The best last minute boozy Christmas gifts for 2020
Got some last minute shopping to do? Look no further than this list of the best presents for the booze lover in your life
Christmas has snuck up on us a bit this year. I think without the usual festive build-up, trips to cute Christmas markets, popping round to friends’ houses for a little mulled wine, it’s just... appeared.
Like me, you might also be a bit later than usual on your present shopping. I confess, I am one of those people who usually has all my shopping bought and wrapped up by October, maybe November latest. But this year I am still going up to the wire.
If you’re looking for some last minute boozy gifts to treat your friends, family – or let’s face it, maybe just yourself, you bloody deserve it for getting through this year – here are a few excellent suggestions.
Drinks by the Dram 12 dram collection
These fab boxes contains 12 different 30ml wax-sealed drams of tequila & mezcal, whisky, gin, rum, Irish whiskey, or whatever your tipple of choice is. Each is from an excellent producer and it sure to pique the fancy of even the most picky of enthusiasts. If you’re a bit rubbish at wrapping presents, it’s also perfect as the box is a rectangle, so no chaos by trying to hide the fact you’ve definitely bought someone a bottle of something. Just don’t let the lucky recipient rattle it around too much...!
Available from Master of Malt (delivery until the 19th) from £30 to £65.
Smokehead whisky gift tin
If you’re dreaming of a wild(dish) Christmas, time to get on board with some smoky Islay festivities. This gift tin (sadly not square so you will have to dig deep to find those inner wrapping skills), includes three 5cl bottles of Smokehead original, High Voltage and the brand-new expression Rum Rebel. To add a little extra fun, you could even suggest a couple of festive cocktails in the card. Smokehead Snow Ball anyone?
Ingredients: 25ml Smokehead, 50ml Advocaat, 12.5ml Gingerbread syrup, Lemonade. So smoky, so festive. It might not be a whisky for the faint-hearted, but if your present pal is a peat lover, it’s definitely the one for them.
Festive gins
Ok, so the snow globe gin liqueurs may have got a bad rap in ‘serious gin world’, but these are a cuter novelty than some of the other sins I’ve seen committed against gin recently. There’s the orange and gingerbread gin liqueur in Harvey Nichols for £29, or Marks and Spencer has two different flavours, clementine or rhubarb. The M&S ones are ridiculously tricky to get hold of though. There’s daily stock coming into the shops but staff don’t get the chance to unload them before they’re all grabbed and gone. Serious gin world might not like them, but the public clearly does.
If you want a proper gin, rather than a gin liqueur, Yuletide gin from That Boutique-y Gin Company is the one. While the 46% ABV expression maintains a classic dry character, it’s an unmistakably festive drop. Its 24 botanicals include juniper, cassia, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and Christmas tree needles, plus distillates made from Christmas cake, chestnuts, Christmas pudding, Lebkuchen, mince pies, Panettone, an entire gingerbread house, and of course, frankincense and myrrh! How festive does that sound? As if it wasn’t festive enough, edible gold flakes added post-distillation transform Yuletide Gin into a snow globe. Available from Master of Malt for £34.95.
An update on a gran favourite – Sherry and tonic
If you’re really late to the party and need to be buying your presents from the supermarket (no judgement here), you could opt for an update to a gran favourite: sherry! Sherry is mahoosively underrated, and still has a bit of a bad rep. Stay away from the cream stuff your gran will definitely have a bottle of in the cupboard, and update things to 2020 with an S+T rather than your usual G+T.
Tio Pepe fino sherry and tonic is one of the most simple cocktails you can put together, and feels way more festive than your usual G+T. It’s just a bit, different!
You can buy a bottle of Tio Pepe Fino sherry from most supermarkets for around £10, and pair it with a few bottle or cans of good quality tonic. Instant gift set right there.
A trio of tasty beer crackers – including a non-alcoholic one
Continuing the supermarket love, the excellent Mikkeller brewery recently launched three of its beers into Sainsbury’s.
You could make up some cute beer crackers for your friends and family with these, and also perfect if you’ve got any tee-total pals, as one of them is a 0.3% job.
