National Margarita Day (Feb. 22) is once again rearing its head for legions of adoring tequila fans.
We'll be the first to admit that cocktail-themed holidays are a little odd. These occasions, including but not limited to the upcoming National Piña Colada Day, National Espresso Martini Day and National Paloma Day, were likely dreamed up by some combination of marketing executives and overeager bartenders. Year after year, the self-fashioned holidays become ever more silly and indulgent. Case in point: Chili's just teamed up with the Lifetime Channel for a television event dubbed "I'll Be Home For National Margarita Day," which appears to be a feature-length Chili's ad starring actor Taye Diggs and "E! News" host Maria Menounos. If this isn't a bastardization of our cherished, time-honored Margarita Day, I don't know what is.
Equally ridiculous are the cocktails that restaurants roll out to capitalize on the hype. Forget inflation — bars are finding all kinds of ways to crank up the price on America's drink of choice. Visitors to sceney cocktail bars can now find everything from the broccoli-tinged Broctail to the dubious Cold Pizza Margarita. Less excusable are the needlessly expensive flourishes; the kind of margaritas that are topped with gold leaf and truffle shavings just to spite your wallet. A whole lot of bells and whistles are being attached to a cocktail that, at heart, needs only tequila, orange liqueur and lime to function.
In honor of the boozy holiday, let's take a quick look at five of the most expensive margaritas put to record. Browsing the options, words like "billionaire" come up often, as do mentions of one-of-one liquor releases and exclusive hautes in New York City. Needless to say, you won't be drinking any of these cocktails anytime soon.
La Billionaria - Picos, Houston
(Photo: Picos/Facebook)
Picos, a Houston-based Mexican restaurant overseen by chef Arnaldo Richards, is fond of big lime-green numbers. The venue has nearly 20 of its signature shaker margaritas available to customers at a moment's notice, one of which broke the record for the world's largest margarita in 1997. Perhaps its most famous offering, however, is the $75 La Billionaria.
The drink — one of few on this list still available to customers — begins with a serving of $300-per-bottle Herradura Selección Suprema tequila, an extra añejo aged 49 months in American white oak. The cocktail is then mixed with Grand Cuvée du Centenaire, a 25-year, $150 orange liqueur, before finishing with a splash of lime. Every ingredient is the precise bare basics of what you'd expect from a margarita — albeit with an ultra-expensive twist.
Journalist Joanna O'Leary complimented the base spirit's flavors of cardamom, mint and honey, adding that the "demur," admittedly pricy cocktails made her feel "like a million bucks." It should be noted that La Billionaria is mixed and served tableside from a plastic cocktail shaker, a comedically low-brow flourish to a cocktail that costs about the same as refurbished AirPods.
Electric Margarita - Providence, Los Angeles
[caption id="attachment_101033" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: Providence/Facebook)[/caption]
Variously dubbed the Electric Margarita or the "$100 Margarita," this rhubarb-red twist on the cocktail is served exclusively at Providence, a two-Michellen-starred restaurant in Hollywood, Los Angeles. In addition to celebrity sightings, the trendy hotspot is renowned for its locally caught seafood dishes and expansive wine list.
The restaurant's tidily served tasting menu costs a minimum of $295; its most expensive cocktail, a mere $195 less. Those who indulge in the treat, however, will be greeted by a bartender who mixes the drink tableside on a roving bar cart.
The margarita begins with a blend of Grand Marnier Cuvée du Centenaire and Casa Dragones Joven, the latter of which costs around $249 per bottle. In lieu of lime juice, beverage director Kim Stodel uses seasonal ingredients including strawberries, peaches or — for the most recent iteration — a homemade passionfruit cordial. The drink is then finished with agave syrup, verjus (an acidic juice made from unripened grapes) and a weighty ice cube carved in the shape of a diamond. In case you're wondering, the ice cube is carved tableside, just like every other preparation for the cocktail.
The Billionaire Margarita - The London NYC
[caption id="attachment_101067" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: The London NYC)[/caption]
Now we're getting into true, unbridled opulence.
Though far from the most expensive in terms of sheer price, The London Hotel's Billionaire Margarita is easily the most famous quote-unquote "expensive margarita" by reputation. Everyone from Forbes to The Wall Street Journal has penned an article on this over-the-top concoction, usually accompanied by questions including but not limited to: What? Why? And for who?
The $1,200 cocktail's most exclusive ingredient is a pour of Patrón en Lalique Serie 1, a $7,500 extra añejo tequila limited to a total release of just 500 bottles. Playing second fiddle is a splash of Rémy Martin Louis XIII, a Grand Champagne cognac that costs around $4,500 per bottle, according to Wine Searcher. Presumably, once The London's supply of either of these liquors runs dry, so too will availability of the Billionaire Margarita. But that line hasn't been crossed just yet.
Understanding that the appeal of its cocktail lies in the scarcity of its ingredients and not the secrecy of its recipe, The London has published a full breakdown of how to make the drink at home. If you have a few thousand dollars worth of bar supplies lying around your kitchen, the portions can be found below.
1 1/2 oz. Patrón en Lalique Serie 1 Tequila
1/2 oz. Louis XIII Cognac
1/2 oz. Organic Blue Agave Nectar
Fresh Key Lime Juice
Fresh Meyer Lemon Juice
10 Dashes Cara Cara Orange Bitters
Frozen Fifth Avenue - FIFTH Rooftop Bar & Penthouse Lounge, New York
[caption id="attachment_101209" align="aligncenter" width="600"] (Photo: 230 Fifth/Facebook)[/caption]
Frozen Rooftop Bar & Penthouse Lounge may be the only restaurant in history to publish a news release owning up the the world's most expensive margarita. Over a decade later, the cocktail is living proof that not all diamonds shine forever — not even those shaped into a handblown $125 Ralph Lauren glass.
