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Mike's Mix: The Seelbach At 4Bells

Every Saturday, Mike Augustyniak picks up a new cocktail recipe from a local mixologist. This week he headed to 4Bells in Minneapolis to try out the Seelbach.

Seelbach

  • 1 oz. Old Crow Reserve bourbon
  • ½ oz. Cointreau
  • 4 dashes Peychaud's bitters
  • 3 dashes angostura bitters

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Shake gently (10 times) and strain into a chilled coupe glass.

Top with 2+ oz. Prosecco; garnish with long orange zest expressed & rolled into orange rose shape

Taste Test

The Seelbach Hotel was the grandest hotel in Louisville, KY, during the Prohibition era.  Home to bootleggers and gangsters alike, the hotel also inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald's vision of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby.

Prior to that, in 1917, bartenders at the Seelbach created a bourbon cocktail by the same name… but with a lighter taste than you'd expect.

This version of the Seelbach uses 86-proof bourbon (inherently lighter than, for example, 120-proof Knob Creek), and mixes it with bubbly Prosecco.  Cointreau adds sweetness and a little body, and Peychaud's and Angostura add the bitter to balance.  The result is a cocktail that is all booze, but is still suitable for a hot day and a cold evening alike.  If you don't think you like bourbon drinks, give this one a try anyway.

4Bells is located in the former Joe's Garage location, at 1610 Harmon Place, Minneapolis, next to Loring Park. Their new indoor-outdoor, all-season roofdeck opens for business on Oct. 15th.  Click here for more. 

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