The Tippling Point | The most expensive vodka in the world

Leon Verres' The Billionaire vodka can set you back by a whopping $3.7 million a bottle. Unlike other premium vodkas, this vodka comes in a bottle encrusted with platinum, rhodium and diamonds, and the label is pure gold. (Representational image: Yanik Flowers via Unsplash)

If you have all the money in the world and decide to splurge a bit on a drink to flaunt your newfound luck before your stunned and discreetly jealous friends, what would you do? Where would you go to get it. This story intends to lay the world's most luxurious vodka out on the table for you to peruse.

Have you ever heard of the Billionaire vodka?

Leon Verres' The Billionaire vodka, so aptly named, is the most expensive bottle of vodka you can buy now in the world. But be warned. This thing can set you back by a whopping US $3.7 million. Translate that to the Indian scenario. Purchasing The Billionaire means spending more than Rs 30 lakh, if you do the math in rupees, all the while praying that customs would not slap duties on this gem of a drink.

Did I say gem? Well, gems are one reason why this vodka's price remains in the stratosphere.

The liquid comes in, well, please hold the bottle tightly now, a platinum- and rhodium-encased, diamond-encrusted crystal bottle, with unadulterated gold labels and a neckband studded with thousands of diamonds. Take a close look. The bottle is crowned with diamond-speckled hand-mounted platinum-flocked foil seal.

Time to peek in to see the inside of the bottle.

You know how big a role water plays in the quality of a drink. Brewers go to any extent to get the best water to nourish their drink. Some are best for their purity. Some are cherished for minerals that lend a sweet tingle to the drink. The triple distilled Billionaire draws its liquid from the natural spring that supplies the Carverswall Castle of England. What does that mean?

Known for its healing properties, the purity of this water shines through each sip you take off the premium vodka. Moreover, the company says that the water used in The Billionaire runs over crushed diamonds worth millions of dollars. Don't ask what flavour inert diamonds could lend the drink (if they do have flavour, Billionaire has it), but no doubt it can purify the liquid.

The vodka is built using a secret recipe. Leon Verres wants to make sure that the liquid inside lives up to the standard of all that luxury glittering outside on the surface of the bottle. Down to the last drop. Since Verres is committed to the cause of animal rights, no real fur is used to cover the bottle. What your fingers nuzzle against is faux fur, for your information.

I can see you wondering at the white gloves that come along with the bottle. You don't handle such magnificent bottles every day of your life, do you? Imagine the horror of it slipping out of your fingers! The world would freeze still. Perhaps the only good thing that comes out of the accident (for many of us) is that we quickly get out of that reverie of holding a bottle of The Billionaire.

The Billionaire is available only in selected outlets and restaurants around the world.