DUBLIN - Ireland's most expensive cocktail has gone on sale at a Dublin hotel -- priced at a sobering 500 euros (340 pounds).

The "Minted" cocktail -- a vanilla and chocolate Martini on sale at the Mint Bar in central Dublin's Westin Hotel -- includes vanilla-infused vodka, 200-year-old cognac and flakes of 23-carat gold.

The drink comes in a designer crystal glass with chocolate truffles served on the side.

The pricey tipple, the equivalent of a month's groceries for an Irish family of four, joins a growing league of extravagant global cocktails -- with some bars now even popping a diamond ring into glasses for those really wanting to splash out.