Liquor

The culinary world of the rich and famous is fascinating, in regards to the entrees, drinks, desserts, and of course, the outrageous prices.  As culinary explorers, join us on an epic journey through some of the world’s most expensive entrée, beverage and dessert items.  It is nothing but the best for our fans.

This is definitely not a round you want to pick up the tab for-because a single solitary bottle of Russo-Baltique Vodka, yes vodka, has a staggering price tag of approximately $1.3 million smackaroos.  I know we covered this last year, but we are still astounded and felt a compulsion (and possibly revulsion) to revisit the subject. What can we say, money fascinates us.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend and diamond filtered vodka is just best. Diamond Standard Vodka is the fresh luxury vodka that may just sweep major markets around the globe. Diamond Beverages, LLC has perfected the world's most expensive vodka filtration process and is presently launching the ultra-premium vodka into major U.S cities. Launched in Miami last week and we got to taste, touch and feel Diamond Standard. Obviously the premium vodka will be kept in the best restaurants, nightclubs and hotels on South Beach, think Prime 112,  Mokai and the Fountainebleau.

Diamond Standard Vodka is produced in Poland, where vodka was originally discovered. Made at the legendary Polmos Siedlce Distillery, using four-times distilled, fine Polish rye and pure aquifer water. The vodka is then continuously filtered through 600 DeBeers cut diamonds for seven days. Diamond Beverages CEO Louis Amoroso told it like it is, "Our goal with Diamond Standard Vodka is to produce the finest vodka in the world. Consumers have had nowhere to go but sideways in the 'Ultra-Premium' category for some time. For those who want to try the best, we have created a vodka at an entirely new level and established a new 'Diamond Standard' - luxury."

The best tasting luxe vodka, of course, has to look the part. Ergo, Diamond Standard Vodka is bottled in "perfume grade" Saverglass; and then beautified with a 25 mm Swarovski crystal, which overhangs the bottle. Diamond Standard Vodka is crystallized, chic and yours for about $100 per.  Diamond Beverages would like to remind you that, "when enjoying Diamond Standard Vodka, please keep your standards. Drink responsibly." Or just keep it classy San Diego!

Post by Imagine Lifestyles Luxury Rentals

Father's day is in a few weeks and 10 Cane has done ya'll a favor. If you don't know what to get dad, go for the 10 Cane personalized gift box. The box is lacquered white, with 10 Cane's signature orange inside and features a 1 liter bottle of 10 Cane premier rum. The best part, you can engrave the gift box for a more intimate touch.  Face it, a bottle of something is the easiest gift to give and unfailingly goes to good use.  What's more, 10 Cane is the best of the best as far as rums go. The  rum is made from pressing the juices out of virgin Trinidadian Sugar cane, the only rum that presses virgin cane. Plus, 10 Cane is owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), which is the largest luxury group in the whole wide world.  Make Father's Day gifting painless this time and just get an engraved gift set of 10 Cane, $65 per.

Check out our fleet of Exotic Rental Cars

Post by Imagine Lifestyles Luxury Living

Parties can be planned all the way down to customized chocolate M&M's. And now you can design your own champagne bottle for your next fete. Moet & Chandon will let you customized your own 750 ml or 1.5 liter bottle of champagne with, what else, Swarovski crystals.

It isn't the first time the duo has teamed up. This time you can add a touch of sparkle to your sparkling champagne. How cliche? Anyhow with MyMoet you can write whatever you'd like on the bottle from a congratulations, birthday name, to a charity event cause. Any which way you like it, do it with Moet & Chandon.  

