NYT: “The Seablue restaurant in the MGM Grand Las Vegas has a martini made with super-premium vodka and Beluga caviar at $275. At Duvet, a restaurant-lounge in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, the price of a Duvet Passion - an off-the-menu drink made with aged cognacs, vintage Champagnes and garnished with a vanilla orchid petal - is meant to astound: $1,500. The club says it has sold five or six Duvet Passions since introducing the drink Valentine’s Day.

Not to be outdone, Teatro Euro Bar, a nightclub at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, has the High Limit Kir Royale, a $2,200 after-dinner drink. “So far nobody’s one-upped us,” said Catherine Bingue-Hawkins, the general manager. “And we have no gems in ours either. We just have good liquor,” including Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne and 140-year-old Cognac.

Big spenders with stacks of hundreds to burn and business executives on expense accounts apparently don’t blink at paying those top-dollar prices for cocktails with top-shelf spirits. Even some people in the cheap-beer and wine-in-box crowd occasionally indulge in them.”