Well this is one for the books, Absolut Vodka has given in to all the rage and worked with Swedish designer Philipp Plein to collaborate on a Limited Edition Swarovski-Encrusted Absolut Vodka bottle.
Made using precious stones and Swarovski crystals to highlight a skull-shaped addition to the vodka bottle, this new creation is certainly one of a kind, as the $135 price tag suggests.
La Maison Ruinart, the oldest established champagne house in the world, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its 1959 Dom Ruinart
Maarten Baas Melting Collection Ice Bucket
Blanc de Blancs in 2009 and decided to honor the occasion by commissioning a work of champagne-related art from Dutch artist Maarten Baas.
The Melting Collection Ice Bucket is what resulted, a beautiful shining silver bucket and its lid dissolving helplessly into a puddle on the table.
Only 50 will be produced, delivered in a felt-lined leather and wood presentation box complete with a ‘made-for-display’ water-filled Dom Ruinart bottle.
Price: $8,800
It’s that time of the year boys and girls!
Neiman Marcus unveils their 2009 Christmas Book.
Neiman-Marcus has unveiled the 2009 Christmas Book. Oh happy days and damn any recession because we have visions of cupcake-shaped electric cars for the kiddos, the world’s fastest electric motorcycle, and dinner with some of today’s bestselling authors. These are just a few of the fantasy gifts for sale in Neiman Marcus’ 2009 Christmas book.
Dallas-based Neiman Marcus made a conscious effort to offer more affordable options while not disappointing loyal luxury shoppers as it unveiled its Christmas Book at the Dallas Contemporary.
Among this year’s offerings are a customized Cupcake Car for kids that costs $25,000 and reaches top speeds of 7 miles per hour. For adults, there’s a 2010 Jaguar XJL super-charged sedan, priced at $105,000. Neiman Marcus customers will be the first to be able to purchase the vehicle, which comes with a 5-piece set of luggage that matches its leather interior.
This year’s his-and hers gift – an annual tradition – is an ICON A5 sports aircraft, with pilot training for two. It costs a mere $250,000.
At $200,000, the Algonquin Round Table Experience includes dinner for two at New York’s Algonquin Hotel with Malcolm Gladwell, John Lithgow, Nora Ephron with eight famous authors, including and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
About 40 percent of this year’s catalog items are priced under $250.
The luxury retailer’s his-and-hers gifts and other over-the-top holiday gift ideas represent a tradition that dates back to the 1950s. Stanley and Edward Marcus started picking attention-grabbing gifts to get the store on national TV, and it still works.
Last year, the Dallas-based retailer offered all 530 square yards of one of the end zones at Texas Stadium and a party to go with it for $500,000. His-and-hers gifts were life-size Lego likenesses of the buyers for $60,000 apiece.
A limited-edition 2009 BMW Individual 7 Series sedan offered a year ago didn’t sell out. Thirty-one were offered to represent the number of years that BMW has been selling in the U.S. A car has been part of the catalog for many years and has been known to sell out in a matter of minutes.
Luxury has been hard hit by the recession and has experienced some of the biggest sales declines. Neiman Marcus is adding more merchandise in its middle price points this year, while it continues to sell its highest priced luxury brands.
For the second year, Neiman Marcus is publishing a separate holiday book featuring “giftable” items, many under $100.
The Macallan 57 Lalique, “The Finest Cut“, is an extremely rare single malt scotch that is housed within an exquisite
Macallan 57 Lalique Scotch.
limited edition decanter.
Containing the rare 57 year old single malt whiskey from the famous Speyside Distillery (founded in 1824), the decanter is available by special order only beginning in October.
Macallan’s has made recent news because of the recent record breaking sale of one of their 50th anniversary bottles for £11,750.
The legendary French crystal house, Lalique, has produced the limited edition decanters which are individually numbered. Of the 400 being produced, only 72 will be available in the U.S.
TWG Tea Company is based in Singapore and recently opened their ION Orchard Tea Shop where you can sample up
TWG Tea Company offers more than 800 blends of tea.
to 400 teams from amongst their more than 800 teas. (Rest assured they offer accessories and petit fors as well to the discerning palate).
The pinnacle of the tea collection is undoubtedly the Yellow Gold Tea a.k.a. T601 which is the world’s most expensive tea. It achieves this status because not only is it incredibly challengeing to acquire, it’s also painted with actual gold.
