A bartender’s dream of mixing the world’s most expensive cocktail has been shattered after its key ingredient, a £50,000 bottle of cognac, was accidentally smashed.
Drinks maestro Salvatore Calabrese was this week due mix the ‘Old and Wise’ cocktail - priced £5,050 a glass - at London’s exclusive Playboy Club under the watch of judges from Guinness World Records.
But his record-breaking attempt was dashed after a wealthy customer who ordered two glasses of the 1788 Clos de Griffier Vieux asked to study the bottle.
As the businessman and his companion finished their £5,000-a-glass drinks and rose from the table, the 234-year-old bottle was sent flying spilling the brandy across the club’s floor.
Mr Calabrese said: “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.”
The cognac expert, whose collection of antique spirits is valued at £1 million, said he had forgiven his friend, a regular at the club who perhaps understandably wishes to remain anonymous. The bottle was not insured because it had been opened.
Mr Calabrese said: “Accidents happen. If I regret anything it is to have left the bottle on the table, but as a fellow connoisseur he truly wanted to appreciate what he was drinking.”
Mr Calabrese’s antique spirits are kept under lock and key in a display cabinet in the bar. The base and neck of the shattered cognac bottle and are now on display alongside.
Now his record-breaking attempt bid is on hold as he looks for a replacement.
He said: “I did not want to serve the most expensive cocktail, but the oldest, and I also wanted it to taste divine.”
