Louis XIII Holds Court at New York Strip Club

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Jul 31st 2010 at 11:02AM

A white hummer pulled up in front of the club, and armed guards were on hand to meet it and escort the passengers. A welcoming committee, of sorts, waited on the red carpet, flanked by me and people like me. The passengers, of course, were a pair of Louis XIII Rare Cask de Remy Martin cognac bottles, and their destination club was the Rick's Cabaret gentleman's club in Manhattan.

Rick's may seem like a strange venue for such a rare spirit. According to Louis XIII senior brand ambassador Remi Brabant, only 786 bottles of the Louis XIII Rare Cask were made, and most will go to private buyers. This is also the case with the 30 bottles allocated to the U.S. market: most will not be featured in clubs. Yet despite these constraints, three bottles were made available to Rick's Cabaret – with the third going to the company's Tootsie's club in Miami.

Frankly, I was a bit surprised that a gentlemen's club would get such a high allocation. Make no mistake: Rick's Cabaret is an upscale establishment, and it provides a luxury service that can get as pricey as you'd like. But, it's just not what you'd expect ... it's not what I'd expect, and I tend to be rather open-minded on these matters. I used to cover Rick's Cabaret and had the pleasure of interviewing the company's CEO, Eric Langan, on several occasions.

Gallery: Louis XIII Rare Cask Remy Martin Arrives in Manhattan

Armed guards greet Louis XIII Rare Cask de Remy Martin

Louis XIII is carried into Rick's Cabaret

The Grand Unveiling of Louis XIII Rare Cask de Remy Martin

When I sat down with Brabant on the club's rooftop lounge, I asked the obvious question: why Rick's? He replied that the decision came down to a combination of relationship and stability. Brabant mentioned several times that Rick's is a public company, and he cited the years during which Remy Martin had done business with the clubs. He noted, "It's a great pleasure. These are fantastic people to work with." Brabant added that Langan reached out to Remy Martin early and made clear that it was quite interested in participating in this rare cognac opportunity.

Currently, the bottles are resting in special cases on the club's VIP floor, which is where you're most likely to find the guests who will make a purchase. The general manager of the Manhattan club, Ken Sistrunk, expects the first purchase to be made by the middle of August and predicts that both bottles will be empty by New Year's Day. "When the fall comes around, we do an incredible, incredible business," he explains.

A single ounce of the Louis XIII rare cask will cost $1,250, according to Sistrunk, but larger amounts do come with price breaks. Two ounces will fetch a more modest price of $2,200. He says that the purchases will likely come with an underlying reason.

"There are still a lot of people making a lot of money," Sistrunk said, "and they want to celebrate."

[photos and video via Cigar Reader]

Tags: club, clubs, cognac, liquor, louis xiii, louis xiii cognac, manhattan, new york, new york city, remy martin, Ricks Cabaret, strip club, strip clubs, stripper, strippers