No offense ladies but we may have found liqueur on par with your wine spritzers. It seems former vice president of marketing for Campari/SKYY spirits wanted to go in a greener direction. Dave Racicot started his own eco-friendly line of organic liqueurs. Thatcher's Organic Artisan Liqueurs come in eight flavors: cucumber, elderflower, apple spice ginger, pomegranate, tres chili, dark chocolate, chipotle and blueberry. The liqueurs are USDA Organic certified and packaged in lightweight, recyclable glass bottles, with recyclable labels. Thatcher's Organic Artisan Liqueurs will retail for less than $25 a bottle and are being sold in California now. Ladies of Orange County, California, we saw the Bravo show "The Real Housewives of Orange County," we know how much you drink and all about the charity galas you throw. Get excited about eight flavors of liqueur and going green with Thatcher's!

Alcohol has been known to pack on pounds but there's a way around alcohol-induced weight gain. Rather than give up happy hour, change your drink order to a cocktail with less calories. Here are some low calorie cocktails that will keep you looking sexy in your swimsuit all summer. Salut to guilt free partying this summer! 

Bellini: 123 calories
3/4 small flute champagne, 1/4 flute peach puree

Mojito: 132 calories
1.5 oz. rum (try Ten Cane rum), .5 oz. lime juice, 2 tsp. sugar, and crushed mint with ice

Sour-apple Martini: 160 calories
2.5 oz. sour mix and .75 oz. each vodka and sour apple liqueur

Tequila Sunrise: 209 calories
6.5 oz. orange juice, 1 oz. tequila (try Patron Platinum tequila) and a splash of grenadine with ice

Donald Trump claims “now” is the time to buy property, if only it were that easy.  Many who still have the money to buy “now” can’t find financing. If financing isn’t stopping you, consider yourself lucky and look to South Beach. Right now in South Beach properties are being sold for way less than asking price.  Take, for instance, luxury building Murano at Portofino, located at 1000 S Pointe Drive in the South Beach area of Miami Beach. Where a penthouse unit with an asking price of $12,000,000 just sold for $7,600,000. The spacious three bedrooms, five and a half bath unit is just one example of what’s going on in South Beach, there are lots more just like this. The question is, when will the real estate market finally hit bottom? The question is tough to answer but it seems like buyers are moving towards the beach. Activity is gradually picking up, more inquiries, and more viewings, will sooner or later translate into more sales.

If you don't know jack about luxury vodka then fake it until you make it.  Below is a list of the top five most ultra luxe vodka bottles in the world, in no particular order. School yourself and learn how to drink with the big boys.

DIVA Premium Vodka
Diva Premium Vodka is triple-distilled and made with the finest spring water by Blackwood Distillers in Scotland. First filtered through the finiest Nordic birch charcoal, then through fine sand crushed diamonds and gemstones. By the end DIVA is filtered down to 0.5 microns, which is a standard of purity that few luxury vodkas rival. Judges at the World Spirits Festival in Australia explained the taste as  “extraordinarily smooth with a long, luscious finish” and at the San Francisco Spirits Competition judges deemed DIVA, "vodka with attitude."

In addition to its clean, fresh taste, DIVA bottles come with, well, a shiny marketing hook.  Inside each bottle is a tube that contains a selection of fine jewels. A standard off-the-shelf bottle has cubic zarconia, topaz and amethyst Swarovski crystals, nothing to write home about. However, more premium bottles can be customized to include precious jewels. DIVA invites affluent clients to create their own unique jeweled bottle of vodka. No two bottles are ever alike and a 750 ml bottle of DIVA vodka ranges from $100 upwards to, oh, $1,000,000. Make a bracelet, its gimmick-y but they all are.

Snow Queen Vodka
You've probably never heard of Snow Queen Vodka but that's the point. Snow Queen isn't the best-known vodka but Imbibe Magazine called it the Best Overall Vodka in 2007. Made from organic wheat grown in the Russian Steppes, along the heart of the Silk Route in Eastern Europe, with artesian spring water from the foothills of the Himalayas. The Kazakhstan distillers use only Kazakh birch charcoal in the distillation process which produces one of the smoothest vodkas in the world. The premium bottle has been adorned with 10 gold, seven silver and eight bronze medals for excellence. Snow Queen is ultra rare and marketed only by word of mouth, a 750 ml bottle is $70.

