Wine, liquor, and spirits connoisseurs have long been willing to show their appreciation for their favorite bottles by plunking down hundreds of thousands of dollars — even as much as several million dollars — for those rare and unusual finds. It’s why one collector was willing to spend $558,000 at auction for one of the few bottles of Romanée-Conti wine made in 1945. Another collector wrote a check for a whopping $2.7 million for one of the 40 bottles of Macallan 1926 single malt whiskey, aged for 60 years before being bottled in 1986. But would someone be willing to pay millions for a tequila that normally sells for $70? Perhaps if the bottle was made of gold and platinum and encrusted with more than 4,100 diamonds they would.
Ley .925, a tequila brand produced by Hacienda La Capilla in Jalisco, Mexico, is hoping to best its own Guinness World Record for the most expensive bottle of tequila ever sold. That bottle sold to a collector in 2006 for $225,000 and was also made of platinum and white gold. The tequila itself — a 100% blue agave that had been aged for six years — was worth $2,500, and only 33 bottles of that tequila were made. The price point for the new world record-setting bottle of Ley .925 Diamante is a cool $3.5 million.
A premium price for extra anejo
While it’s not clear when it was put up for sale, the diamonds scattered across the newer, blinged-out bottle total 18.5 carats. Inside is an extra anejo tequila that has been aged in white oak barrels for seven years. The company hasn’t published many details about the tequila in this extravagant bottle, but it does offer an extra anejo in a standard bottle for approximately $70, which is moderately priced for an aged tequila. Clase Azul, known for its distinctive hand-painted ceramic bottle and premium-priced tequila, sells an extra anejo in a limited edition bottle for approximately $2,300. Patron’s extra anejo is around $100.
Other brands have sought attention by dripping their delicacies in diamonds and gold. The world’s most expensive vodka, priced at $1.3 million, was stolen. The bottle, made with diamonds, silver, and gold, was eventually found, but the vodka itself was missing. New York’s Serendipity 3 kept its frozen hot chocolate a cultural phenomenon with a $250,000 version served in a gilded chocolate sphere topped with edible diamond dust, 23-carat gold leaf, and a diamond ring designed by jeweler Lorraine Schwartz. And, although the world’s most expensive burger was made with Wagyu beef costing $50 to $200 per pound, the Oregon restaurant that made it decided to gild the lily by covering the bun in gold leaf.
