The clinking of glasses and sparkling laughter echoing off wood-paneled walls, caramel liquor in shining decanters, and wisps of smoke from a lit cigarette - these were the ghosts I imagined about The Old Seelbach Bar as we began on the Urban Bourbon Trail - similar in conception to the Bourbon Trail, but localized about Louisville.
The Seelbach Hotel has certainly seen its share of celebrities during its storied history and contributed in its own way to Americana - in fact, it served as the inspiration for the hotel where Tom and Daisy Buchanan got married in The Great Gatsby. I love the Rathskeller Room too - one of their banquet rooms that is modeled (and named) after basement restaurant/bar spaces found under German city halls where council members and other people would congregate to discuss business, politics, and the shenanigans of the day. For all the progress that has been made, I do love some of the old-world luxury feel from the Art Deco period.
Anyway, from The Seelbach, we wandered to the Maker's Mark Lounge at 4th Street Live and Asiatique. On Sunday we also made it to Corbett's and Limestone. I finished out my trip just one stamp shy of a free t-shirt for the Urban Bourbon Trail, a little bit intentionally so I'd have to go back!
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| Very Art Deco. Not surprise F. Scott Fitzgerald drew inspiration from this place. |
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| Got some practice with portraiture! Ashley, rocking her model face, as usual. |
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| Stamp in my passport! |
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| An overhead light in the Rathskeller Room |
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| <3 Maker's, did not <3 the bartender who stamped my passport upside down and made a crappy recommendation for my bourbon tasting flight. |
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| Go big or go home: Pappy Van Winkle, aged 23 years, neat. Easily the most expensive 2oz I've ever had. |
More of the Urban Bourbon Trail
Hours to Date: 60