Kauffman Vodka
In the world of vodka it is rare to speak of vintages, a term conventionally reserved for wine. Nonetheless, Russian businessman Mark Kauffman wanted to produce a vodka that would rank among the best in the world. Kauffman produced Kauffman Vodka which is said to be on par with some of the world's finest wines. Kauffman Vodka is the first vodka to be produced only in vintage years when the wheat crop is at its best. Even at best, Kauffman bottles are only produced in small batches to ensure high quality.

Made in one of Russia's top distilleries, the process is strictly controlled to the highest standards. Kauffman Vodka is filtered through birch charcoal and quartz sand, as many as 14 times. Keep in mind that most high-end commercial vodkas only go through three to five distillation processes. Having only been produced since 2000, Kauffman Vodka is already known as one of the best vodkas on the spirit market. By 2004 Kauffman luxury vodka had won two gold medals of three in the International Wine & Spirit Challenge. A bottle of Kauffman Vodka is $150.

Ultimat Vodka
Not to be outdone by the Russians, the Poles have been working majorly hard to produce the world's best luxury vodka. The Polish Ultimat Vodka experience begins with a hand-blown cobalt blue and crystal bottle, that comes with a crystal and cork stopper. It takes 24 protracted hours to produce a single bottle of Ultimat Vodka and you only pay $140, that's a bargain. Ultimat Vodka is made from a blend of potato, wheat and rye which makes it the only vodka in the world to combine all three ingredients. Like the ingredients, the distillation process is also one-of-a kind. Ultimat Vodka uses a ceramic and candle filtration processes that allegedly take out all of the impurities. The Ultimat master distiller oversees every production process and personally guarantees all elements of the vodka. What's left is a luxury vodka with a smooth, rich taste and a clean aftertaste.

Gold Flakes Supreme Vodka
Gold is a standard and the marketing hook behind Gold Flakes Supreme Vodka. The name may not sound luxe but this French vodka is high-end enough to stand up to the best luxury brands in the world. Gold Flakes Supreme is quadruple-distilled with the best all-natural ingredients, like clear underground spring water. After distillation 24-karat edible gold flakes are mixed into the bottle. The result seems to awe people at cocktail parties, like fish to shiny hooks. While the point is taken, the French Vodka comes across as nouveau riche compared to the rest. A bottle of Gold Flakes Supreme Vodka is just $60, dazzle away!

These are five of the best bottles of luxury vodka on the market right now. The vodka brands come from all over the world and exemplify the highest standards of quality and class. Culture yourself, figure out which suits you best and order it from now on. Any one of the five will reaffirm high luxe statur.

When times get tough, people drink. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States reveal that sales for whiskey are up 4.3% by dollar value and 1.3% by volume in 2008. The last few years were all about top shelf vodka, tequila, and rum, but right now premium whiskey is the vital growth point among spirits.  Top shelf whiskeys like Johnny Walker Blue Label and bourbons like Maker's Mark are in hot demand. Bourbon, which is an American whiskey, has been distilled since the 18th century and is the key ingredient in many simple cocktails. You know, Whiskey Coke, Blue label on the rocks, all of which require no bartending skills. And as more people drink at home now then ever before, cocktails need to be simple and drinkable. What cocktails can you make with whiskey? 

For the 44th President,-elect a select bottle of Cognac. Hennessy got into the Barack Obama hoopla with a special edition bottle of cognac. The collector-bottle is cheap at $30 bucks.  If you're not into Barack Obama or Cognac, know that a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Thurgood Marshell College Fund which gives scholarships to kids attending historically Black colleges. If you're still not into Hennessy's 44th limited edition Cognac then you're most likely not human. A grand total of 180,000 Obama inspired Cognac bottles will me made available to the American people. You can get your hands on one namely in Washington, D.C, New York City, Maryland, Illinois and apparently, Georgia. Put up shot glasses ya'll and drink to "unlimited potential" as Hennessy says. Potential or not getting drunk makes everything better!

