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We’re deep into the gift-giving season. One surefire way to fulfill that holiday shopping list is to lean into the gift of booze. If there’s someone on your list who enjoys a nice glass of clear or brown spirits at the end of a long day, a special bottle might just be the perfect stocking stuffer.
Below, we’re calling out seven bottles of spirits across every major category. That’s one whiskey, brandy, rum, gin, vodka, tequila, and liqueur. Plus a mezcal from Uproxx Life Editorial Director Steve Bramucci. Each bottle is a great example of the spirit, a special gift, and always under $50.
I’m adding my professional tasting notes to give you the depth needed when buying and gifting one of these bottles as well (it never hurts to know what you’re buying after all). Moreover, each of these bottles should be available fairly widely either via a good liquor store or online delivery. If one of these bottles looks fun for you, click those price links to see if you can snag a bottle locally.
Let’s dive in!
WHISKEY — Eagle Rare Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 10 Years
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $44
The Whiskey:
This might be one of the most beloved (and still accessible) bottles from Buffalo Trace. This whiskey is made from their very low rye mash bill. The hot juice is then matured for at least ten years in various parts of the warehouse. The final mix comes down to barrels that hit just the right notes to make them “Eagle Rare.” Finally, this one is proofed down to a fairly low 90 proof.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Old leather boots, burnt orange rinds, oily sage, old oak staves, and buttery toffee draw you in on the nose before a sense of old fallow fruit orchards with falling leaves hints at old brick barrelhouses in the distance with a whisper of dried apple.
Palate: Marzipan covered in dark chocolate opens the palate as floral honey and ripe cherry lead to a winter cake vibe full of raisins, dark spices, and toffee sauce before deep and earthy barrel warehouse vibes arrive with a sense of the cobwebs, mold, and ancient wood takes over.
Finish: The end has a balance of all things winter treats as the marzipan returns and the winter spice amp up alongside a hint of spicy cherry tobacco and old cedar wrapped with smudging sage, old fall leaves, and bourbon-soaked oak stave from decades ago.
Who It’s Perfect For:
This is the bourbon whiskey to buy any whiskey fan. It’s quintessential Kentucky bourbon and American whisky. The flavor profile is perfect for sipping slow (neat or on the rocks) and it makes fabulous cocktails.
BRANDY — Cardenal Mendoza Gran Reserva Brandy de Jerez
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $45
The Brandy:
This Spanish brandy has some serious pedigree. The juice is made from Airen grapes grown in Jerez, Spain. The distillate then goes into former Pedro Ximenez sherry casks where it rests for 15 long years. The result is a deeply flavorful snifter that’s second to none.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Roasted nuts, orange-infused dark chocolate, espresso beans, and brown bread greet you on the nose.
Palate: The sip embraces the oak, nuts, and coffee as the body of the brandy feels like sharp beams of golden light flooding through darkly colored stained glass.
Finish: The fruit is fairly dried and plummy and the sweetness edges ever-so-slightly toward molasses. The end is dry, bold, and leaves you warmed to your soul.
Who It’s Perfect For:
This is brandy for deep and dark brandy fans — light and fresh Cognac this is not. The vibe on this is perfect for dessert or digestif pours in a big balloon glass with a warm crackling fire spitting away right next to you. Moreover, you can cut your nog with this and it’ll pop — or make a killer brandy Manhattan.
RUM — Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $40
The Rum:
This Venezuelan rum is a blend of a minimum of 12-year-old rum made from both sugarcane honey and molasses rums. The rums were aged in ex-bourbon barrels high up in Amazonia before blending, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with dark, almost burnt, sugars leading you towards rich and butter toffee with a brittle edge and a dusting of eggnog spice that’s heavy on the nutmeg.
Palate: That buttery nature really drives the taste towards a vanilla buttercream next to moist marzipan and a touch of tobacco sweetness.
Finish: The finish arrives with a sprinkling of orange zest and holiday spices with a final dry walnut shell end.
