More money than sense

This courtesy of Luxist:

The San Francisco Chronicle has an article about Jacques Bezuidenhout, “chief mixologist” at Harry Denton’s Starlight Room, who has created a new range of four "million dollar cocktails" with prices ranging from $80 to $650. For starters, Bezuidenhout recommends the $80 “Heavenly Dram” which mates Macallan’s 25-year-old single-malt Scotch, Garvey Pedro Ximenez Sherry 1860, lemon juice and honey-flavored syrup.

From the actual SF Chronicle article Just what San Francisco needed -- a $650 cocktail:

A better selling point is that Heavenly Dram showcases the Macallan's 25- year-old single-malt Scotch.  The depth of character  --  smoke, citrus, dried fruit, cloves and toffee --  makes it a difficult spirit to blend, yet Bezuidenhout has discovered a worthy partner: Garvey Pedro Ximenez Sherry 1860. It tastes and smells like a perfect raisin, and the sweetness counteracts the smokiness of the whisky beautifully. He mixes the whisky and sherry with lemon juice and honey-flavored simple syrup, chills the drink ever so slightly, and serves it in an oversize martini glass.

Macallan 25 year old (generally around $400) is an expression I have not had the pleasure of trying.

WERE I to try it, it wouldn't be covered up by lemon juice and sugar water. Nor would I take a well-sherried single malt and add sherry. And in a martini glass no less.

It's this kind of silliness that is created, not to advance the category, but instead to give an outlet for middle-aged men with too much money to try to impress their match.com 20-something date. Why else would they be at the Starlight Room? (Disclosure: I lived in San Francisco during the dot com hey-day and the Starlight Room was well known as a place for gold-diggers to land a sugar daddy).

I didn't even have to read the full article to come to my conclusion, but there it is in black & white:

So who's buying these drinks?

"Exactly who you'd expect," says Bezuidenhout. "Mostly celebrities, musicians and wealthy men looking to impress their dates."

So far, he says, only about half of the people who order the cocktails actually care about the ingredients.

"It's a status thing, and most people can't afford to indulge."

Half???? Give me a break. I guess that anyone who KNOWS what Macallan 25 tastes like wouldn't order some atrocity like this.

Woo, one of the coolest bartenders in the world, (at Buckhead's in Richmond, VA) and a lady who knows her Scotch, told me that she sees the same thing. People going down price list and ordering the Balvenie 1971, simply because it is the most expensive Scotch on the list. And then asking for it to be mixed with something. Jeez.

More money then sense. A lot more.

On the other hand I'm all for taking advantage of people who buy a drink on price alone, so why not charge them the $80, but use Johnnie Walker Red instead? These idiots would never know.

 

Comments

[Redleg]

You got that straight. Those people are friggin' heathens.

Cool blog, by the way.

[Mike M]

I was fortunate enough to get a bottle of Macallan 25 year as a birthday gift many years ago from my wife when it cost about $125. It was wonderful, and I savored it over quite a long time (finally finishing it the day Jerry Garcia died). I can't believe it's so expensive these days, definately a treat I will not soon be enjoying again unless my economic status changes considerably.

I agree that Johnnie Walker ought to be substituted for those boneheads who mix this whiskey with all that other nonesense. Sheesh.