An interesting unique luxury liqueur that is distilled through genuine diamonds, Pavé Amsterdam - The Luxury Liqueur™, had me intrigued from the start. I did as much research as possible and even contacted the owner multiple times for details, but I didn't learn much more than I had by poking around the internet. So, I will share with you what I can.
Nowadays the word "luxury" is tossed about quite carelessly. I've been guilty of doing so in this very blog. But when it comes to a luxury liqueur, Pavé claims to be the paragon. After all, it's said to be distilled and filtered through 500 carats of the finest grade earth-mined diamonds.
Pavé, the Luxury Liqueur, is described as an ultra premium, 60 proof clear fruit liqueur infused with a distinct blend of ripened citrus, tropical and passion fruits, hints of caffeine and delicate herbal notes. Distilled from organic fruits through genuine diamonds. It is said that Pavé is designed to be a standalone drink, though it can also be enjoyed with a splash of your favorite mixer.
The company says that Pavé’s finesse is in its elaborate creation process and secret family techniques that have been passed down for generations.
The bottle design:
From their website:
The ultra-lux liqueur is encased in its proprietary rectangular bottle. Standing strikingly tall and crystal-like, the bottle is fused with metal and Swarovski Crystals. The bottle was designed by founder Moghaddam* and inspired by the diamond distillation method used to produce the delicate liqueur. A 750ml bottle of Pavé weighs nearly 5 pounds.
The distillation process:
From their website:
Pavé is the first and only liqueur distilled with diamonds. For this “diamond-distillation” process, over 500 carats of the world’s finest genuine diamonds (category: IF/VVS1 – D/E) were examined and hand-picked by experts. After an elaborate distillation, Pavé is filtered through these flawless diamonds just before bottling, using a brand new batch of gems for every distillation. This enables filtration to 1.0 microns – conventional filters, on the other hand, only filter within a range between 30.0 and 15.0 microns. This fine, high-grade diamond dust makes this possible, removing even the most minute particles and impurities from the distillate. The sophisticated process gives Pavé its exquisite softness, exceptional clarity and clean, fresh finish - a liqueur of perfect purity and smoothness.
So, who is behind Pavé the Luxury Liqueur?
Well, this is not an easy one to answer. You may have noticed that the liqueur label and logo read Pavé Amsterdam, and when I asked owner Moghaddam*, I couldn't get a specific address nor pictures of the offices or distillation location. And from my own amateur research, I couldn't find any indication that it's created, owned, distilled or distributed in or from Amsterdam, so I am taking his word for it.
*Mehran Moghaddam, is named as the founder and President of the company, the designer of the bottle and as per his Linked In profile, a young entrepreneur who received a degree in Biochemistry at UC Davis in 1996 and a masters at UC Davis in Business Management in 2005.
The links to the "media" for Pavé on their site don't work, so I couldn't see any other articles about the trademarked "luxury liqueur". And when it comes to their social media presence, they are definitely a mess. On Facebook, one of their group pages calls it Pavé Vodka, but it is not a vodka and the marketing address for that is the Idol Music Group which is in New York. The business group page on Facebook lists Amsterdam as their location, but again, no working address or link. The myspace page for Pave is sparse and neglected and hasn't been updated in over a year.
This kind of makes me doubt the diamond distillation process. After all, 500 carats of Internally Flawless (IF) diamonds with D or E color would cost millions (unless they are chips, which is possible) and a new batch is used every time? Are there armed guards standing by during the process? And who are these 'experts' who hand picked the diamonds? Unfortunately, I could not find the answers to these questions.
Regardless of the veracity of its claims, the concept has an appeal and the bottle design is aesthetically pleasing. I can't comment on the taste because it's virtually impossible to locate in a retail location or online, with one exception -- it is available through Hi Time Wine. How did I even hear about it? Pavé seems to be most commonly present at music-related launches at the hippest events and parties.
all images courtesy of Pavé Spirits and Mehran Moghaddam
