The elegant cocktail "Celebration," a blend of champagne and sweet and sour raspberry liqueur, is a perfect way to celebrate life's milestones. A beloved original cocktail at Keio Plaza Hotel for over 30 years, it was created in 1986 as the winning entry of the 15th prestigious "HBA (Japan Hotel Bartenders Association) Creative Cocktail Competition." Its creation is intertwined with the story of a bartender who poured an extraordinary passion into his craft.
The bartender's name was Kazuya Watanabe. At a time when the Standard style was to fill the glass with champagne last, Watanabe demonstrated an innovative method on the competition stage: he poured the champagne into the glass first, and then poured in the shaken ingredients. For a moment, there was an atmosphere of "Did he make a mistake?" and murmurs of surprise and confusion in the venue. However, when the ingredients were poured in perfectly and lifted by the champagne bubbles, resulting in a beautifully mixed cocktail, the murmurs of admiration and praise turned into a new style of champagne cocktail creation.
Coinciding with the 15th anniversary Keio Plaza Hotel opening, Kazuya Watanabe created "Celebration" with "celebration" as the key theme. This exquisite cup, which redefined Standard, continues to add a beautiful celebratory touch to our guests' joyous occasions today.
