Bit of fun, in the opposite vein to the Current Wine Offers thread.
Spotted somewhere charging a crazy mark up for a drinks product? A restaurant, pub, local shop.
Let us know, so we can all have a laugh.
I’ll start. My local corner deli has Lagavulin 16 on sale for £120.
'ow much?!?
Mind you, at their current rate of inflation, that’ll be a bargain in a couple of years.
Not quite in the spirit of the thread; however, I noticed last night that hedonism actually have a wine at what seems to be the cheapest price in The UK. A first for me. Alkemi Xinomavro Rose FWIW.
Whispering Angel.
In Harvey Nichols last weekend, hoping to snag a bargain in their sale (unsuccessfully) - I noticed this bottle: 50 y/o Moutai (Chinese Spirit) for a staggering £5700. Apparently it’s not even very nice, but more of a social / business bargaining chip.
There is a saying something along the lines of: “those who drink Moutai do not pay for it, and those who buy it do not drink it”
https://www.harveynichols.com/brand/kweichow-moutai/3906506-50-year-old-baijiu-500ml/p4414486/
Jay Rayner in the observer ripped a place to shreds for many reasons, not least the 7* markup on the wine list: The Polo Lounge at the Dorchester Hotel: ‘Dismal food at inexplicable prices’ - restaurant review | Food | The Guardian
That was such a classic…
Upsettingly, that’s probably below market rate for it.
These people are on drugs 
And don’t forget, being America, that probably still has to have sales tax added.
Fortunately no sales tax in MA on alcohol. Boom!
We ate in an Oslo restaurant fully 20 years ago and the wine list was so eye-wateringly expensive there was a bottle of Ernst & Julio Gallo for over £100. ‘Turning Leaf’ mind. Much of that to do with tax of course.
Oddly, some sherry is much more expensive in Spain (which is generally super cheap for wine). The Society sell this for about €27, and a bigger bottle at that.
Also, Waitrose much cheaper for the upmarket González Byass range.
My experience is that there is little demand for Amontillado and Oloroso in Spain compared to Britain.
Yes, it’s the oxidative/VORS stuff that’s expensive. Manzanilla - fill your boots.
Some Cream / Medium / PX affordable too, but Jerez, at least in the south, is pretty much synonymous with Fino / Manzanilla. You might find 50 sherries on a supermarket’s aisle and none of them might be oxidative.
Having made many trips to Dubai, crazy prices for wine (albeit a lot of tax) are de rigeur, or at least were until the recent removal of the 30% tax (haven’t visited yet this year to see if it’s being passed on to customers).
I decided not to go to one newish London restaurant recently because of the wine markups being 4-5 times retail (3ish times retail I accept grudgingly). I will probably relent as I want to eat there, but will watch what I drink.
Some spectacular markups at higher end beach clubs like Nikki Beach etc. how about €85 per bottle for Penfolds Koonunga Hill Chardonnay (UK retail around £10)? Or high end Champagne sold in Methuselah for the equivalent of around €3000 per 750ml bottle.
I get frustrated by restaurants that don’t put their wine lists on their website, but somehow it’s even more frustrating when they show the list but not the prices. This is most common with Italian restaurants, I find.
Maybe it’s a case of “if you have to ask you can’t afford it.”
Boston Lincolnshire? I’m surprised you can get Barolo there at all.
Dubai has become ludicrously expensive as have many airline hub locations, Singapore also. The poor state of of our economy and the perceived lack of clear and focussed strategic direction by the markets is not helping the value of our currency either.
Dubai used to be great value years ago bit not now.
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