The Bitter Truth Dried Fruit Bitters
Cost: $7,450 (in a cocktail)
The Bitter Truth Dried Fruit Bitters were created for the World’s Most Expensive Cocktail, the 27321 also known as Diamonds are Forever, served at the Burj al-Arab Hotel’s Skyview Bar in Dubai. Costing $7,450 — that’s almost $400 a sip — this cocktail combines a 55-year-old Macallan single malt natural-colour whisky from a Lalique Decanter with homemade passion fruit sugar and a couple of dashes of The Bitter Truth Dried Fruit Bitters. It’s served over ice cubes made of water from the Macallan distillery in Scotland in a Baccarat 18-carat gold glass and presented with a complimentary oak stirrer made from a Macallan cask. These bitters are produced solely for the Burj al-Arab Hotel Dubai/UAE.
The Bitter Truth Repeal Bitters
The Bitter Truth Repeal Day Bitters commemorated the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition in the United States of America in the year of 2008. Only a limited number of bottles were made and were sold out quickly. Mark your calendars for Repeal Day 2033, the 100th anniversary of Repeal Day for the next release of these bitters. Price on request.
The bottles
Of all the bottle collecting categories, bitters bottles are among the top in price and history. This is because bitters’ collectors like the wide variety, the interesting forms, the wide range of colours and their historical significance as a uniquely American 19th century fad. Well-known, even common bitters such as the Indian Queen and the Ear of Corn bring $300-$500 and much more in odd colours. Cabin Bitters are especially popular and aside from the Drakes Plantation and a few others, they are harder to find.
Chalmers Catawba bitters bottle
Cost: $19,600 at American Bottle Auctions sale
A Chalmers Catawba wine bitters bottle was graded 9.8 for its condition and is considered one of the top five Western bitters known, sold for $19,600. The bottle was the top lot in a sale that saw around 325 rare and vintage bottles sold and grossed more than $275,000. The bottle — trademarked Sutters Old Mill, Spruance Stanley & Co., Proprietors — had an applied top and boasted loads of whittle, in a brilliant bluish aqua colour.
The Bitter Truth Havana Bitters
The Bitter Truth Havana Bitters were made as a special edition for Berlin Bar Convent in the year 2012, where these bitters served as a giveaway to bartenders by the Havana Club. These Havana Bitters were used in various Cuban Classics during the two-day event and rumour goes that these El Presidentes were simply divine. Price on request.
The others
Doctor Fisch’s Bitters
Cost: $100,000
It is a figural fish in cobalt blue and very unique. It is rumoured to have sold for over $100,000 in 2009 in a private sale.
Holtzerman’s Stomach Bitters
Cost $200,000
The unique cobalt blue example is rumoured to have sold privately for $200,000 in 2009.
The New Truffle Bitters
Cost: $79 for 50 ml
Rodrick Markus’ experiments with truffles led to this exclusive bitter. These truffles are from Australia, France, Italy and Hungary. Truffle varieties of black, white alba, honey, butter and ingredients that are considered as the most precious and expensive natural gifts from the epicurean world, are then placed inside a refrigerator at The Cellar where 135 jars of truffles submerged in 151-proof vodka are lying silently. Around 50 ml of Truffe Amere from Rare Botanical Bitters Co’s bottle of périgord winter black truffle bitters costs $79.
