The most expensive bottle of vodka has been found — empty.
Last week, the Russo-Baltique vodka, widely promoted as the most expensive bottle of vodka in the world, was stolen from Copenhagen bar Cafe 33. The bottle itself is made from 6.6 pounds of a gold and silver mixed with a diamond-encrusted cap and is reportedly priced at $1.3 million.
According to the New York Times, the one-of-a-kind bottle was found after an anonymous tip led investigators to a construction site in Charlottenlund, an affluent area north of Copenhagen. When investigators arrived on the scene, they found the bottle abandoned, empty and dented.
No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified, but the Copenhagen police said the bottle was being examined for leads.
“There’s no doubt the thief got cold feet,” Brian Ingeberg, owner of Cafe 33, told the Times. “He placed it there because he wanted it to be found.”
The bottle was uninsured and residing at Cafe 33 on a loan from Leonard F. Yankelovich, the founder of Dartz Motorz, a car manufacturer in Riga, Latvia. Under Yankelovich, Dartz created the extravagant bottle.
When he saw reports that the bottle had been stolen, Yankelovich told the Times he believed it was a hoax.
“I thought it was a New Year’s joke, but it was not a joke,” he said. Yankelovich also told the Times he believed the bottle would be located because he trusts “the god of vodka.”
Though the vodka, which was made with melted snow from the French Alps, has been drained, Yankelovich has vowed to fill the bottle again.
