Seelbach (cocktail)

The Seelbach is a cocktail made with bourbon, orange liqueur, Angostura bitters, Peychaud's bitters, and sparkling wine such as Champagne.[1] It is like a mash-up of a manhattan and a Champagne cocktail. Punch notes that "the liberal addition of Peychaud's and Angostura bitters counter the bourbon's sweetness with a Manhattan-esque bite."[2] Tuxedo No. 2 describes the Seelbach as among the "recipes that don't really make sense on paper—and maybe don't make perfect sense in a cocktail glass either—but work just well enough to bring the adventurous drinker on a fun and weird ride."[3] Rye whiskey can be substituted for the bourbon; Kent Westmoreland notes, "It's spicy and effervescent, with herbal and floral notes bubbling over the rye."[4]

The cocktail was devised by Adam Seger in the 1990s.[5] He fabricated a story that the cocktail predated Prohibition and that he had discovered the recipe on an old menu of the Seelbach Hotel In Louisville, where it had been the signature drink. According to his story, the Seelbach cocktail was born when a bartender accidentally spilled Champagne into a Manhattan,[6] or used a Manhattan to catch the overflow from an uncorked Champagne bottle.[2] Seger later admitted he made the story up.[7]