The Guinness World Record for the “Most Expensive Shot of Cognac”

On 9 November 2016 Cognac Croizet and InterContinental Hong Kong marked a Guinness World Record for the “Most Expensive Shot of Cognac” with Croizet Cognac “Cuvée Leonie” 1858 sold by the shot for the first time at InterContinental Hong Kong for HK $68,000 (US $8763) .

The buyer Mr. Jason Wong (Huang Guofeng), Chairman of Eyarn Lighting Ltd. In Foshan City, Guangdong, China toasted to President Elect Donald Trump, as the new Guinness World Record was set.

This is the third Guinness World Record for Cognac Croizet. On 24 September 2011 a single bottle of Croizet Cognac “Cuvée Leonie” dating back to the harvest of 1858 was sold at auction in Shanghai, China for one million RMB. This cognac is recognised by the Guinness World Records as the most expensive cognac ever sold at auction. This was the cognac which Winston Churchill and General Dwight D. Eisenhower drank on the Eve of D-Day in 1944.

On 7 February 2013 the world’s most expensive cocktail, “The Winston”, which was made with 1858 Cuvée Leonie” sold for US $12,500 in Melbourne, Australia.

In celebration of these Croizet Guinness World Records, InterContinental Hong Kong is proud to be the exclusive venue globally to offer Croizet Cognac “Cuvée Leonie” 1858 by the shot and the only Hong Kong hotel to offer “Cuvée Leonie” 1858 by the bottle.

During the month of December 2016, the proceeds from the purchase of the 1858 Cuvée Leonie by the shot or “The Winston” (cocktail) will benefit AIDS Concern in Hong Kong with the funds ear-marked for AIDS Concern’s local education work with young people and schools. It will pay for teaching materials and also social media campaigns warning young people about the risk of HIV.*

This special 155 year old cognac, known as Pre-Phylloxera, was made before the global vine/grape disease which destroyed most vineyards in the 1870s, so the grapes used to make it are unique and now extinct. The vines that harvested these grapes were planted by Julius Caesar’s conquering armies in 55BC. Certified by the World’s Top Cognac Expert as “Exceptional”, its value is also increasing due to its rarity.