Forget the spirits of the Christmas past, present and future; 2020 has been a whirlwind of a year and there’s only one kind of spirit we’re interested in, and that’s the alcoholic kind!
After all, ’tis the season to be jolly! If you fancy a splash of festive spirit this December, you’ll definitely want to add these drinks to your Christmas lists.
Victoria Spiced Gin
The British Honey Company have thrown themselves into the festive spirit this year, creating their very own seasonal English Heritage Victorian Spiced Gin. It’s like sipping on a piece of history; inspired by the great 19th-Century gin revival and the celebrated cook Avis Crocombe – who worked at the English Heritage site, Audley End House and Gardens, in the 1880s. Fancy and sophisticated I hear you say?! That’s exactly how I felt whilst sipping on this… I might have even stuck my pinky out too for ultimate sophistication!
Packed with SIXTEEN botanicals, the explosion of citrus and juniper is met with spicy floral fragrances with a warm winter spice that just makes it a perfect spirit to sip on with your favourite tonic around – either around the dinner table or in front of the fire.
It retails at £39 and can be found here.
Two Birds Christmas Spiced Vodka
In a world full of copious flavoured gins, be more ‘Two Birds’ with their Christmas Spiced Vodka this year! If gin doesn’t tickle your tinsel, then this is the perfect alternative for your Christmas list this year.
Taking their (already) superb English Vodka, these guys infuse it for three days with a selection of Christmas spices- nutmeg, cinnamon and star anise – and a whole load of dried fruits for that perfectly smooth Christmas blend. Either try it neat on the rocks or combine it with Fever Tree’s Spiced Orange Ginger Ale.
Two Birds RRP £39.
Snow Globe Gingerbread & Orange Gin Liquer
OH. MY. DAYS. I’m not even exaggerating when I say this could be one of the most exciting things I’ve seen this year. It’s an ACTUAL snow globe, but one that you can drink from. There’s the little picture scene in the background, 23 Karat GOLD LEAF that floats around when you shake the bottle and, best of all, IT LIGHTS UP!
If you’re into novelty things (as you can probably tell I am!) then the bottle design alone is enough for you to try this gin liqueur; if you’re a flavour connoisseur then this gin ticks those boxes too. The beautifully sweet combination of gingerbread and orange is made with real Seville oranges, cinnamon and winter spices. This is the perfect Christmas present for any gin lover; in fact I’ve already bought a couple for my nearest and dearest too!
Snow Globe Orange & Gingerbread Gin Liqueur is stocked at FIREBOX RRP £29.
NIO Cocktails
Not a lot surprises me in 2020, but when I had a box of six cocktails POSTED through my letterbox, I was certainly pleasantly surprised! The team at NIO (which stands for Needs Ice Only) are certainly onto a winner with this concept. If you’ve not quite mastered cocktail mixology and you’re craving that cocktail fix, get yourself onto their website where you can pick either three, six or nine cocktails to be delivered directly to your door.
When they arrive in mini flat packs, pour your cocktail over ice and voila, that’s literally all you need to do; much easier than assembling flat pack furniture! With a range of special Christmas editions for the festive season like ‘Christmas in Manhattan’, ‘Christmas Margarita’ and the ‘Winter Sidecar’ just to name a few of the selection on offer, there’s a whole host that’ll get you through the festive season.
NIO website RRP £39 for six.
Rock Rose Gin
Set up by husband and wife team, Martin and Claire Murray in 2014, Dunnet Bay Distillers have released their limited Christmas edition of Rock Rose Gin. Scaling down the elements of the original version to make way for the earthy and citrus notes to shine through, this gin has been crafted with thoughts of roaring fires, crisp winter walks and dark nights.
With a stunning white ceramic bottle synonymous of snowy scenes, this winter edition is the taste of the festive season.
Winter Rock Rose can be found at Rock Rose Gin website RRP £34.
Cîroc Black Raspberry
Cîroc introduces its latest addition to the table this winter by launching their impressive Black Raspberry vodka. Standing tall in a black, majestic bottle, it’s sleek design oozes opulence and is certainly one to bring out around any fancy dinner parties you might be having this year.
