Outrageously Expensive Liquor

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
By CNBC | Shine Food

Wine aficionados have a reputation for being discriminating collectors, yet other types of liquor have their cultured devotees of their own. In 2008, if you wanted the most expensive cocktail in the world, you needed only $2,500 for the drink and a $2.25 subway ride to New York City's Plaza Hotel where it was sold. That changed this February, when Club 23 in Melbourne, Australia introduced the "Winston," a cocktail with a label price of almost $13,000, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The high price is due to a single ingredient: an 1858 Croizet cognac. This liquor, which fetched over $160,000 at a Shanghai auction for a single bottle, was allegedly quaffed by the cocktail's namesake, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he planned D-Day. Despite the high price and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, however, the cocktail's anonymous buyer took only a couple of sips, then got up and left.

Scott Abramson, vice president of the Park Avenue Liquor Shop in Manhattan, said in an interview that customers seeking out luxury liquors are just as inclined as wine drinkers to pay a high price for the right bottle.

"It's not like 20 years ago, when it was a businessman in a suit and tie," he said. "People, especially rappers and athletes, will drop six, seven, $8,000 a bottle. It runs the gamut."

He added that customers purchase expensive liquors for different reasons. "Sometimes they're collectors that collect a certain scotch or cognac, and they're buying it for an investment or for a high-end gift," he said. "We sold a 60-year-old Macallan [whiskey] for $22,000, to a man who was building a new plane, and he thought it looked good in the plane."

While $22,000 for a bottle of Speyside may seem like a lot, there have been some liquors that have far exceeded that. The high price tag could be because the liquor was produced in an extremely limited run, because it has gone unopened for hundreds of years, or simply because the bottle has been "blinged out" beyond the point of ridiculousness.

Whatever the reason, however, these liquors command a high price - and demand is out there in spite of it.


L'or De Jean Martell Cognac

Since its founding in 1715, Martell has been producing cognacs for the discriminating palate. All of its bottles are of the highest quality, and none of them cheap. The company's most extravagantly priced cognac is L'Or de Jean Martell.

This rare cognac is double-distilled, and subjected to a long maturation process in oak barrels. If that sounds appealing, a 750ml bottle can be purchased at the Park Avenue Liquor Shop for $4,200.


Macallan Fine & Rare Scotch Whisky

Macallan's Fine & Rare Collection is the cream of this centuries-old distillers' inventory. In some cases, these whiskeys date back to the 1920s, and they fetch high prices from collectors and connoisseurs.

In December, the Signature BC Liquor Store in Vancouver, British Columbia secured 12 bottles, dating from 1945 to 1989. Prices ranged from $3,000 to over $17,000 per bottle.

Wray and Nephew Vintage Rum

J. Wray and Nephew is a Jamaican rum manufacturer with modestly priced products. A 750ml bottle of Wray & Nephew Overproof can be purchased at the Park Avenue Liquor Shop for $25. Well within the average budget, right?

Not exactly. According to BBC News, 12 unmarked bottles dating back to the 1940s were discovered in the company's warehouse during a 2003 inventory. These bottles contained rum that, in some cases, included blends made in 1915. One bottle displayed at a 2006 rum festival in London drew a whopping $48,000 price tag, based solely on its rare pedigree.


Louis XIII Black Pearl Cognac

Remy Martin once manufactured exactly 358 bottles of Louis XIII Black Pearl Cognac, and they quickly sold out. Yet in the brief time in which they were available, one could walk into the Rose Club in New York City's landmark Plaza Hotel, and order a glass of the exceptional liquor.

The price for a single drink? An eye-popping $2,500, according to a 2008 article in The New York Daily News. One might assume that even a rich mogul would think twice about spending that much on a glass of booze: the article estimated that there were 32 pours in the 1.75 liter bottle, bringing its value to $80,000.


Tequila Ley .925

Tequila is more frequently associated with wild poolside partying than high-end collecting. Indeed, even the upscale Park Avenue Liquor Shop sells the stuff for as little as $15 a bottle. However, when it's a one-of-a-kind Aztec Passion Limited Edition from Mexico's Tequila Ley .925, money is no object.

