It's your shout: A guide to the world's most indulgent (and expensive) drinks

HEADING out for a Friday drink but bored by the usual beer? Here's five drinks that are far from the average beverage, including Melbourne's own $12,500 'tipple'.

Joel Heffernan with The Winston at Club 23 in Melbourne.

HEADING out for a Friday after-work drink, but bored by the usual beer, wine, spirits and cider? Why not take a taste trip with us as we sample some of the world's most expensive and most indulgent drinks that are far from the average beverage.

THE WINSTON

Looking for a more up-market tipple? Got $12,500 to spend? You might like to consider buying a Winston, made exclusively at Melbourne Crown Casino's Club 23, and officially listed by Guinness as the world's most expensive cocktail.

Named after Winston Churchill, the concoction includes two nips of Cognac Croizet 1858 Cuvee Leonie cognac and a specially prepared garnish of chocolate and nutmeg soil.

The cognac which it uses is one of the most highly prized in the world: a bottle of it sold at auction earlier this year for $151,000.

SALVATORE'S LEGACY

THE Winston may have trumped this cocktail in the expense stakes, but it's still a whippersnapper when it comes to aged alcohol.

For this unique cocktail, London bar owner Salvatore Calabrese combined 40ml of Clos de Griffier Vieux Cognac from 1778, 20ml of Kummel Liqueur from 1770, 20ml circa of Dubb Orange Curacao from 1860, and a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters from the early 1900s. Combined age: 744 years. That's a drink that's been around a bit.

Salvatore's Legacy was priced at Pound5500 ($AU9492) - but its actual cost was a lot higher than that. Conde Nast Traveller reported that when Calabrese first attempted to create the drink, somebody dropped the original bottle of the cognac, worth Pound50,000 ($AU86,293). They say it's not worth crying over spilt milk, but crying over spilt aged cognac? Go right ahead.

Salvatore Calabrese pours a glass of Salvatore's Legacy. Picture: Leon Neal.

27.321

YOU'LL need to hop on a plane to Dubai to sample this drink, but with daily flights to the United Arab Emirates, you could theoretically jump on an early afternoon flight in Sydney or Melbourne and still catch up with a late-partying Friday night crowd in Dubai (after a fourteen hour flight). Simple, no?

The 27.321 is available only at the Skyview Bar at the Burj Al Arab and costs 27,321 dirham ($AU7968). Its built around a 55-year-old single malt whisky, together with dried fruit bitters, passionfruit sugar and ice cubes (made from water shipped in from the same distillery in Scotland where the whisky is made. As you do.) It's served in a Baccarat 18-karat gold glass, which the buyer gets to keep.

The Burj Al Arab in Dubai: the perfect place to sip your $8000 cocktail. Picture: Burj Al Arab.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

A DRINK fit for a Bond villain, this is one of many cocktails available around the world that include a precious gemstone (we won't list them all here - once you've seen one Sapphire Martini made with a genuine Sapphire, you've seen them all). This one, available at the Ritz-Carlton in Tokyo, combines Grey Goose vodka, a twist of lime and a one-carat diamond. Asking price: $US22,600 ($AU24,209).

Any chance of a drink James?

SHIPWRECKED 1907 HEIDSIECK

Bored with Bollinger? Looking for a new champagne, now that Cristal has become the drink of choice for every Vegas wannabe 'player'? Consider the Shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck - about 2000 bottles of this century-old stunner were discovered in 1998 in the shipwreck of a boat that had been torpedoed during World War One in the Gulf of Finland. Some 2000 bottles apparently survived, and they have been known to go for as much as $US27,5000 at auction ($AU29,500). Connoisseurs say the icy salt waters kept the champagne deliciously chilled for 80 years, but after paying that sort of money, you would say that, wouldn't you?

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