Still with the Cîroc signature smoothness, this elegant vodka is simply beautiful either on it’s own over ice, or pair 35ml of Ciroc Black Raspberry with 15ml of Red Vermouth and top up with tonic water for a divine ‘Velvet Crush’ cocktail.
You can buy from Amazon RRP £35.90.
Five Farms Irish Cream
Crafted from single batches of fresh cream from five family-owned farms in beautiful county Cork and then combined with premium Irish whiskey, this Irish Cream is the luxurious staple you’ll need at the dinner table.
Perfect for an after dinner taste of sweet and subtle notes of coffee and fresh cream, it’s presented in a stunningly traditional bottle in a style dating back to the 1900’s. This tastes beautiful over ice, or if you fancied a little extra, try combining it with milk, espresso and cocoa powder for a twist on the classic mocha.
Masters of Malt RRP £30.
The Duppy Share Spiced
Contrary to its name, this rum is certainly one I don’t want to be sharing this year… yep, it’s THAT GOOD. It’s fun, exciting and definitely will get you, your friends and family into the party spirit (no more than three households, of course) this year.
The Duppy Share Spiced is made using a blended base of aged Caribbean rum from award-winning distilleries Worthy Park (Jamaica) and Four Square (Barbados) and is then spiced up with vibrant pineapple and rich kola nut, with supporting notes of ginger, vanilla, clove and nutmeg, following through with brightness from grapefruit, orange and basil.
Avaible from The Duppy Share RRP £27.50.
Beefeater Blood Orange Gin
Beefeater blood orange is the bold, citrus addition to the Beefeater gin family that’ll be that perfect Christmas essential this year. Remember Christingle at school, where an orange with a candle and sweets in is a symbolic object used in the Advent? Well Beefeater have turned this clementine concoction into a perfect gin cocktail; perfect for sipping on whilst catching up on all of your favourite Christmas films (my personal favourite is ‘Love Actually’!).
To conjure up this cocktail, all you need to do is combine 50ml Beefeater Blood Orange with 30ml orange juice, 100ml of lemonade and then garnish with a wedge of orange (and stick some sweets in that too if you really fancy the Christingle throwback!).
Beefeater can be found at all good retailers RRP £20.
Lugger Rum
As the dark nights draw in super early now, what better way to spend them than having a sip on some warming rum hand crafted in Devon?! Lugger Rum is a small-batch characterful mix of rums from Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. It is hand-blended in Devon with a carefully selected balance of nutmeg, orange peel, cloves and vanilla and aged in bourbon oak barrels, which gives it the perfect wintery flavours that we need at this time of year.
The unique shaped bottle also REALLY caught my eye; I’ve never seen anything like it! On the bottle then features an inimitable Lugger ship as used by the 18th century Devonian folk hero, Jack Ratt. This combined with the taste of the Caribbean, helps to bring Devon’s smuggling history to life with every sip. Not only is this a beautiful tipple, but also would make for a stunning Christmas present.
Visit Lyme Bay Winery website RRP £39.50
Bombay Bramble Limited-Edition Artist Series
After the successful launch of their ‘Bramble’ edition this year, Bombay Sapphire are back with a bang this festive season with their limited edition artist series bottles. The limited-edition artist label series has been co-curated by actor Russell Tovey who selected three of the UK’s most exciting artists to produce original artworks that were transformed onto labels.
Bursting with berry flavours of blackberry and raspberry, this spirit is sweet enough that you won’t need any lemonade; I found tonic was the best for this! If you’re after a unique and ‘boujee’ gift for your beloved gin lover this Christmas, get yourself over to the the Bombay Sapphire website where you can get a PERSONALIZED bottle with their name on, how fancy is that?!
You’ll have to be quick and order before 17th December to guarantee a delivery in time for Christmas (18th December if you order on the Selfridge’s website).
Bombay Bramble can be found on the Bombay Sapphire website RRP £33