Guests at a London bar were hoping it wasn’t their round after a £5,500 ($8,600) cocktail was mixed by leading drinks expert Salvatore Calabrese.

Salvatore Calabrese broke the record for the world’s most expensive cocktail with his “Salvatore’s Legacy” drink which was made up of ingredients more than 200 years old.

Salvatore Calabrese, whose nickname is “The Maestro”, made the costly concoction using 1778 Clos de Griffier Vieux Cognac, 1770 Kummel Liqueur, Dubb Orange Curacao circa 1860 and two dashes of Angostura Bitters circa 1900s.

The drink was valued at £5,500 ($8,600), smashing the previous record for the world’s most expensive cocktail that was held by The Skyview Bar of Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai, which cost £3,766.52 ($5,900) a glass.

Salvatore Calabrese said he was proud to make “liquid history” after breaking the record with the cocktail he mixed in his self-titled bar, Salvatore’s at Playboy Club, in London last Thursday.

He said: “It’s official, I am proud to say that history was made as well as consumed in my bar.

“In front of a crowd, I needed very steady hands to open the vintage bottles and pour these precious ingredients into my own mixing glass, which I have had for 40 years.”

Salvatore Calabrese broke the record for the world’s most expensive cocktail

Salvatore Calabrese has more than 30 years’ experience of creating drinks, developing his talent for combining flavors at an early age, whilst working in a bar in Maiori, a small village on Italy’s Amalfi Coast.

In his 20s, Salvatore Calabrese moved to London, taking a position at Dukes Hotel in St James’s where he developed a niche market for special cognacs and was famed for his martini’s. He worked at other prestigious bars in London’s Mayfair before opening his own in Old Park Lane.

He has become an expert on cognacs after spending many years tracking down, collecting and serving some of the world’s oldest and rarest vintages. His personal collection is worth more than £1m and is displayed in his bar at Playboy Club London. Enthusiasts travel from around the world to sample his collection that stretches back to 1770.

It was ingredients from this collection that he used to make the world’s most expensive cocktail.

HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE COCKTAIL

Take…

• 40 ml 1778 Clos de Griffier Vieux Cognac

• 20 ml 1770 Kummel Liqueur

• 20 ml 1860 Dubb Orange Curacao

• Two dashes of 1900s Angostura Bitters

… pour into a mixing glass, add the purest of ice and stir gently

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