15 Days of Holiday Drinks (Day 15)

• Each year, I offer readers a lineup of cocktail creations for the holiday season, culled from combing through all sorts of sources -- my own archives, bar books, distillers' ideas, etc. -- even press releases from breathless PR people seeking to get their clients' products mentioned.

During my travels, I’ve stayed at some historic hotels in various countries and tried their signature drinks. My favorite comes from the Seelbach Hilton Hotel in Louisville, KY.

The Seelbach is one of the American South’s “Golden Age” luxury hotels, opened in 1905 and since then has been host to nine American presidents and innumerable dignitaries.

The stunning ambiance of the place, awash with oak and marble and gilded surfaces, inspired the author F. Scott Fitzgerald to use the hotel as the backdrop for Tom and Daisy Buchanan’s wedding in his iconic novel “The Great Gatsby.” Now, that is a classic, and so is this cocktail.  

NOTE: The Seelbach hotel was featured in a story I wrote several years ago called "The grand dames of Southern hospitality." You can find it here.


THE SEELBACH COCKTAIL

4 ounces quality Champagne 

1½ ounces bourbon 

½ ounce triple sec 

7 dashes Peychaud bitters 

7 dashes Angostura bitters

Put the bourbon, both bitters, and triple sec in a Champagne flute or similarly-shaped glass first. Fill rest of glass with Champagne. Garnish with orange twist, and serve.

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