This Exists: The $40,000 Cocktail

The White Barn Inn in Kennebunk, Maine is celebrating its 40th anniversary in style.

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Are you getting a $40,000 tax refund and looking for a place to blow it? Try the White Barn Inn in Kennebunk, Me.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the bar at the White Barn Inn has concocted a cocktail called the Ruby Rose — made from Hangar One Vodka, St. Germain’s elderflower liqueur, fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice,  a spoonful of rosewater and one special secret ingredient —  a 4-carat ruby. The price is a happy hour-friendly $40,000. But you do get to keep the ruby.

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The idea came about when the staff were thinking of a way to mark the occasion of the luxury inn and restaurant’s anniversary. “Rubies were always considered a very precious gem,” maitre d’hotel Matthew Swinford said to the Portland Press Herald, “and [owner Laurence J. Bongiorno] would always refer to the White Barn Inn as a precious gem.” Since a ruby is the gemstone associated with the 40th wedding anniversary, a once-joking suggestion made by a guest became a reality. Once the rubies (yes, plural — the maitre d’ expects to sell at least two of the drinks) are selected by a New York jeweler and sent over from India, the cocktail will be added to the menu on June 1st and will be available for purchase through the end of the year.

Lest you think the Ruby Rose cocktail will simply be poured into a glass and slid down the bar, the White Barn Inn has plans for a luxe presentation. “The way we’re going to present it is, it’s going to be in the martini glass,” Swinford told the Portland Press Herald. “And then we’re going to pour the martini tableside so they see the gem, and they see the tray — a very high-quality sterling silver tray.”

If the full price seems a little steep,  you can also order the cocktail without the ruby for $18.

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