Visitors to New York City's highest-altitude outdoor bar (another record that's almost certainly been beaten) were once able to order the $1,200 Frozen Fifth Avenue. The drink included pours of 1800 Coleccion Extra Añejo Tequila, Quintessence Grand Marnier and ice cubes made from Lois Roederer Cristal Champagne, all of which have a combined retail value of around $3,050. Guests were served the frozen libation inside that aforementioned handblown glass, itself rimmed with French fleur de sel sea salt that reportedly cost $30 a pound. Suffice it to say that the news release was eager to break down each and every price tag to the decimal point.
However, unlike the other $1,200 margarita on this list, the Frozen Fifth Avenue was a cocktail with a cause. Half of each purchase went toward a charity of the purchaser's choice, a neat trick that at least partly justified that steep price of entry.
Silk Stocking Margarita - Selena Rosa Restaurant, New York
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rPFob94fno&ab_channel=APArchive
Though others have claimed to conquer it in years since, credit for the world's most expensive margarita — at least on record — belongs to the $2,500 "Silk Stocking" served at the Selena Rosa Restaurant in New York City.
The drink was conceived in 2018 by bartender Marco Antonio to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the margarita's invention. The star of the show was a pour of Clase Azul Ultra, an elusive 5-year extra añejo that regularly fetches prices of over $2,000 on the resale market. Guests were reportedly served the drink alongside plates of caviar tacos and other suitably indulgent appetizers.
Apart from that, however, the four-figure cocktail was surprisingly sparse. Antonio told press that the Silk Stocking "was rimmed with a blend of exclusive Mexican salts and garnished with a fresh-cut lime and spiral-cut jalapeño, skewered by a mini beach umbrella and complemented by rose petals" — in other words, no mention of decades-old liqueurs, crystal glasses or any of the other tricks usually seen in these exorbitant drinks.
Perhaps that was the point. Proceeds for the cocktail went toward victims of the Parkland, Florida school shooting that had occurred just days prior. Ultimately, the Silk Stocking was less about the drink itself and more about a charity occasion that just happened to coincide with National Margarita Day. It's sad to see that the Selena Rosa closed its doors less than a year after the debut of its most famous menu item.
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(Photo: Providence/Facebook)[/caption]
Variously dubbed the Electric Margarita or the "$100 Margarita," this rhubarb-red twist on the cocktail is served exclusively at Providence, a two-Michellen-starred restaurant in Hollywood, Los Angeles. In addition to celebrity sightings, the trendy hotspot is renowned for its locally caught seafood dishes and expansive wine list.
The restaurant's tidily served tasting menu costs a minimum of $295; its most expensive cocktail, a mere $195 less. Those who indulge in the treat, however, will be greeted by a bartender who mixes the drink tableside on a roving bar cart.
The margarita begins with a blend of Grand Marnier Cuvée du Centenaire and Casa Dragones Joven, the latter of which costs around $249 per bottle. In lieu of lime juice, beverage director Kim Stodel uses seasonal ingredients including strawberries, peaches or — for the most recent iteration — a homemade passionfruit cordial. The drink is then finished with agave syrup, verjus (an acidic juice made from unripened grapes) and a weighty ice cube carved in the shape of a diamond. In case you're wondering, the ice cube is carved tableside, just like every other preparation for the cocktail.
(Photo: The London NYC)[/caption]
Now we're getting into true, unbridled opulence.
Though far from the most expensive in terms of sheer price, The London Hotel's Billionaire Margarita is easily the most famous quote-unquote "expensive margarita" by reputation. Everyone from Forbes to The Wall Street Journal has penned an article on this over-the-top concoction, usually accompanied by questions including but not limited to: What? Why? And for who?
The $1,200 cocktail's most exclusive ingredient is a pour of Patrón en Lalique Serie 1, a $7,500 extra añejo tequila limited to a total release of just 500 bottles. Playing second fiddle is a splash of Rémy Martin Louis XIII, a Grand Champagne cognac that costs around $4,500 per bottle, according to Wine Searcher. Presumably, once The London's supply of either of these liquors runs dry, so too will availability of the Billionaire Margarita. But that line hasn't been crossed just yet.
Understanding that the appeal of its cocktail lies in the scarcity of its ingredients and not the secrecy of its recipe, The London has published a full breakdown of how to make the drink at home. If you have a few thousand dollars worth of bar supplies lying around your kitchen, the portions can be found below.
(Photo: 230 Fifth/Facebook)[/caption]
Frozen Rooftop Bar & Penthouse Lounge may be the only restaurant in history to publish a news release owning up the the world's most expensive margarita. Over a decade later, the cocktail is living proof that not all diamonds shine forever — not even those shaped into a handblown $125 Ralph Lauren glass.
Visitors to New York City's highest-altitude outdoor bar (another record that's almost certainly been beaten) were once able to order the $1,200 Frozen Fifth Avenue. The drink included pours of 1800 Coleccion Extra Añejo Tequila, Quintessence Grand Marnier and ice cubes made from Lois Roederer Cristal Champagne, all of which have a combined retail value of around $3,050. Guests were served the frozen libation inside that aforementioned handblown glass, itself rimmed with French fleur de sel sea salt that reportedly cost $30 a pound. Suffice it to say that the news release was eager to break down each and every price tag to the decimal point.
However, unlike the other $1,200 margarita on this list, the Frozen Fifth Avenue was a cocktail with a cause. Half of each purchase went toward a charity of the purchaser's choice, a neat trick that at least partly justified that steep price of entry.