OT: We're not the only suckees in this world. LOL!
Chicago bar serves up $950 cocktail
CHICAGO (AFP) — A jeweler turned drink designer has made a splash in the Chicago bar scene with a new cocktail that costs a whopping $950.
Pete Gugni, a jeweler turned drink designer, stands behind his $950 "Ruby Red" creation.
By Jeff Haynes, AFP/Getty Images
The Ruby Red is a tangy mix of vodka, champagne, cognac, pomegranate liqueur and orange juice. And it comes complete with a 1-carat, grade-A ruby.
"We kind of were playing with an idea that someone could come in and have something to celebrate and remember the night by," said Pete Gugni, a manager at the trendy Reserve club in downtown Chicago.
Gugni said the club wanted to come up with something more memorable than opening a bottle of champagne.
"That's where the stone comes in — at the end of the night they can take it home."
Gugni spent a few years as a jeweler after he graduated from art school, but switched to managing a bar because he got bored sitting behind a desk all day.
He used his old connections to buy the cocktail gems wholesale, and says they can easily be turned into a ring, pendant or earrings.So far, he has sold three.
The first was to an out-of-town businessman who quietly ordered it for the woman sitting with him at a table.The next was a Reserve regular who bought one for his girlfriend.The third was an extravagant club promoter in his 20s who bought it to impress a first date.
The man made a big show of handing it to the woman and warned her to watch out for a surprise at the bottom of her martini glass."She was loving it," Gugni said. "All her friends were looking at it trying to see the stone."
How to make a "Ruby Red"
Stir together these ingredients (the gemstone is optional):
1.5 ounces Grey Goose L'Orange vodka
0.5 ounce Hpnotiq cognac
0.5 ounce orange juice
0.25 ounce Pama (pomegranate) liqueur
A splash Dom Perignon champagne
.
Coming up with a recipe for the drink took a lot of experimenting behind the bar with the club's servers acting as a test market."We wanted to use pomegranate because it's hitting a popular trend with the anti-oxidants, and orange is really good with that," Gugni explained.
Dom Perignon champagne added a certain 'je-ne-sais-quoi', while using the Grey Goose orange vodka brought a smooth and silky kick."It's not a really heavy or sweet drink. It's got more of a tart taste."Nobody has ordered the drink without the ruby yet.
Gugni figures he would charge around $120 or $130 for a gem-less Ruby Red, to cover the cost of uncorking the champagne. But even at that price, they won't get the whole bottle — they just get a splash.