By now everybody probably has their New Years outfits and plans figured out but we still wanted to blog this one. Champagne and New Year's Even go together like  turkey and Thanksgiving. To take good care of your champagne this New Years opt for the Baccarat Moulin Rouge champagne cooler. The lavish all crystal cooler is 23 cm high. The interior is your call, either gold or silver. You can also choose the handles you want. The glam cooler is $3,456.76 and perfectly festive to bring in 2009 in serious style. Drink up!

Moët & Chandon will be bringing in 2009 with a sparkly bottle of bubbly and an unexpected undertaking signed-off by talented French designer Camille Toupet. Midnight Gold is an Imperial Crude Moët & Chandon thats comes with a luxe limited edition gold jacket-case.

The encasing is isothermal to preserve champagne at an ideal temperature. The functionality is appreciable but, then again, so is the actually aesthetic. The bottle case is made with the finest gold lambskin leather and decorated with hand-sewn swarovski crystals and gilded pearls. Last but not least, the “neck tie”, signature of Moët & Chandon bottles, can be pulled off the case to double as a Swarovski crystal and pearl cuff-bracelet. While the bracelet may be a bit tacky, it's not a bad marketing ploy.

Designer Camille Toupet illuminated Moet & Chandon's sense of celebration with Midnight Gold. Midnight Gold replicates the effervescence and preciosity of Moet & Chandon champagne, a tradition since 1743. Only 100 Midnight Gold by Camille Toupet bottles will be made. You can get yours at at Lavinia and Caves Augé in Paris or at Hédiard in Monaco. This bottle is the way to bring in a very happy and exclusive New Years Eve 2009.

People pop bottles of champagne for New Years, French billionaire, Bernard Arnault buys champagne companies. Arnault is the 14th richest person in the world with a net worth of $25.5 billion. He owns 47.5% of Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton or LVMH, which is the world's biggest luxury goods group.

Recently, LVMH bought the Montaudon champagne house for an undisclosed amount. The Moet Hennessy wine and spirits subdivision of LVMH will now have eight top-shelf champagne labels to maintain. Of which include, Dom Perignon, Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Ponsardin, Krug, Ruinart and Mercier.

The rundown on Montaudon, the champagne house was founded in 1891 by Auguste Louis Montaudon. The house has since remained a small family owned business. Employing only 29 people in Reims, the exclusive champagne spot. Montaudon champagnes are sold throughout more than 25 other countries. The champagne is of high quality and noted for its tea-like flavor and airy taste.

 The most recent statement from LVMH was by Moet Hennessy Chairman Christophe Navarre, who said, "The acquisition of Montaudon enables us to complete our portfolio of prestigious brands and to increase our champagne reserves. This corresponds with Moet Hennessy’s strategy to strengthen its worldwide leadership in the luxury wines and spirits sector." And there you go, LVMH already the world's largest luxury goods conglomerate adds one more to the mix. For the record, LVMH is the owner of about 60 sub-companies that each manage several prestigious brands. At what point does LVMH go for world domination? And Mr. Arnault, we would love to be you right now.

A small percentage of the world has been unaffected by the financial crisis or, at least, they are rich enough to never really feel it.  These are the people still spending money and the Krug champagne house is fully catering to them. Krug hosted the biggest Miami Art Basel party on Thursday at the Raleigh Hotel. They were pouring out their best bottles of champagne like it was cheaper than water. Krugis doing just fine and has introduced a new service that allows elite clients to personalize cases of Grand Cuvee. "The Krug On My Own Terms" case is a wooden encasement that on one side can be personalized with metal, mirror, or saddle leather with an inscription of choice. Could make a good gift this season and is sure to make Krug a little extra something, something. You can order your champagne case exclusively from Krug.