Houston’s downtown whiskey bar Reserve 101 made headlines two weeks ago when it announced it was the first bar in the United States to acquire a bottle of Glenmorangie Pride 1978 (photo below). The price? $750 for a single shot. This closely follows Reserve 101’s acquistion of a bottle of Glenmorangie 1963. Even at $550 a shot, the bottle sold out in just over two months.
That got us to wondering about other pricey bottles around town. We stopped by Anvil Bar & Refuge, which recently started a program called the “Break-Even Bottle.” One selection per month is offered by-the-shot divided evenly by the price Anvil purchased the bottle for.
The first offering is Highland Park 40. Even at $88.67 per shot, it’s still pricey. That’s right: Anvil bought the bottle for $2,166.95. (It retails for more than that — we found it for close to $2,500 retail online.) Anvil calculated the bottle to have 25 one-ounce shots, plus a .14 oz “no angel’s share” for proprietor Bobby Heugel. As of yesterday there were 10 to 12 shots left.
Also in Anvil’s collection is Black Tot Last Consignment Rum at $120 per shot and Laphroiag 25 at $50 a shot. Our bartender at Anvil said of the Laphroaig, “It’s an awesome Scotch. It’s not as peaty as the younger Laphroaig offerings and has mellowed quite a lot.”
The story of Black Tot Rum is perhaps the most interesting. The British Royal Navy used to issue a daily rum ration (called “the daily tot”) to sailors, starting in 1655. Previously, a beer ration was issued, but they switched to rum because it required less storage space. When drunkenness started becoming a problem, the rum was watered down.
In 1969, the Admiralty Board declared that a daily rum ration was no longer appropriate. The last day that a rum ration was issued was July 31, 1970. It would henceforth be known as “Black Tot Day.”
The last of that official Royal Naval Rum from 1970 was bottled and is sold now as Black Tot Last Consignment Rum. Look for this historically significant rum to be offered as a future “Break-Even Bottle” at Anvil.
Of course, spirits aren’t the only drink that gets rare and expensive. Wine is the other libation on which you can spend as much money as you care to. Steakhouses always keep some super-rare bottles for those business people and lottery winners who want to celebrate with their wallets. Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse’s most expensive bottle is the Romanée-Conti Controlée Grand Cru 2009 for the whopping price tag of $25,000. Three bottles of the same vintage were auctioned in 2013 for $24,000 each.
Wine from Romanée-Conti is some of the most sought-after and expensive in the entire world. It’s in Burgundy and holds a Grand Cru designation. In this context, consider: Assuming the restaurant got the wine at a similar price to the bottles that were auctioned, the restaurant is only doing a four percent markup. Many restaurants mark up wine 150 percent or more. In this case, though, due to the original cost of the bottle, theoretically the restaurant could make $1,000 on a single sale.
By the way, bars don’t have the market cornered when it comes to expensive spirits. Del Frisco’s also sells Macallan M Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky at $395 for one and a half-ounce pour. Its sister restaurant Sullivan’s Steakhouse has two expensive cognacs. Remy Martin Louis XIII is $270 for a one and a half-ounce pour; the same size shot of Hennessey Richard Extra Cognac sells for $245.
Should you be among the happy few who can afford a high-falutin’ experience: On November 15, Cullen’s in the Clear Lake area is opening a $38,000 bottle of The Balvenie Fifty, with a multi-course dinner and other Scotch pairings as well. The opportunity is limited to 12 guests. Malt master David Stewart, who bottled the whisky way back in 1963, will be present. Should you be interested in attending, take a local food journalist as a guest – er, I mean, call Cullen’s at 281-991-2000.
Probably the most important thing about ordering spirits or wine is to understand what, exactly, you’re buying. Earlier this week, an unfortunate man made national headlines for taking a server’s recommendation to buy a wine for “thirty-seven fifty.” The cost was $3,750, not $37.50 as he assumed. Look at the menu. Check the price in print with your own eyes or at least repeat the price you think you’re hearing to the server or sommelier. “You mean, thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents?” As the New York Post article says, don’t get cork-screwed.