However, the journey of this particular blend is only harvest on one mountain in the world and on one particular day of the year and only with golden scissors that prune from the top of the tree which is where the tea bud is located.
These illustrious buds are then sun dried and placed within sealed containers to slightly heat the tea leaves which allows them to release the plyphenols which is what gives the team it’s yellowish hue and provides a soft taste.
TWG offers the world's most expensive tea.
The tea is then painted with 24-carat gold flakes which is considered very good for you in both luck and health (what with gold being a mineral after all) and provides the tea with a beautiful shimmer.
This particular blend of tea sells for $150 Singapore for 50 grams (US$106). That amount will brew you approximately 25 cups of tea.
Macallan has just launched a limited edition Lalique 57-year-old whiskey that we are salivating to try.
The limited edition whiskey is the third in a series of special editions and consists of two different casks, one being American Oak sherry while the other is Spanish Oak sherry. Cost is a mere $15,000 for this amazing tasting experience.
Is it possible for Ol’ Blue Eyes to hock wine?
Time will tell as The Sinatra Family Estates has announced its first wine offering, Come Fly With Me, a limited-production
Sinatra Family Estate Wine offers first vintage.
2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
The winery partnered with the Frank Sinatra Estate and his three children (Tina, Nancy and Frank Jr.) to produce the wine.
The wine is being produced from a five-acre vineyard site in Napa Valley, and only 500 cases will be bottled and are selling at a steep price of $570 for six bottles. The website says the wine has notes of cherry with hints of leather and spice and says it has a 92 rating but no indication of where that rating came from.
Each vintage will be named after a Sinatra classic and the wine label features a logo of a record.
Forgive me dear readers for prefacing this posting with a bit of commentary: As a Texas girl, I am all too familiar with the insnane notion of “slamming” tequila. Regardless of the brand, some poor souls feel the only way to ingest tequila is by throwing their head back and downing a “shot” in one very fast take. If you are sampling a tequila like Patron or this Jose Cuervo limited edition and slam them, then you deserve to be thrown in a tub of drunken worms.
Jose Cuervo limited edition tequila.
Tequila should be chilled — this does not mean that you allow the bartender to slam it mercilessly in a shaker with ice cubes because all that will do is give you crystal shards of ice when you are trying to sip your tequila. The tequila should be gently swirled amongst some cubes and then sipped at a moderate pace.
Practice your sipping skills because this autumn, Jose Cuervo is releasing a limited edition 250 Aniversario Tequila. In anticipation of this milestone, experts at Jose Cuervo planted blue agave on the same land that was part of the original charter issued by King Carlos of Spain in 1758.
Jose Cuervo 250 Aniversario is a 100 percent blue agave Extra Añejo Tequila blended from the most select tequilas in the family’s reserve and aged in a unique double-cask method. The best of these Extra Añejos, aged in toasted new American Oak barrels for a minimum of three years, were selected by the master distiller and blended together to achieve a superior tequila. The distinctive blend was then finished for 10 months in Sherry casks originating from Spain. The decanter was inspired by the original glass bottle first used by Jose Cuervo to ship Tequila to towns throughout Mexico. Each comes packaged in elegant oak gift box and will have its sequential number etched into the glass, certifying the product’s rarity and authenticity.
Priced at $2,250.
~ Raine Devries
Port of Barcelona gin.
The founder of the Esmeralda Distillery, Bryan Davis, has already launched a highly acclaimed obsello absinthe and now he is looking towards further liquid horizons with gin.
Titled with the mystiqal name of Port of Barcelona, the spirit offers a spirited change from the traditional Beefeater or Bombay Sapphire brands found in every bar with a more complex blend of citrus, pepper, juniper, floral iris and vanilla hints, making Port of Barcelona Gin a tantalizing base for the classic martini or gin & tonic.
At an affordable $90 per bottle, it will impress your guests and not break your bank.
What is it about the smell of new, rich leather that makes you just want to inhale deeply? Whatever it is, the wonderful people at Absolut are
Absolut Vodka celebrates the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.
issuing a special edition to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock.
This special bottle of vodka will first go on sale at Selfridge’s in London next month and then it will be widely released in October.
The bottle features a snug casing of black leather, embossed with the Absolut logo and adorned with silver studs.
This is one item I am looking forward
