can someone explain hyper-expensive beverages to me?

Cafe Society
1

I was in a local liquor store a few days ago, and on the top shelf behind the counter they had a bottle of something labeled “Louis XIII” which I assume is cognac. The price tag on it was just shy of $1800.

Who buys this stuff?

I mean, really. I readily admit that I’m not a fan of liquor in general, but I’m also not one of those people who think $4/fifth rotgut vodka is “just as good” as more expensive stuff. I just don’t see what you get by shelling out almost 2 grand on a bottle of cognac, other than the ability to tell people you have a bottle of cognac that cost almost 2 grand…

2

That’s pretty much it, right? The taste might BE worth that much to someone, but it’s obviously the bragging point that sells it.

3

Rappers.

At some point, it becomes about status rather than taste. Same goes for any luxury consumable.

4

Occam is calling. He wants his razor back.

5

Why does a local liquor store have a $1800 bottle of cognac in stock? It seems a little foolish considering how often liquor stores are held up. It’s not like it’ll be an impulse buy for someone.

6

You never know, maybe they sell a few bottles a year. Also, perhaps it also serves as a marketing gimmick.

7

it’s also in an area that doesn’t get a whole lot of hold-ups. not to mention that someone knocking over a liquor store isn’t there to boost the expensive hooch.

8

I’ve seen overpriced spirits, although not in that league, in my local supermarket and wondered the same. To my mind, the person with 4-figures to buy a bottle will go somewhere swanky to get it, rather than a local offy or supermarket. In Dublin city centre, there’s the Celtic Whiskey Store, which I imagine gets more than its fair share of highrollers dropping in to buy expensive, status-affirming tipples, but I doubt there are too many buyers for that stuff outside those circles. Some of the spirits in the 3-figure range I can kinda see might be bought as corporate gifts, big birthday or wedding gifts or just by someone who wants to treat themselves to the odd dram.

9

This. A Rolex does not cost five grand to manufacture. It costs significantly less than that. However, a Rolex does one thing that a cheaper watch does not: it says to someone looking at it “This guy (or girl) has lots of money to throw around.” It does this extremely well. The price tag is the function.

10

Slight hijack, if that’s ok, but how do products/brands position themselves as luxury? It all seems kinda arbitrary beyond the material costs and expertise in each artefact.

11

I’ve had $30 cognag that I buy myself and $300 that I didn’t. The expensive stuff was noticably better, but probably not something I would buy regularly even if it were in my budget.

I thoroughly agree than anything over the hundred dollar mark is solidly in the status symbol range rather than something to be bought because you enjoy giving your liver a workout.

The difference between cognag and a Rolex is that it does cost more to make. Generally the high dollar stuff has been sitting in a barrel somewhere for 25 years and warehousing does cost money simply because that space can’t be used to store anything else while the good stuff is aging.

12

There’s also gotta be a law of diminishing returns at work here. What’s the difference between a 25 year uberwine and a 25 year bottle of vinegar? You’d better hope you find out before you spend 25 years storing vinegar.

A $250,000 Ferrari is NOT $230,000 better than a $20,000 car, but it may, genuinely, cost $80,000 more to make. (the rest being marketing, hookers, and blow.)

13

Our local county liquor store has a similar display case of super expensive (Remy Martin?) cognacs going up to $ 3000 and we are not a geographically high end area.

I’m honestly wondering if those bottles are actually filled with real spirits at all or if they are just display bottles.

14

Ferraris are not factory equipped with hookers and blow. Those are after market accessories.

15

You need to see the movie Cocktil. Only then will you be able to comprehend Louie Treize.

16

I was unclear…it’s not the OWNER’S hookers and blow, it’s the DEALERSHIP’S Hookers and Blow.

They have a different idea of what constituted a “Ride and Drive” event.

17

Up to a certain level, you get what you pay for. Dom Perrignon is definitely better than the usual bottle of champagne.

But there’s a point when the extra money has nothing to do with quality or flavor and everything to do with impressing other people.

18

Moving from MPSIMS to Cafe Society.

19

I figured this thread would be about $5 energy drinks.

When Coke was $.60 a can, RedBull shows up with an 8 oz can, selling for $2. I figured there’d be no way in hell they’d be successful.

Now your Whole, Extra Hot Macciato No Whip is the same price you’ll pay for lunch, and has nearly the same number of calories, and you can get triple size, double strength RedBull Cola for $5 in some cities (I’m lookin at you, Las Vegas!)

20

Indeed. As far as I can tell, if one was to graph money spent along the x axis, and taste along the y axis, your resulting graph for most liquors would have the same shape as graphing f(x) = log(x), i.e. your improvements in taste would rise rapidly until some point, and then the curve would start to flatten out. (although the graph would start at the origin, and not pass through (1,0))

http://www.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/phisci/archives/Images/logx.jpg

I’m suspecting that the super-expensive cognac would be far out to the right, and that the taste difference would be tiny relative to the stuff not far after the curve tips over and starts flattening out.

The real trick is to find those drinks where the graph just starts to flatten out some- that’s your best bang for your buck.