Have yourself a very ginny Christmas
Festive gifts for the gin lover in your life
1. NEW-LOOK SNOW GLOBE GIN Themed around an “enchanted Christmas”, the 2021 Gin Snow Globe from Gravity Drinks comes in a gold-foil gift box and features hand-painted illustrations showing a wintry country cottage scene. It also has a light at the base to illuminate the edible gold leaf which cascades around the globe after you shake it. Inside is an orange and gingerbread gin liqueur (20% ABV and suitable for vegans), made with cinnamon and Seville oranges. The Snow Globe Gin is available from retailers including Harvey Nichols and Very.
2. PERSONALISED GIN BOTTLES As well as “make your own gin” experiences, some brands are now offering the option to personalise a bottle of one of their corerange gins. Distilleries including Warner’s and Masons of Yorkshire will allow you to personalise a bottle from their range with a name or short message, while website EngraveDrinks.com allows you to add a personalised message to a bottle of gin from big names such as Tanqueray, Hendrick’s, Whitley Neill and Bombay Sapphire.
3. REFILLABLE GIN PACKS With sustainability front of mind for so many of us now, a refillable bottle or pouch could be a great gift for the eco-friendly gin lover in your life. Brands such as Bullards, Glaswegin and Boxer sell refillable pouches for their gins, while Silent Pool offers a bottle refill scheme at its distillery in Surrey. Meanwhile, Scotland’s Rock Rose
Gin has recently launched a Refill Rewards Club. Members receive packs each month including a refillable pouch of the gin of their choice and accompanying mixers; the refill pouches can simply be posted back to the distillery once empty.
4. CHRISTMAS CRACKERS Who ever said Christmas crackers could only contain boring gifts? Kent distiller Copper Rivet is encouraging some festive cocktail making with its Gin and Jigger Cracker, which includes a 100ml bottle of its Dockyard Gin and a copper jigger (a small measuring cup for cocktail ingredients), while Whitley Neill and Edinburgh Gin have both launched six-cracker sets to showcase their flavoured gins. Subscription service Craft Gin Club has launched three Christmas cracker sets, with each cracker containing a 50ml measure of gin and can of tonic water, as well as the traditional paper hat and joke or brain-teaser.
5. GIN IN A TIN Have you tried Gin In A Tin yet? No, we don’t mean a canned gin and tonic – this brand sells a number of gin blends sold in brightly coloured tins, which can be personalised. Flavours include orange, nutmeg and allspice; elderflower, chamomile and marigold; fennel, lemon and thyme; and pomegranate, raspberry and cardamom. Gin In A Tin also sells limited-edition seasonal blends, festively decorated tins, and gin gift sets, including a 12 Days of Christmas pack.
6. THE GIN GAME Test your knowledge of all things gin with Talking Tables’ The Gin Game. Players make their way around the board by answering History cards, Mixology cards and ‘Ginius’ cards. The game is available from retailers including Amazon, John Lewis and Waterstones.