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It’s no secret, people love to drink. Whether they’re celebrating or wallowing in their misery, there is always an excuse and a reason to pop open a bottle of bubbly or relax at the bottom of a bottle. As far as celebrations go, the significance of the event must be HUGE to pop open anything on this list. Most of us can’t afford to forego paying two months rent to splurge on an outlandishly priced bottle of booze, though some of us would like to. Alas, we’d rather buy a car, or a house.
For some people, it’s different. Booze enthusiasts and aficionados, like art collectors, find a high value in owning something unique and distinct. Some people will shell out thousands to get what they want.
The ten bottles priced on this list are ordered in regards to their cost, and to what type of alcohol group they belong in: liqueur, beer, gin, rum, red wine, white wine, cognac, tequila, whiskey, and vodka.
10) Gin - Nolet’s Reserve ($700)
Coming in first on our list is gin. Nolet’s Reserve is a mythical gin wrapped in a golden label. Inside is one of the most carefully distilled gins the world has known. Nolet’s Reserve is a 104.6 proof unaged spirit in a 750ml bottle, crafted by the Nolet family of Nolet Spirits Worldwide, based out of Schiedam, Holland. Particularly, the gin was the brainbaby of the the man Carolus Nolet Sr. The family has been distilling since 1691, so they have quite the history. The family is also responsible for the popular and expensive vodka brand Ketel One. The Reserve has a golden hue and includes saffron as a prime botanical. It has been called “delicate,” “soft,” and “complex” for being such a high-proof gin.
9) Beer - Samuel Adams Utopias ($900)
Nail Brewing’s Antarctic Nail Ale was originally the most expensive beer, selling at auction for $800. That was until a bottle of Samuel Adams Utopias was recently sold on eBay for $900, taking the crown and the Guinness Book of World Records title. It comes in an unbelievably fancy copper bottle, and its ingredients include four types of noble hops. The mixture was matured in wine barrels for over half a year. It pours dark brown and has a lot of warmth and sweetness. It’s been claimed that only 3,000 such beers have been brewed.
8) Rum - Wray and Nephew Jamaican Rum ($51,000)
A big leap up in price from our last two contenders, this rum was bottled in the 1940s by the Jamaican distillers Wray and Nephew. Some of the blends involved go back as far as 1915. The bottle was displayed at Europe’s first rum festival, RumFest, in 2013. There are four unopened bottles of the spirit in the world. After Mai Tai cocktail popularity drained Wray and Nephew’s rum supplies in the 1930s, the distillery changed their production methods to keep up with demand. It’s doubtful that anyone will open this bottle in the near future, but if they do, they would get a chance to taste the Mai Tai as it was originally planned.
7) White Wine - 1811 Château d'Yquem ($117,000)
The most expensive white wine ever sold is over 200 years old, so of course it is not drinkable.But collectable? You bet. It was bought by the French collector Christian Vanneque. An interesting fact, this bottle broke the record for most expensive white wine exactly 200 years after it was bottled, in 2011. The steep price more than doubles the former white wine champion, a 1787 wine of the same name that sold for $56,000. Both bottles were sold from the same company, aptly named The Antique Wine Company.
6) Red Wine - 1947 Cheval-Blanc Bordeaux ($304,375)
This rare, six-liter bottle of wine sold to a private collector for a whopping $304,375 in 2010, beating out the former record holder, an 1869 Château Lafite Rothschild that sold on a Sotheby’s auction earlier in the year. setting the world record price for a single bottle sold. It is the only known bottle in the Imperial format for the Saint-Emilion vintage. It has been called by wine experts who have tasted it “Without a doubt one of the greatest Bordeaux of all time.” A pretty steep statement, but at over three hundred grand, it’d better be pretty damn good. Apparently, 1947 was a very hot year, which made the wine of that year very aromatic with mature fruits.
5) Vodka - Diva Vodka ($1,060,000)
The rest of the booze on this list are noted for their elaborate, ridiculously expensive bottles more than the contents of those bottles. Diva Vodka is produced by Blackwood Distillers out of Scotland. It is ice-filtered, then filtered through Nordic Birch charcoal, then through a fine sand of crushed diamonds. They also put a plethora of 48 diamonds and precious gems IN the bottle. So, this vodka is diamond-distilled and it has diamonds in it. It’s a glorious bottle of liquor, but in the end, it’s really about the drink INSIDE the bottle, isn’t it? Maybe not for some collectors.
4) Tequila - Tequila Ley .925 La Ley del Diamante ($1,547,880)
Another outlandishly lavish bottle comes in the form of Ley .925's La Ley del Diamante, or “The Diamond Sterling.” With a bottle that resembles a conch shell, this 100% agave, extra aged tequila (three, six, or nine years) was hand-blown and glassed by 32 Mexican craftsmen. The bottle was then dipped into four kilos of pure platinum and sterling silver before finally being riddled with 6,000 certified brilliant-cut diamonds into the metal. Talk about an expensive night out.
3) Cognac - Henri IV Cognac Grande Champagne ($1,946,617)
It makes sense that one of the most expensive liquors for “regular,” bar-friendly consumption would be so high on this list. This liquor was released by Ley .925, the same company who possesses the most expensive tequila. The Dudognon heritage cognac, which has been produced since 1776, is aged for over 100 years, after which it comes in at 82 proof. It’s bottle resembles the conch shell “Diamond Sterling,” except this one is dipped in 24K gold and sterling platinum, and 6,500 diamonds (500 more than the tequila). The diamonds are all crafted by the well-known master-jeweler, Jose Davalos.
2) Whisky - Isabella’s Islay ($6,000,000)
The world’s most expensive whisky comes from the Luxury Beverage Company of the United Kingdom (another appropriately named company to be doling out this outrageous alcohol). They are also the providers of the world’s most luxurious non-alcoholic drink, Ruwa. The shiny bottle flaunts more than 8,500 diamonds, almost 300 rubies to make up the title on the bottle, and the equivalent of two bars of white gold on the English Crystal decanter. Inside, the Islay whisky is an old single malt. There is also a Special Addition for $740,000 if you’re feeling cheap.
1) Liqueur - D’Amalfi Limoncello Supreme ($44,000,000)
Who would have thought that a liqueur would hold the title for most expensive booze in the world? Well, just days after Luxury Beverage Company announced the Isabella’s Islay as the most expensive luxury beverage in the world, the Liverpool-based Stuart Hughes and Italian distillery Antica Distilleria Russo teamed up and introduced the public to the D’Amalfi Limoncello Supreme at a whopping $44 million. The bottle boasts three single cut flawless diamonds totaling 13 carats, as well as one of the world’s rarest diamonds, a huge single-cut 18.5-carat diamond. The liqueur is made from fermented lemons, sugar, and alcohol, with a sweet, distinctive flavor. Just don’t throw away the bottle once you finish it!
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