Some people just know how to party, as seen in this crazy bar tab (reportedly belonging to LeBron James) from Vegas a few weeks ago, but Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban isn’t gonna get showed up by LeBron on the court or at the bar. To celebrate his team winning the NBA Finals, Cuban spent $90,000 on a very large bottle of Ace of Spades Champagne. How big is it? It’s 30 liters big and known as a Melchizedek, which is the equivelent to 40 normal sized bottles of Champagne. On top of the huge price tag, he left a $20,000 tip. No big deal, right? Probably not when you’re ranked 459th on the “World’s Richest People” list, according to Forbes.
How the monster bottle of bubbly was delivered.
Dirk drinking from the massive bottle.
Last year, Gordon Macphail stunned the world when they released the world’s oldest single malt whisky, the Scottish 70 year old Mortlach in their Generations Series. Now, they’re at it again, this time with a 70 year old Glenlivet as part of the Gordon and Macphail Glenlivet Decades collection which includes five decades worth of Glenlivet from 1954, 1963, 1974, 1980 and 1991. The collection as a whole can be purchased for $4,700 or by the bottle individually for $160-$2100 depending on the age and rarity of the particular bottle.
CNN has released a report following up on four months of research into complaints from Atlanta residents about high water bills.
According to CNN:
Residents throughout Atlanta are outraged by hundreds, even thousands of dollars in monthly spikes in their water bills, and have questioned the legitimacy of the charges for years. Now, they’re demanding answers.
“I thought we were sinking in a hole of water,” said Debbi Scarborough. “It scared me to death. I thought we had a major leak when I got the bill.”
Over two months last summer, her family’s monthly water bill, shot up to $1,805 In July and then $1,084 in August, leaving a balance due of more than $3,000. She said in the past her bill has averaged $200 to $250.
Wait, they’ve been questioning the legitimacy of these charges for years? Awkward. It gets better, with CNN saying, “The city installed a device on [Debbi Scarborough’s] meter to track daily usage.” So a meter to meter the meter. Isn’t a meter fundamentally a device to track daily usage? That, ladies and gentlemen, appears to be the problem. A new, futuristic metering system was installed five years back with hopes of automating the metering process. Fast forward to fail city and a lot of pissed off Atlanta residents.
$77,000. That’s a lot of dollars. It’s also the winning bid for a 237-year-old bottle of wine. The vin jaune (French for “yellow wine”) was purchased by Swiss aficionado Pierre Chevrier on behalf of an amateur wine group. The late harvest Savagnin grapes were harvested by Anatoile Vercel under King Louis XVI and it would then pass through eight generations of the Marmier family in eastern France, where the bottle sat patiently in a cellar. The bottle was only expected to go for $13,500-22,000 but it reached an incredible $77,000.
It’s 2011. To many, it’s just another year. For those really into beer, it’s the year Sam Adams
Utopias is released. Released every odd year since 2003, Utopias is the world’s strongest naturally fermented beer. “But what about the beaver that had the 110 proof bottle of beer in it??” First of all, it was either a squirrel or a stoat, depending on which of the eleven bottles produced you saw. Second, that was achieved through ice distillation, which essentially is freezing alcohol to where the water freezes and separates and the alcohol left behind is a more concentrated product than what was started with, which they do repeatedly until they get the desired strength. Sam Adams, however, manages to achieve a staggering 27% alcohol by volume beer all at the hands of yeasts that are typically reserved for wine and champagne, along with ale yeast.
Utopias itself is brewed using traditional methods and is a blend of several malts and three variety of Noble hops; Spalt Spalter, Hallertau Mittelfrueh, and Tettnang Tettnanger — and it is then blended and aged in a variety of different barrels. Sam Adams uses some fairly obscure barrels, some of which have been filled holding liquids for as long as 18 years before being blended into the final product. This year’s batch was finished in sherry casks from Spain and Madeira and port casks from Portugal, all of which gives it tremendous depth and flavor. Continue Reading »
Just when you thought Sanrio had exhausted the world market by putting its Hello Kitty label on anything and everything possible, the Japanese cartoon character has finagled its way into the realm of fine beverage. And in true Hello Kitty fashion, the company has put its face on a simple and basic commodity (water), and turned it into a cash cow. Continue Reading »
When I was a kid, I was intrigued by the metal detector commercial that always ran during cartoons. You all know the one I’m talking about. The pudgy guy who says, “She’s proud of all the weight I’ve lost.” That line, to me, competes for cheesiest commercial line ever, but it wasn’t enough to throw me off the scent of gold bullion lying just beneath the surface of my backyard. The dream eventually faded after digging massive holes in the yard and coming up with nothing, but I’m still captivated with the idea of buried treasure.
You expect to hear about coins, skeletons, and bottles, but fine beverage? Yes friends, some Swedish divers, while exploring a wreck about 200 feet down in the Baltic Sea, found 30 bottles of Champagne. The fizzy stuff is believed to date back to 1780 and was part of cargo headed to those boozehounds, the Russians (one theory is that the Champagne was part of a consignment to Peter the Great sent by King Louis XVI). Continue Reading »
Tequila Herradura has announced the launch of its exclusive “Buy-the-Barrel” program, which is giving tequila lovers the opportunity to order their very own Herradura Double Barrel Reposado with personalized labels — including your name, the bottle number and the bottling date.
Price per barrel is roughly $10,000 and includes approximately 240 personalized bottles of specially crafted tequila aged for an extra month in a hand-picked barrel. After bottling, the barrel itself is then varnished, branded and shipped to its owner with a framed certificate of ownership.
Continue Reading »
