A “rocktail” with $15,000 worth of “hot ice”

by Kris   ⋅   May 3, 2007   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

There exists a cocktail where the ice is more expensive than the alcohol. It’s the “diamond-tini” to be sold at the newly-opened Tokyo Roppongi-district Ritz-Carlton for 1.8 million yen (or a cool $15K). It’s a 1.06 carat stone that is plopped into the glass of Belvedere vodka and lime during a cute little tableside pomp serenade, followed by an after-dinner celebratory ring mounting. Reminiscent of those cliché yet romantic movie proposals where a guy plunks an engagement ring into a champagne flute, the hotel expects to sell three diamond-tinis per month.

I’m not surprised that this is happening in Japan, who is certainly no stranger to offbeat ideas and luxury items. Living in Hawai’i, I saw jetloads of Japanese tourists literally buying out Hermés. I thought that was due to the low dollar to yen ratio but apparently 20 years ago, there was even an era named for the island’s gloriously outrageous spending habits. Japan’s “bubble economy” allowed the richer-than-rich to sprinkle gold flakes on their food just to burn cash (although some hole-in-the-wall Indian dive eateries place gold foil on gelatinous dessert forms for good health). Well, work hard, spend hard.

I’ve only known one girlfriend who enjoyed a straight martini, by this I mean sans sickeningly sweet additive liquors like apple or raspberry or chocolate, or flavored vodka like black cherry vanilla Effen or whatever so I’m not quite sure how coercive the proposer has to be to hint order the Bond-esque cocktail. I think it’ll become one of those things where the anticipation is nullified by the status. And the name “diamond-tini” is uninspired. How about “rocktail” or “hot ice”?

This is not a new concept. The Blu Horizon bar in Sydney Australia’s Shangri-La Hotel added a diamond drink to their menu last year. Back in 2004, The Blue Bar in Midtown Manhattan’s historic Algonquin Hotel offered the first diamond martini (”Martini on the Rock”) starting at around $10K with the opportunity to upgrade to $1M. The martini alone was priced at $50!! It was dubbed a huge publicity stunt, but a successful one. An NPR correspondent who ordered one donated the proceeds from the diamond sale to the Walter Reed Medical Center Society. We now know how that money was well spent, don’t we, hmmph. Cheers!