£50,000 Cognac Bottle Smashed By Clumsy Customer

A £50,000 cognac bottle (that’s $77,000 to most of our readers) has been smashed by a clumsy drinker, just days before it was about to be used in the world’s most expensive cocktail.

Judges from Guinness World Records were set to appear at the exclusive Playboy Club in Mayfair, West London to watch drinks supremo Salvatore Calabrese mix an ‘Old and Wise’ cocktail using a bottle of 1788 Clos de Griffier Vieux from his personal collection. The £50,000 cognac bottle works out at £5,050 ($7,800) a glass.

Alas, this world record just wasn’t meant to be: days before Calabrese was about to set his record by mixing the cocktail, a businessman who had sampled the 234-year-old £50,000 cognac elbowed the bottle clean off a table.

I assume what followed happened in ultra-slo-mo (my kingdom for a YouTube video of this), which was seemingly confirmed by a bartender at the club to TheEvening Standard:

“We all just froze, then it sunk in. I’ve been heartbroken. Not because of the value of the bottle, but because it is a piece of history that has been lost.”

Nevertheless, Calabrese seemed philosophical about his loss:

“Accidents happen. If I regret anything it is to have left the bottle on the table, but as a fellow connoisseur he wanted to appreciate what he was drinking.”

And the real sting in the tail? The moment the £50,000 bottle was opened, it automatically became uninsured. Ouch.

No word on whether a repour has been scheduled, but Calabrese could be tempted, I suspect – especially as he has a £1m ($1.54m) collection of spirits in his personal cellar.