How To Make A $3.5 Million Margarita

Everyone knows that top-shelf liquors taste better than whatever stuff they sell in plastic jugs near the floorboards. So we can only imagine just how amazing a margarita would taste when it’s made with the finest salts, the priciest tequila, the most luxurious liqueur, the freshest limes, and shaken in the fanciest cocktail shaker in existence. Our guess—pretty darn spectacular. But just how much does it cost to make the most expensive margarita in the world? Let’s explore.

LIMES

As any skilled bartender knows that the first step to making a mean margarita is to rub the rim of the glass with a wedge of lime in order to make the salt stick to it. But we’re not going to use just any old fruit you’d find at the local Fairway. No, we’re going to use the sweetest, juciest limes grown right in Mexico. To ensure that your fruit is picked at the peak of perfection, it only makes sense to go to Mexico and pick it yourself.

Price of roundtrip airline ticket from New York City (in First Class, of course): $3,665.

SALT

Can your salt inhibit the growth of cancer cells, cure fevers, relieve edema, and revitalize both your body and mind? Well, this one can. Hailed as the most expensive salt in the world, Master In-shan’s 9x Amethyst and Oyster bamboo salts are considered a highly-prized ingredient in Taoist medicine, and let’s face it, taste pretty good on the rim of a frosted glass.

Price of large jar: $34.

TEQUILA

Arguably the most important ingredient in any margarita, this distilled spirit made from the blue agave plant is what makes a cocktail go from meh to amazing. And at $3.5 million a bottle—yes, million—it doesn’t get much more amazing than that. So what makes the Ley .925 Tequila Pasion Azteca Ultra Premium Anejo retail price so high? Is it the smooth taste? The complex flavor? Or the meticulous distilling process? Or is it the Diamond Sterling Bottle, comprised of more than 4,000 diamonds and weighing in at a whopping 328 carats.

Price of bottle: $3.5 million.

ORANGE LIQUEUR

Though everyone has their preference when it comes to the best orange liqueur, it’s hard to argue with the smoothness and complexity of Grand Marnier. Fresh, lively, and delectable with orange and almond notes, the Quintessence is the crème de la crème of the liqueur world and would be the ultimate addition to a great-tasting margarita.

Price: $570.

SHAKER
Sure you could use any old stainless steel shaker to mix your drink, but you could also pick up a bottle of cheap-o booze. To make the most luxurious margarita, you need the right tools—and that includes this Saint-Louis crystal shaker. Crafted from master glassmakers and glass cutters in France, it’s equal parts functional and fashionable.

Price of cocktail shaker: $750.