Behold, Thoroughbred. Got five figures to spend on one bottle?
I’m sitting between equally charming companions Bénédicte Hardy and Craig Schoettler in Bardot Brasserie’s private dining room, having one of those profoundly satisfying, ultra-exclusive Vegas experiences. I’ve sipped fine spirits and eaten far too much chilled seafood and steak tartare, and soon, I’ll sample four different, wildly expensive cognacs, one of which has never been tasted by anyone other than its makers, and another which was commissioned by the Aria resort, the only place in the world it’s available. We are all three in awe of this situation. “Las Vegas is very good, maybe the best, at doing things like this,” Hardy tells me. “Very good at the highest level and at the lowest level, too,” she laughs. So true.
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It’s here at Aria, but the cognac is hers. She is the fifth generation of Hardy Cognac makers, beginning with Anthony Hardy in 1863, and she’s here to help show off Thoroughbred, of which only 30 bottles were produced. Schoettler, a 29-year-old booze wunderkind and Aria’s head mixologist, says the resort chose to create its own cognac—packaged in a stunning crystal decanter with raging horses serving as the stopper—to suit the highest of high-end clientele, mostly from Asia, who have taken home bottles as gifts from the casino or maybe purchased a few to give as gifts (at a price of $12,000 to $14,000 each; you can get a shot in the high-limit room for a mere $1,500). “Some of our clientele are collectors, and it’s become a very hot commodity,” Schoettler says. Hardy was the best possible partner because “the name is so well-known and respected in luxury markets.”
Aria started with 29 bottles—Hardy kept bottle No. 13—upon Thoroughbred’s release earlier this year. How long will this last, this magical elixir blended from 20 cognacs crafted right after World War II? Tough to say. Schoettler would like to always have some available, so he’ll hold some back if supplies get depleted quicker than expected. “Maybe we’ll have to go back and do Thoroughbred 2.”
So what does it taste like? Profoundly satisfying. Ultra-exclusive. All that and more.
