It’s bonkers. Unfortunately, it’s also not that uncommon.
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Since most bars go out of business in their first 5 years ( i have read this but have not seen it confirmed ) and many of them are selling $20+ cocktails right and left, where does most of the revenue go?
It does not seem to be wages, spirits are selling at 15x or more their wholesale cost, business taxes are high but not crippling, so where is the revenue going if in most cases it is not profits?
My thoughts are that the money is going to leasing the property but i do not know that for a fact.
Any thoughts?
Rent. As you suspect.
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What the world needs are Martini Trucks, not Taco Trucks.
Or Uber Martinis delivered to your door.
Eliminate the rent from the pricing equation and you get a much cheaper cocktail made with better spirits.
Or, maybe, I could drink a well made yet reasonably priced martini (or two) at home and nurse one expensive one at the bar.
My bar hopping days are long gone but i still am dumbstruck by cocktail prices today.
Straits of Malaya in DC used to have Henry’s Martini. It was a quadruple martini and the schtick was that if you ordered it without a designated driver the bartender or waitress was supposed to take your car keys.
Why not both? 
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My PIC makes a mean martini very much to our liking (4:1). We don’t have much of a home bar otherwise, so when I go out for a drink I appreciate cocktails with more than 2-3 ingredients that I couldn’t make at home as easily.
Which is a long way to say that we prefer not to pay upwards of $25 for a martini.
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I prefer not to pay upwards of $12, but no one seems to want to accommodate me.
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You can get a martini for around $12-13 at a few bars around here, and they don’t even suck.
I’d say average is about $15.
The travel time and expense would kinda negate the savings, though.
Not to mention being surrounded by cows.
That actually sounds like a plus. I would like to drink a martini in the company of cows.
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Just had a couple of red cap Bombay and Dolin dry, 3:1, martoonis. They were cheap and perfect. Mmmmm.
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They are def nicer and the most harmless.
And here’s my Tanq 10 with Spatola. Start the evening off right.
Cin cin.
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Living in a high cost area like SFO and going out for good cocktails in good cocktail bars regularly I rarely see $20+ cocktails (if you don’t go to complete tourist traps) and most are $16-18 - where do you live with those cocktail prices ?
For $42 the Gibson should at least have tipsy onions.
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I think James Bond should shake it for you.
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The Daniel Craig one please.
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