Irish racing fans in Cheltenham this week can - if they dare - sample the world's most expensive pint of Guinness.
The £20 tipple features the famous black stuff but will be mixed with 'English sparkling wine' in a a concoction the bookmakers behind it are calling 'the finest' pint in the world.
Online bookmaker Fitzdares launched the tipple - an abomination they refer to as a 'perfect blend' of English sparkling wine and Irish stout - for the famous four-day festival.
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Called Club Black Velvet, the 50:50 mix is odds-on favourite to be the most expensive ale ever served at a racecourse. It will be available in Fitzdares Club at the racecourse and its sister venues in the Cotswolds and London’s Belgravia throughout the race meeting.
The bookmaker’s chief executive officer William Woodhams launched the drink to toast the Government’s post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade deal with the European Union - known as the Windsor Framework.
It was also designed to cock a snook at punters who bleat about drink prices at the race meeting.
He said: "Every year there is more and more controversy around the cost of Guinness at the Cheltenham Festival and frankly we were bored of it.
"So, to gently rib the complainers and celebrate recent political manoeuvres we have created the world’s most expensive - and finest - pint of the black stuff with a mix of premium English sparkling wine and Guinness brewed in Dublin.
"Isn’t it the perfect way to celebrate free trade between our two great nations and the Windsor protocol? The Irish visitors to Cheltenham can afford it with their strong currency. Yours for £20."
Fitzdares, which launched as a bookmaker in 1882, opened its first members’ club in Mayfair three years ago which has now moved to Belgravia.
It added a second luxury sports venue - complete with 18-hole golf course - near Cheltenham last year (2022).
The Jockey Club has said ordinary pints of Guinness will cost £7.50 at the course. Thirsty punters are expected to sup up to 300,000 during the festival.
A self-service pull-your-own-pint bar has been brought in to cut queues. More than 20,000 Irish racing fans are expected to jet over for the bash which is expecting total crowds of around 274,000.
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