You’ll spot the fun Mikkeller labels a mile away. They’ve recently launched Mikkeller American Dream – an IPA extra dry-hopped, Side Eyes, a fresh and punch pale ale, and Drink’in the Sun, an American Wheat Ale with just 0.3% alcohol. They're £2.50 a can, or £2 a can for the non-boozy one. The perfect stocking filler!
A taste of summer
If you want to hark back to sunnier, warmer times (maybe not of 2020 when we all stuck inside, but still), and your pal is a fan of Negronis or aperitifs in general, they need a bottle of El Bandarra Al Fresco. I love this stuff.
El Bandarra Al Fresco is a natural and refreshing aperitif that combines local wines with natural Mediterranean botanicals. And its serve couldn’t be any easier – simply mix one-part Al Fresco with two parts tonic water over ice, garnish with orange and you’re good to go... you’ll be swapping ‘Cheers’ for ‘Salud' in no time!
Or swap out the vermouth in your Negroni and go for 1 part El Bandarra, 1 part gin and 1 part Campari. So. Good.
Available from Master of Malt for £20.95.
Vermouth for everyone
Vermouth is finally starting to have its moment. I think a lot of people still don’t really know how to drink it, but whether you have it neat, add it to tonic, or pop it in your cocktails, there is genuinely so much you can do with it. If you’re looking for a seriously giftable vermouth, Padro & Co Reserva is your one. How gorgeous is this bottle?
It’s aromatically intense and very pleasant. With sweet herbs such as gentian, star anise, lemon verbena and angelica. Both well-balanced and complex. An elegant, smooth, refined and well-rounded palate with a slight sweetness and also a certain bitterness. A citrus fruit finish ensures freshness and a superb aftertaste giving this vermouth a gourmet touch.
You can get hold of this fabulous bottle for £17.10 from The Northern Wine & Beer Co.
Whisky you know your recipient will never have tried before
It’s always awesome when you get to try something new. Or even better when you get to introduce something new to someone. Waterford Irish single malt whisky (Irish whiskey, without the ‘e’) is bringing a new idea to whisky making: it’s all about terroir. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, terroir is basically the environmental factors that affect where a crop is grown, so the soil, climate, farming practices etc.etc.
While terroir is used and talked about a lot in wine, it’s not really used in whisky. But Waterford is going for it. They use single harvests of Irish barley from individual farms to create whiskies that express a taste of place and time.
There’s a few different expressions available on Master of Malt currently for £69.95. If you’re looking for a special present for someone for Christmas, whether they already love Irish whiskey, or they’re a staunch Scotch supporter, I can guarantee they’ll love this. It’s different, it tastes great, and it looks great.
Support a local bar – get cocktails in the post
Oriole Chalupy Holiday
This year has been really shite for those working in hospitality. People have diversified where they can, and many cocktail bars have taken on the task of transforming their best drinks into ones you can enjoy at home, wherever you are in the country. It’s worth checking with some of your locals if they’re offering a delivery service of drinks within a certain radius. Or you could look at the likes of Oriole, Swift, Heads + Tails, Scout, The Proofing Room, Callooh Callay, The Connaught, or Hawksmoor at Home.
Push the boat out with a Drinkworks Home Bar
Got someone you reeeally want to treat this Christmas? In the UK, we can finally get our hands on the Drinkworks Home Bar! This is the ultimate gift for a booze lover in 2020. If you know someone who loves cocktails, but isn’t the best at putting them all together, or can’t be bothered with the faff of getting all the ingredients together (or the washing up, let’s face it), this is the one. All you need to do is pop a pod into the machine (the pods contain all the premium spirits needed, plus all your other ingredients), and the machine makes you a quality cocktail (sparkling where needed!).
If you get in quick, Master of Malt is currently offering the Drinkworks Home Bar and Classic Cocktail bundle for £100 off.
Keep your eye out for a full review of this bad boy coming soon!
Join In
Comments (11)
Is it bad I literally want every single thing on this list...? Start me off with the beer cracker in my stocking, and finish with the home bar sat in my kitchen with a giant bow on it...!
You're not alone! 😁😍
Just get me methylated Spirit, the effect lasts till New Year's Eve.