Feel like splashing out this Christmas? Forget novelty socks or the latest celebrity fragrance – what your loved ones really want to open under the tree this year is a bottle of Watenshi gin. The only setback might be is that a bottle will cost you £2,000.
Only 36 bottles of the 700ml 'Japanese Angel' gin are produced each year, and one of just six on sale in the UK is available at Selfridges in Birmingham.
Considered the most exclusive gin in the world, Watenshi is created by The Cambridge Distillery using a painstaking distillation technique that minimises evaporation of the spirit, but yields a measly 15ml per distillation.
This intensive and complex process – along with a hand blown glass bottle, silver plated stopper and hand painted decorative calligraphy – attempts to justify the price tag, which works out around £71 per shot.
It was considered the 2015 Gin of the Year by the China & Hong Kong Wine and Spirits Awards, though – so it probably tastes better than anything you could knock together in a bathtub.
If someone pips to you to the Watenshi, fear not. Selfridges has other options for big spenders with expensive tastes, including Dalmore Constellation 1989 – a single malt whisky costing £2,900, or the 'budget' Dalmore Constellation 1992, which is a snip at £2,150.
Think we may have to stick with the socks.
Selfridges
If you've got an eye for the more exclusive spirit, visit one of Birmingham's specialist booze shops.