“While the rest of the government prepared to shut down this fall, the State Department was busy stocking up on embassy liquor supplies. In September, the State Department spent about $180,000 — and racked up a total of more than $400,000 for the whole year, three times the entire liquor tab for all of 2008. The liquor bill, split among purchase orders placed at embassies around the world, included some major last-minute pre-shutdown splurges: $5,625 in ‘gratuity wine’ at the embassy in Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 29, followed by $5,925 in ‘gratuity whiskey’ on the day the shutdown began. $22,416 in wine at the embassy in Tokyo. $15,900 in bourbon and whiskey in Moscow.”
http://teapartyeconomist.com/2013/12/04/state-departments-bar-tab-415000-year/