In 2006, the tequila was encased in over four pounds of gold and platinum, and sold to a private collector for $225,000. The name of the collector, who was based in the U.S., was not disclosed.
 

flez007

Member Sponsor
Aug 31, 2010
2,915
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Mexico City
This relates in some way to expensive faceplates/marketing uplifts with just average quality components inside some (very few) hi-end gear.

There is no way a tequila bottle can have that price except if it was taken from the hands of King Moctezuma while he was turtured by Cortes to "spill the beans"!
 

Peter Breuninger

[Industry Expert] Member Sponsor
Jul 20, 2010
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Shhhshhh, and they are complaining on the Air Force One thread about prices!
 

WLVCA

Member Sponsor
Nov 2, 2012
3,911
2,374
1,395
Tucson
Conspicuous consumption -

...the acquisition and display of expensive items to attract attention to one's wealth or to suggest that one is wealthy.

...the purchase of goods or services for the specific purpose of displaying one's wealth.

(I lifted the definitions from the web)

My own definition is that an individual buys and displays expensive baubles to convince themselves and others of their self-worth. At some level insecurity plagues us all.

Luxury marketers in many product categories prey upon this human weaknesses....watches, cars, clothing, alcohol, real estate, boats, airplanes....yes, even audio gear.

Bling sells!

Of course the consumer of such goods has many ready explanations to estabish the relative value of said goods.

The very definition of consumerism....I am as guilty as the next person.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Conspicuous consumption -

...the acquisition and display of expensive items to attract attention to one's wealth or to suggest that one is wealthy.

...the purchase of goods or services for the specific purpose of displaying one's wealth.

(I lifted the definitions from the web)

My own definition is that an individual buys and displays expensive baubles to convince themselves and others of their self-worth. At some level insecurity plagues us all.

Luxury marketers in many product categories prey upon this human weaknesses....watches, cars, clothing, alcohol, real estate, boats, airplanes....yes, even audio gear.

Bling sells!

Of course the consumer of such goods has many ready explanations to estabish the relative value of said goods.

The very definition of consumerism....I am as guilty as the next person.

your signature line Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered pretty much sums up your above post
 

WLVCA

Member Sponsor
Nov 2, 2012
3,911
2,374
1,395
Tucson
Well, living in Southern California you get to see a lot of conspicuous consumption...and the downside, too.

I know some folks who live on the West Side who are all about what they buy and the logos. If I drive 10 miles down the road to Calabasas, more of the same.

I am sure Newport Beach, etc. in Orange County its similar.

I've had several vendors ask me why I don't drive a Mercedes. In their minds the car represents success. My reply is always the same - do you want me to pay for the car or pay my invoices from your company.

One of the best stories is when a vendor showed up in my parking lot with a brand new BMW 7 Series, still had dealer tags.

He came in to beg me to pay some invoices early as he was strapped for cash.

I told him next time he should park the BMW down the street before he came in looking for me to subsidize his lifestyle. He filed for bankruptcy 6 months later

Out here there are plenty of folks who, once your pierce the facade, there's not much else there.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good, solid folks here, too.

I'm sure its similar in other parts of the country but its definitely pervasive here.
 

cjfrbw

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
3,323
1,314
1,730
Pleasanton, CA
The New Yorker has some entertaining articles about hi end booze fraud, and many of the bamboozlers (bamboozers?) and the bamboozled (bamboozed?). CSI Las Vegas just had an episode on it. There is as much art to faking vintage wine as to making the real thing. Rich marks begging to be swindled and the fake, pedigreed experts ready to take them.

Apparently, there are wealthy people who have cellars full of fake vintage wine that cost them millions of dollars who are too embarrassed to admit that they were swindled and just roll it out as if it never happened.
 

GaryProtein

VIP/Donor
Jul 25, 2012
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NY
I enjoy wine and liquor, but any bottle of liquor over $200 or wine over $100 that I have to pay for is wasted on me since I do not have that great an appreciation for it.
 
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ack

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
May 6, 2010
6,774
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Boston, MA
Does anyone travel through Heathrow? You'll usually find some very expensive scotches, £20-60K
 

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