Top Mexican tequila sells for six figures

Reuters ^ | 07/21/06

[presidio9]

Forget about the kind of tequila you slam down on the bar or knock back at parties in throat-burning shots with salt and lemon. If you're paying six figures, you might prefer to savour it in small sips.

An impossibly upmarket brand of tequila -- 100 percent blue Agave lovingly aged for six years and sold in a limited edition platinum bottle with fancy artwork on the label -- went on sale in Mexico on Thursday night for $225,000 (121,000 pounds) a bottle.

"Tonight we are trying for the Guinness Book of Records with the most expensive bottle in the world," Fernando Altamirano, chief executive of producer Tequila Ley .925, told a launch party for the liquor.

Tequila Ley .925 has produced 66 bottles of the "Pasion Azteca" tequila, half of them pure platinum bottles and half of them gold and platinum-decorated bottles that sell for the slightly less extravagant price of $150,000.

"Since we started out, we began with the idea of making the finest, most expensive bottle of tequila in the world," Altamirano told Reuters.

For those on a smaller budget, there are 999 bottles of the same tequila in silver and gold bottles priced at $25,000.

Showing off one of each type, Altamirano said they had already been sold to a collector, but declined to give away the buyer's identity.

Altamirano, whose company has won awards for its stylish bottles, said his next goal was to create a million-dollar tequila bottle made from diamond-encrusted platinum and auction it at Sotheby's next year.

[Sax]

Let me know what you think, I'm curious to see if others agree or if it's just my own personal tastes.

Cheers!

[expatguy]

Im really limited to what I can get over here. I managed to get in Herradura and Sauza Commemerative recently - I received a call yesterday saying I might be able to get Patron in two weeks or so.

Hope so - because it goes nice with Mexican food here.