15 of the Most Expensive Bottles of Alcohol Ever Sold

Rich people do all kinds of strange things with their money. Be it throwing lavish parties, collecting things, or getting into some “Squid Game” stuff, they’ve got a lot of room to spend. Alcohol is of course one of the most commonly collected things, with vintage bottles selling for mind-blowing amounts of money. Take a look at these over-the-top bottles; some sold for millions of dollars, and others are nearly 6 feet tall. You do you, rich people.

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Price: $5,000

Next to most of the bottles in this list, a four-digit number might not seem like a lot, but this isn’t whiskey or wine that we’re talking about. This is gin, and $5,000, is nothing to scoff at. Their distillation process involves atmospheric pressure “less than half that found at the summit of Mount Everest” and South Pole-level temperatures. Is that type of thing, whatever it means, worth paying $4,960 more than you usually do for gin? You tell us.

Related: Essential Gins for Every Type of Drinker

Price: $144,000

A cognac collector from Asia nabbed this rarity (which was most likely bottled somewhere around the 1840s) in on online auction through Sotheby's in 2014. Truly incredible that liquor that old can last this long unharmed.

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Price: $200,000

With the value of so many of these bottles coming from the bejeweled bottles they’re sold in, you might as well just drink them and then fill it up with water and food coloring. In this case, it’s the crystal decanter that the 2012 Johnny Walker Diamond Jubilee comes in, created as a celebration of Elizabeth II's 60th year as Queen. Enjoy the stuff at least, if you’re going to spend $200,000 on it. 

Related: Best Whiskeys Under $50

Price: $304,000

Any rare wine collector knows the infamous 1947 Château Cheval Blanc. It’s among the most famous in the world (so famous that Anton Ego, the critic in “Ratatouille,” is seen with a bottle on his table). It’s a true white whale for so many collectors, but wouldn’t it be great if somebody bought this and then posted photos of themselves pairing it with McDonald’s? Yeah. That would be great.

Related: Great-Tasting White Wines for $20 or Less

Price: $332,640

A set of 12 always helps the price feel a little easier to digest, but the 300 grand it sold for in a 2018 auction via Christie's is the type of money that makes us afraid to even consider taking a sip. Ever. Sotheby's, which also holds auctions for the elusive wine, uses the term “chewy” to describe it, if that means anything to you.

Price: $503,000

Beer doesn’t usually sell for the prices that fine spirits do — in general, it’s not easy to find a beer to sell for more than $5,000. It’s also not easy to find a beer that was brewed in 1875 for an Arctic expedition. This beer, which was sold on eBay in 2007, is both. More like a historical relic than alcohol, really. 

Price: $706,000

Another in the line of premium Japanese whiskies, Yamazaki has been known to sell their vintages for prices this high pretty often. They usually start anywhere between $400,000 and $500,000, but you can snag one from WineSearcher for a tad above $706,000. Chump change.

Price: $1.24 million

Named after six different major vintages in six different decades and hand-chosen by master distiller Richard Paterson, The Dalmore let this one go in a Sotheby's Hong Kong auction for a casual $1.24 mil. Years 1951, 1967, 1979, 1980, 1995, and 2000 are included.

Price: $1.38 million

Here’s the thing: if we were to list every whiskey sold in the millions, almost all of them would be The Macallan. Their Fine and Rare 60, Michael Dillon 60, Valerio Adami 60, Lalique Six Pillars, and Red sold for $1.9M, $1.53M, $1.07M, $1.04M, $993,000, and $975,756 respectively. The brand is, shall we say, top shelf. The Intrepid, however, is another beast entirely. This is literally the largest bottle of whiskey in the world, a one-of-a-kind bottle checking in at 5’11,” 311 liters, and 444 bottles' worth. It is, if nothing else, a better investment than the rest of these.

Price: $1.52 million

At the very least, this collection includes 54 bottles, each one designed as the cards in a full deck. Japanese whisky has been known to sell well, but this really topped the charts for the style. The next thing on any owner’s list: finding a display shelf that can do it justice.

Price: $2 million

This is some primo rich-people stuff right here. A bottle of The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.’s  “Emerald Isle Collection” is a triple-distilled 29-year old whiskey and comes inside of the most confusing of all rich-people things: a Fabergé egg. We’re talking about $2 million for this bottle of whiskey inside a fake egg. Wild stuff.

Price: $2.5 million

The fact that this was recovered from a 1907 shipwreck originally headed for the czar of The Imperial Court of Russia? Incredibly cool. The fact that instead of a certificate of authenticity, it’s paired with an NFT? Incredibly not cool.

Price: $3.7 million

This vodka once sold for $3.7 million, but that is not the best thing about it. The best thing by far about Billionaire Vodka, is that this appears to be the official website. It can’t be, right? There’s no way, there’s simply no way. Wow, we hope it is. Imagine spending nearly 4 million bucks on something that came from the people who made that website.

Price: $5.5 million

There are, you guessed it, 15,000 diamonds (and 60 carats) coiled around this bottle in the shape of a dragon. This is one of those scenarios where you’re paying more for the bottle than the actual liquor. Just drink up and fill the thing up with water when you’re done and ready to display it. It’ll be our little secret.

Price: $30 million

Last but certainly not least: “Limoncello Supreme,” which sounds like something you might find on the Papa John’s menu. No idea what to say about this. What do you even do after you’ve spent 27 million pounds (which comes out to about 30 million USD) on a bottle of Limoncello? Do you drink it? Do you look at it? There’s an 18.5-carat diamond on the bottle, so do you display it? We truly just can’t fathom spending that much money on something. $20 million? Now that’s more reasonable. But 30 — no way. 

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