BUYING someone a nice bottle of booze for Christmas is a great option, but it can take a lot of work to get right with all the various options on the market. If they’re into whisky, do they like it light or peaty? Do they like their gin dry or sweet? These details are vital when buying alcohol and then there’s the hurdle of staying within budget.
In order to inspire you to buy the best gift this festive season, we’ve compiled a detailed guide of gifting options for lovers of fine wine, spirits and the homeware that comes along with these hobbies.
Balu X Noble Macmillan Coasters
This stylish coaster set adds a colourful pop to the dining table and works well if you want something fashionable and functional. Balu London are masters when it comes to decoration, design and tablescapes, so their collaboration with quintessentially British brand Noble Macmillan is great if you want to support a heritage British brand. They also sell matching placemats if you want to buy a full matching set the dinner table.
The coasters retail at £38 and can be purchased here.
Pink Diesel Magnum
Provence rosé has been in very high demand for the last few years, however, it’s easy to get into the habit of buying the same brands over and over again. Pink Diesel is the perfect gift for the rose lover looking to try something new. This magnum is priced well under the £50 mark but doesn’t miss on taste. Due to its size, it’s ideal for Christmas dinner parties.
Pink Diesel magnum retails at £34.95 and can be purchased here.
Saicho Cold Brew Sparkling Tea Hojicha
Sparkling tea offers the light, delicate flavours that we all associate with luxury and good times. The Saicho sparkling tea is a great aperitif but also works well when paired with food such as aubergine, rice noodles and spicy dishes. The award-winning tea is made with roasted Sencha green tea from Japan. It boasts savoury notes along with roasted hazelnut and dry woody tannins.
The sparkling tea retails at £16.75 and can be purchased here.
Chapel Down Brut NV
Nothing says Christmas like a great bottle of fizz. British wine favourite, Chapel Down have this beautiful sparkling wine that uses a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc. It works as a great alternative to Champagne as and offers many of the same qualities, with a smaller price tag.
The Chapel Down Brut NV is available to purchase as a bottle (75cl) for £28.00, as magnums for £62.00 and as jeroboams for £129.00 respectively.
Don Q Gold
Love a rum cocktail? Don Q Gold is the amber rum that is the secret ingredient for the perfect mix as it boasts bold flavours of Puerto Rico with robust tropical notes and sweet vanilla. Don Q’s profile is enhanced by its ageing process in American Oak barrels before bottling.
Don Q Gold can be purchased for £23 here.
Glenfiddich Orchard Experiment
Iconic Scotch Whisky maker Glenfiddich has collaborated with The Somerset Cider Brandy Company to create this creative expression, The Orchard Experiment. This is Gelnfiddich’s fifth experimental expression and is perfect for the Scotch whisky lover who wants to try something creative, yet within the realms of familiarity.
Glenfiddich Orchard Experiment retails at £43 and can be purchased here.
Tidal Rum
This rum is made on the shores of Jersey but uses a blend of four carefully chosen Caribbean rums. The golden blend boasts flavours of the coast, specifically Pepper Dulse which is a rare sea alga famously known as the ‘truffle of the sea’. The Pepper Dulse can only be foraged at the furthest reaches of a full moon tide, making it a unique ingredient.
Tidal Rum retails at £34.95 and can be bought here.
Lepanto PX Solera Gran Reserva
This Gran Reserva Spanish brandy is soft, sweet and fruity. This is largely down to its ageing process in casks that previously held the finest Pedro Ximenez sherry in the world. The bottle itself comes in a beautiful gift box which is perfect for Christmas gifting, and the contents capture the flavours of the festive period so well.
The brandy retails at £74 and can be purchased here.
The Cardrona ‘Growing Wings Solera’
The Cardona is a distillery in New Zealand that laid down its first cask in 2015, and they are now the proud producers of this natural, cask-strength single malt which has spent 5 years ageing in matured in select ex-Oloroso Sherry butts and ex-bourbon barrels. Notes of Pecan pie, treacle and vanilla bean can be detected on the nose and palate.
The whisky retails at £75 and can be purchased here.
LG Signature Wine Cellar
Wine connoisseurs tend to have an overflowing collection of wine bottles, and Christmas is the perfect time to gift a piece of life-changing technology such as a wine cellar. LG Signature’s cellar preserves wine by offering the perfect temperature and humidity for fine wines. Not only does it store the wine well, but it also offers a stylish design that showcases the bottles in your house. The cellar uses SmartThinQ technology which allows for voice-activated commands. What’s not to love about that?
The cellar is priced at £6,999.99 and can be purchased here.
Baron De Ley CLub Privado Reserva Rioja
This IWC gold medal-winning wine is everything you’d want from a Rioja. Its bold and fruity flavour and cherry red colour is typical of wines from this region. The wine is aged for 20 months in new American oak casks before a 24 month maturation in the bottle. As a result, the wine is packed with spice and character.
The Rioja retails at £12.99 and can be purchased here.
SWISH Cocktail Party In A Box
Hampers and gift boxes are a great choice if you don’t want to gift an individual bottle of something. The SWISH cocktail party in a box is great for those who don’t drink alcohol. The box includes a mixture of crafted ready-to-drink no and low-alcohol cocktails, bar-quality glassware and delicious party nibbles.
The cocktail box starts from £45 and can be purchased here.
by Katrina Mirpuri