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The holidays are often a time of indulgence and guests at Disneyland that scoff at the $185 price tag for a tiny shot of booze may be shocked to learn they’re getting a real steal. Disneyland’s The Grand Californian Hotel & Spa has an annual holiday cart that offers spirit-infused drinks that carry a festive theme, according to SFGate. This year’s dessert shot is a “waffle shot”- a wafer-lined treat priced at $185 when combined with Remy Martin Louis XIII Grande Champagne Cognac. While this may seem to be an exorbitant price tag, guests can rest assured knowing this price...

A hoard of contraband alcohol recovered from a shipwreck 100 years after it sank on its way to tsarist Russia is going on sale for nearly £8,000 a bottle. Hundreds of bottles were salvaged by a specialist Swedish team in the Sea of Aland, near the Baltic Sea, in 2019. The crew found 600 bottles of De Haartman & Co cognac and 300 bottles of Benedictine liqueur within the remains of the Kyros, which was sunk by a German submarine in May 1917. It is believed the shipment left Bordeaux in December 1916, but was delayed until the spring due...

Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A trio of escaped pigs wandered into a supermarket in Russia and were caught on camera raiding the liquor aisle. A video taken at the store in Tyumen, Siberia, shows the three pigs perusing the liquor aisle and knocking over bottles of cognac, which they then proceeded to lap up off the floor. Witnesses said the three pigs were found to have escaped from a nearby home. The pigs were returned to their owner unharmed. VIDEO AT LINK................

On May 19th, 1917, at the height of World War One, Swedish steamer S/S Kyros set its course to Petrograd (today known as St Petersburg). It was delivering 50 cases of cognac and 15 cases of liqueur from France to Russia through neutral Swedish territory. But just off Åland island in the Baltic Sea, it was stopped and checked by German submarine UC-58, whose captain decided to sink the steamer because the alcohol was considered an illegal contraband product. The crew were transferred to another ship and were able to return home to Sweden safely – but the cognac and...

Lately, Chavez declared himself a member of a charismatic congregation, thus allegedly belonging to his country's fastest-growing branch of Christianity. But then he angered the country's National Catholic Bishops Conference by communing at a Mass organized by a priest of pro-Communist leanings. Should you have any doubt that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is in serious decline, consider this: His bust is being removed from the altars of his country's popular religion, a renowned anthropologist told United Press International on Monday. Less than four years ago, the syncretistic Maria Lionza cult celebrated Chavez as the reincarnation of Simon Bolivar, (1783-1830),...

It was a true political miracle that Democratic establishment candidate Hillary Clinton was soundly defeated in the 2016 Presidential election. It is a testament to the will of the people, who finally gained the courage to speak up against powerful and corrupt government and corporate interests. You can be sure this shocking defeat must have stung for Hillary Clinton, who went into seclusion for a prolonged period following the election. It has also left the Democratic party scrambling to fill the power vacuum left following Clinton’s stunning loss. They may have found their answer, and it is both pathetic and...

"World's Oldest" Cognac Opened in Poland What is thought to be the world's oldest Cognac sold at auction was opened in Poland recently to inaugurate a partnership between a Swiss watchmaker and a corporate collector. The Gautier Cognac was purchased by collector Wealth Solutions in 2014 during an auction of rare wines and liquors organised by Bonhams Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers in New York. The bottle itself dates back to 1762 and was recognised as the oldest Cognac sold at public auction to-date when it went under the hammer. It was opened during a ceremony to mark the partnership...

Say what you want about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, the man liked his Hennessy. For two years in the mid-1990s, he was the world's largest buyer of Hennessy Paradis cognac, importing up to $800,000 of the stuff a year, both to quaff himself and to give as gifts, and his death has caused a resurgence in discussion and commentary on his expensive cognac habits. So does Hennessy appreciate all of the free advertising provided by the coveted Dear Leader seal of approval? "There's been no negative feedback, but it hasn't affected sales either," Jennifer Yu, Director of Communications...

PARIS – Over the years, the chief sommelier had forgotten they were there. And when the four bottles of 1875 Armagnac Vieux were finally unearthed from the labyrinthine wine cellar this week, they were covered in a black fungus that looked like matted cat fur. The landmark Tour d'Argent restaurant, which dates back to 1582, is cleaning out its 450,000-bottle wine cellar, considered one of the best and biggest in the world. It is putting 18,000 bottles up for auction in December, an event that has captured the imagination of French wine lovers. The restaurant is selling mostly wine but...

BALTIMORE (AP) — The legend was almost too good to be true. For decades, a mysterious figure dressed in black, his features cloaked by a wide-brimmed hat and scarf, crept into a churchyard to lay three roses and a bottle of cognac at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe. Now, a 92-year-old man who led the fight to preserve the site says the visitor was his creation. "We did it, myself and my tour guides," said Sam Porpora. "It was a promotional idea. We made it up, never dreaming it would go worldwide." Mr. Porpora is an energetic, dapper fellow...

Cognac to blow your head, and wallet, away Thu Jun 14, 2007 1:47AM EDT     By Pauline AskinSYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - It could well end up being the most expensive hangover of your life.A Sydney hotel is offering patrons a rare cognac for A$480 a glass ($403) -- the cost of one-week's rent for a two-bedroom flat in the city -- to cash in on what it believes is the growing desire for a "Ferrari lifestyle" among Sydneysiders."It's a taste that promises to seduce not only your nose and tongue but your entire body," said Laurent Branover, the...

AS FRANCE’S wine industry tries to haul itself out of a quagmire of overproduction, plummeting sales and overseas competition, cognac sales are booming thanks to help from a very unlikely quarter: American gangsta rappers.The hip hop crowd have adopted the drink - previously associated with gentlemen’s clubs - as their own, affectionately referring to it as "Yak". French cognac’s top brands have benefited from numerous rap anthems in their honour, the lyrics of which frequently read like an advertising executive’s dream. As a result, exports have increased across the board by around 10%. One song, Busta Rhymes and P Diddy’s...

<p>France's Cognac Producers May Not Speak Jay-Z's Language, but They Like the Plugs Listening to a recording of Busta Rhymes's hit song "Pass the Courvoisier," Anne-Sophie Louvet cringes at the thumping rap music and says she doesn't understand the lyrics.</p>

A Florida doctor is on his way to Europe after helping a patient live to see his 100th birthday. Israel Haimowitz, who celebrated his 100th birthday this week, told his doctor 15 years ago he would buy him an overseas trip if he lived to see the day. "He wanted to [reward me and] buy the ticket, but I really didn't want to take his money," said the physician, Dr. Robert Drimmer, from his clinic in Coconut Creek, Fla., about 100 kilometres north of Miami. "He insisted. He even arranged for a travel agent to call me up, so I'm...