A price out of this world

It’s Friday night at the World Bar, a swanky lounge in the new Trump World Tower, and two waiters in spiffy cream jackets are headed our way bearing a large silver tray.

With grand flourishes, one waiter introduces himself and proceeds to hold up each bottle and announce its contents before pouring tiny amounts into the silver cocktail shaker. After mixing the Remy XO and Pineau des Charentes with ingredients such as freshly pressed grape juice, he gently pours the frothy concoction into a slender flute and tops it off with Veuve Clicquot champagne and a touch of 23-karat edible liquid gold.

The performance is so impressive we feel compelled to applaud. But what’s most impressive about the drink is its price -- a mind-boggling $50.

It’s named “the World’s Most Expensive Cocktail” and boasts ingredients rare in most bar drinks. The fruity aperitif Pineau des Charentes, for example, is not found on most bar menus. Remy XO is a complex, pricey cognac that is aged for up to 35 years. And World Bar owner Mark Grossich was audacious enough to toss these in a drink and slap on a price that, with tax and a 20% tip, will put you out just over $64.

Grossich says the price simply is in keeping with the bar’s locale -- the ground floor of the Trump World Tower, whose $12-million to $17-million apartments reportedly have been sold to celebs ranging from Bill Gates to Derek Jeter. And it is reflective of a bar that he hopes will draw people as famous and wealthy as the tower’s residents.

“We’re located in the world’s most expensive residential tower,” Grossich says. “We felt that we should have the world’s most expensive cocktail.”

Grossich says the drink is worth the price, because its ingredients are costly. A 750-milliliter bottle of Remy XO, for example, sells for $109 at the Wine Underground in Baltimore. Veuve Clicquot typically costs $38.99 a bottle, and a 750-milliliter bottle of Pineau des Charentes retails for $15.49. For competitive reasons, Grossich declines to divulge the exact amounts of each used in the drink. But he emphasizes the full experience of buying “the World’s Most Expensive Cocktail” and points to wealthy celebs who have tried it, such as Donald Trump’s model girlfriend, Melania Knauss.

“It’s both refreshing and full-bodied,” says Grossich, who adds that the bar has sold several each week since it opened last month. “People are just very curious about it. And for $50, you get a floor show.”

Although pricey, Grossich’s drink may not actually live up to its name. Robert Plotkin, a national beverage consultant and author of such books as “Successful Beverage Management,” says that in the spring, the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort in Arizona began offering a $57 margarita made with Herradura Seleccion Suprema tequila, priced at $55 for a 1-ounce drink.

Matt Rinehart, the resort’s director of restaurants, says most guests have preferred to drink the tequila on its own so they can appreciate its unadulterated flavor.

He adds that many have not been surprised at the margarita’s price, partly because diners today are more educated about wine and spirits than before.

“Things like Food Network have really changed people’s approach to dining,” he says. “People are a lot more careful about where they spend their money, but they are absolutely willing to pay for what they perceive to be quality.”

Even if Grossich’s invention isn’t the world’s most expensive cocktail, its price is several times higher than the cost of the average U.S. bar drink, around $8 or $9.

At most bars, Plotkin says, a cocktail’s ingredients make up about 18% to 20% of its price. Without knowing the exact amounts in the World Bar cocktail, he estimated the cost of ingredients to be no more than $10. And, although the other cocktails at the World Bar are $12 to $12.50, which is not unusual for Manhattan, Plotkin wondered if “the World’s Most Expensive Cocktail” price might be a deterrent for some.

“There is a downside to this marketing approach,” he says. “Some people would see this as a place that only snobs could possibly afford, that ‘times are tough and thanks for flaunting a reminder of what I don’t have.’ ”

Even so, some like the idea of a $50 drink.

Christine Gray, whose husband, James, is managing director of an investment bank, ordered the drink on a whim during her first visit to the World Bar. They both enjoyed the drink -- especially the novelty of sipping gold -- so much they say they absolutely will have it again.

“In New York,” James Gray says, “you don’t think of expense.”