6 Most Expensive Tequilas Around The World

Ahh, Tequila. What memories you stir up in me. The clearest of which, to be perfectly honest, is that of drinking too much of it and vowing to never get near the nasty stuff ever again. Tequila, as the country song goes, makes her clothes fall off - but usually it just makes me feel nauseous.

This beverage is distilled from the blue agave plant, mainly around the city of Santiago de Tequila, which also happens to be the birthplace of this intoxicating beverage. While my personal experience is with the slam-on-the-bar and down with a lick of salt and a sliver of lemon variety, there are actually a number of super-premium Tequilas that are rather popular among the social elite.

* Tequila Pasion Azteca Ultra Premium Anejo

Sometimes it's not the tequila, but the bottle that drives the price. That's the case with the most expensive bottle of tequila in the world. The Ley .925 comes in one of two bottles: for the cheapskate, you only need $225,000 for a hand-crafted white gold and pure platinum bottle, with a solid platinum emblem. For the truly extravagant, there are a handful of diamond-encrusted bottles that were produced, to the tune of $1.5 million each. These may or may not be for sale, but the company can put you in contact with their owners for a mere $100,000. Top of the line is the Diamond Sterling Bottle, priced at $3.5 million. The tequila itself? Who knows, it could be terrible, but no one who just paid that amount of money would admit it.

* Jose Cuervo, 1800 Coleccion

You may recognize the name of Jose Cuervo, the most well-known tequila maker on the market. 1800 Coleccion is the super-premium crown on the head of Cuervo, aged in French oaked barrels. Packaged in a handsome pewter decanter, with new designs yearly, the most recent edition came in at $2,000 per bottle. It is a blended tequila, with a golden color and a touch of almond on the tongue, along with the 10-year-old, mature agave plants.

* Barrique de Ponciano Porfidio

Stepping up from the tequila that's made the old-fashioned way will cost you. This one is made using a chemical process said to refine and separate the tequila for the highest quality flavor possible, and the price tag of $1,500 hopes you'll think it's worth it. Aged for a minimum of one year in small French oak casks, it is then bottled in hand-blown artisan glass bottles. It is an intensely flavored anejo, amber colored, and very difficult to find.

* Rey Sol Anejo

An Extra Anejo tequila that spends a full six years aging in oak barrels, this tequila provides a combination of agave, licorice, and spices on the nose, while providing a big, plump burst of flavor on the tongue. The taste ranges towards the area of bourbons, with hints of creamy oak and caramel. Highly rated, it better be good with a price tag starting at $250 and going up to $400 per bottle.

* Tres-Quatro-Cinco

An ultra-premium Extra Anejo tequila made by the Fonseca family, this is a blend of three-, four-, and five-year aged tequilas. The bottles are handmade crystal decanters, signed and numbered by the artist. One of the 1,000 bottles in each run will cost $500 or more, depending on who you're trying to buy one from.