Also… There’s no such thing as Australian Hennessy Ellipse, it’s all made in France, it was a special edition of 2000 bottles. It’s qualities have little to do with the ABV% and are wasted in a Sidecar, as is the pre-phylloxera cognac used at the Ritz. You can get a great sidecar in the same vein at a reasonable price using Pierre Ferrand 1840, a pre-phylloxera replica created in collaberation with drinks historian Dave Wondrich.

There were only six bottles of Wray & Nephew 17yr found relatively recently, because as it was the original rum used in Trader Vic’s Mai Tai it quickly ran out, and they didn’t make more, therefore the Merchant Hotel’s Mai Tai is a piece of history and worth the expense, though I seriously doubt that they serve it looking like that.

What else… Ah yes, Napoleon wasn’t sitting quaffing L’Esprit de Courvoisier, while he did supposedly drink the cognac sold by the founder of Courvoisier they didn’t actually move to the cognac region and establish the brand until after the Emperor’s exile. That said, L’Esprit de Courvoisier does contain some cognac from that era in the blend.

There are plenty of worth while ways to blow your cash on good drinking, but please make sure you aren’t just spending for the sake of it.

You can get 100 bottles of ET for that kind of money.