A gold-encrusted bottle of Wuliangye, a famous brand of traditional Chinese liquor, is selling for 298,000 yuan (US$46,600) at a high-end supermarket in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, the National Business Daily reported.

The pricy spirits, distilled using a secret five-grain recipe dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), were made in Yibin in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

The base and cap of the bottle are made of 24-karat gold. A salesman at the Guangzhou supermarket said each bottle contains 500 milliliters of the spirits, which the salesman said were distilled in 1990.

The company confirmed that the base and cap of the liquor bottle were made with 180 grams of pure gold, giving the bottle a face value of about 72,000 yuan (US$11,250), based on the gold price of 400 yuan per gram. The rest of the price – 226,000 yuan – would presumably go towards the liquor inside, at the hefty rate of 452 yuan (US$70) per milliliter.

China's business press carried the story above on Monday.