that I’ll be imbibing on Sunday.