People are amazed Jay Z left an $11,000 tip after buying 40 bottles of champagne in a New York nightclub - but it's not as generous as you think

Aspiring billionaire and father of three, Jay Z, had a night on the tiles in Manhattan on Sunday evening that has everyone talking after he left an $11,000 tip in a New York nightclub.

Apparently Beyonce’s husband was celebrating the 50th birthday of Juan “OG” Perez, who runs the rapper’s sports management business Roc Nation Sports.

According to The New York Post’s celebrity gossip site, Page Six, they went to the upmarket Japanese restaurant Zuma with a group of Roc Nation executives first, and Jay Z picked up the $13,000 bill for dinner, before going on to a bar, Made in Mexico, where they had a $9000 tab that included cognac produced by D’Ussé, the distiller launched by Jay Z in collaboration with drinks giant Bacardi in 2012.

After that, the six left standing headed to the Playroom nightclub and managed to order 40 bottles of champagne, which the hip hop artist reportedly shared with other tables, at a total cost of $80,035.

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It was a smart move by the businessman, who is worth an estimated $US810 million, since this was no ordinary bottle of bubbles.

Ace of Spades takes its name from the logo of champagne house Armand de Brignac, which Jay Z bought in November 2014.

When everyone else in rap was trashing Cristal’s reputation in gangsta rap, Jay Z made Ace of Spades famous by guzzling the stuff in the video for his 2006 song “Show Me What You Got”.

Armand de Brignac produces five different multi-vintage cuvées in opaque metallic bottles.

It’s made by the family-owned champagne house Cattier, which dates back to 1763. Lovers of bargain-priced bubbles probably know the name because you pick up the non-vintage for around $35 in Australian bottle shops.

The hip hop singer paid $US1200 a bottle for the Armand de Brignac Brut Gold in Playroom – if you want to see what it’s like, Dan Murphy’s has it for $479, before going totally cray cray on 20 bottles of the rose, which added another $US50,000 for the bill.

The rose $AU699 from Dan Murphy’s.

Aside from its owner, Armand de Brignac, main claim to fame is that it produces the world’s biggest bottle of wine – a 30-litre (40 bottles) “Midas”, as well as Jeroboams (3L), Methuselahs (6L) and Nebuchadnezzars (15L).

So while Jay Z could have ordered just one bottle, his night out wasn’t exactly record breaking when it comes to the brand. US professional gambler Don Johnson reportedly spent £120,000 ($US168,000) on a Midas bottle in a London nightclub in 2011 as part of a £170,000 ($US238K) bar tab that night. It was the most expensive bottle of champagne ever sold.

Apparently, Jay Z’s bill came to light after a server at the nightclub posted it on Snapchat, and everyone started talking about how generous the $11,000 tip was.

Except by New York standards it’s not – the tipping rate in the Big Apple is 15-20% and Jay Z’s gratuity falls just a little under the 15% mark, unless it’s calculated on the pre-tax amount.

But if he does become hip hop’s first billionaire, then he needs to look to the late Australian media mogul Kerry Packer, a gambler with the nickname “the Prince of Whales” who once gain a croupier an $US80,000 tip, but topped that when he accidentally bumped into a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, who spilled her drinks tray, and Packer paid off her $US130,000 mortgage to say sorry.

Your move, Mr Carter.