Bribery Clouds East Hampton as Grape Juice Hits $150 a Glass

The summer circuit on the East End has delivered two stories simultaneously: a municipal corruption complaint and a beverage menu that requires a moment to process.

A bribery scandal has landed in East Hampton, adding a municipal corruption thread to this summer's gossip rotation.
A glass of grape juice at an unnamed Hamptons venue is reportedly running $150, a figure that has achieved its own notoriety.
The combination of a local government scandal and luxury-menu absurdity has given the Hamptons gossip circuit unusually durable material for July.
Neither story has yet produced a resignation or a refund.
Curbed reported both items as the dominant conversation topics circulating among East End regulars this summer.

East Hampton has produced two conversation pieces this summer, and neither is a renovation project.

The first is a bribery complaint making the rounds in local government circles, details of which have been circulating well ahead of any formal resolution. The precise allegations remain the subject of ongoing discussion rather than settled record, but the word “bribery” has been attached to the East Hampton municipal apparatus by enough people to constitute its own category of seasonal gossip.

The second requires less context. A glass of grape juice — grape juice — is being offered somewhere on the East End for $150. Curbed flagged the item in its summer Hamptons roundup without identifying the establishment by name, which may be the establishment's only remaining competitive advantage.

Both items have achieved what the Hamptons gossip circuit prizes most: durability. They are still being discussed at the kind of dinners where the wine list does not have prices and the host mentions square footage within the first four minutes.

The bribery complaint has not produced a resignation as of filing. The $150 grape juice has not produced a correction.