The World's Most Expensive Cocktail: The $1,475 Mai Tai

A Belfast, Northern Ireland, hotel has laid claim to a Guinness World Record for the most expensive cocktail -- a $1,475 Trader Vic's Mai Tai.

Unlike many hotel bars that may clip you for a drink in their lounge, the Merchant Hotel claims the hefty price tag is justified because only 15 servings of the classic, made with 17-year-old Wray and Nephew Rum, are available. The Merchant Hotel owns one of six bottles of the rum known to exist. Trader Vic Bergeron is said to have used the Wray and Nephew rum to make the first Mai Tai some 60 years ago.

Wray and Nephew stopped making the 17 year old rum, but recently released a small number of bottles. Each is said to be worth more than $51,000. Merchant Hotel officials said two of the cocktails have been sold and a third Mai Tai was made to celebrate the Guinness World record presentation earlier this week.