Who It’s Perfect For:
This is another great candidate for after-meal sipping, especially around the holidays. The profile is very dessert-forward and leans sweeter without being overly saccharine. This also makes amazing cocktails wherein you simply replace the whiskey in the cocktail with this rum. You can’t miss.
VODKA — Meili Vodka
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $21
The Vodka:
The brand-new award-winning vodka is from movie star Jason Momoa and creative artist to the stars Blaine Halvorson. The vodka is all about sustainability and the water. The actual spirit is a corn-based vodka made in Montana and cut with water from Halvorson’s father’s Montana ranch — a 300 million-year-old source of natural spring water. The result is a sipping vodka that’s looking to upend the American vodka game.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A faint whisper of vanilla sugar cookies greets you on the nose with a cut of fresh lemongrass oils, sweetgrass, and smudging sage plucked fresh from the plains before this faint essence of waxy honeycomb arrives.
Palate: Lemon cream pie creates a lush and creamy mouthfeel on the palate with a sense of lime rickeys, vanilla husks, and sweetgrass braids soaked in fresh rainwater.
Finish: The minerality peaks on the finish with a sense of rained-on granite and lava rocks next to a faint flourish of lime sorbet, lemongrass spears, and vanilla angel food cake.
Who It’s Perfect For:
This is a delightfully bold sipping vodka that works wonders over a single rock with a citrus twist. It’ll help your giftee rethink the value and depth of truly great vodka as a sipper.
GIN — Fords Gin London Dry Gin
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $32
The Gin:
This multi-award-winning London Dry Gin from bartending legend Simon Ford is made by bartenders to mix the best cocktails. Ford tapped 150 bartenders to weigh in on what makes a good gin and then took that gin Master Distiller (and gin legend) Charles Maxwell to make a London Dry Gin at Thames Distillery in England. The result was a masterpiece.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A creamy sense of orange and ginger pops on the nose with a moment of olive brine, dry vermouth botanicals (think lavender and chamomile), and this faint whisper of dried tomato powder, adding an umami vibe.
Palate: The palate leans into the umami before veering toward more dried chamomile and white florals and then this sense of anise-laced dark chocolate sneaks in with that flutter of mint tea cut with piney honey and a whisper of high desert juniper bush.
Finish: The anise, honey, and juniper mellow on the finish as the orange citrus, lime, and chamomile get ever creamier and lush with the bright citrus burst finish that’s tempered by umami brine.
Who It’s Perfect For:
This is amazingly sippable gin over a single rock. Maybe add a dash or two of Angostura Bitters to make the devilishly simple Pink Gin.
All of that aside, this is the gin you get for the budding home bartender who wants the best gin to mix with all year long. Seriously, this gin works in every gin cocktail that you can think of.
TEQUILA — Tequila Ocho Plata
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $48
The Tequila:
This tequla from Cía. Tequilera Los Alambiques distillery in the Southern Highlands of Jalisco is an old-school place. The agave hearts are slow-roasted in old stone ovens before roller mill juice extraction. That juice ends up in old wooden fermentation tanks for an open-air ferment. Next, the juice is run through copper pot stills twice before aeration (resting) and bottling without any additives besides natural spring water for proofing.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is so clean yet absolutely brimming with white pepper, herb gardens in full bloom, gallons of rainwater, citrus orchards, and deeply caramelized agave with a hint of fresh allspice leaves and almond skins.
Palate: Those bright and vibrant citrus orchards present on the palate next to dried tart berries, almond shells, and cinnamon bark with a deep sense of slow-roasted agave rolled in white pepper and fresh spearmint.
Finish: That spearmint amps up the finish with a deep caramel agave juiciness cut with pomelo and savory green herbs just kissed with peppery tobacco.
Who It’s Perfect For:
This is a great tequila for the additive-free crowd. It’s so clean yet runs deep on the profile that it makes for a wonderful sipper (especially over a big rock with a citrus garnish). This also makes an awesome white tequila old fashioned cocktail with all those nutty and berry notes.
LIQUEUR — Brucato Amaro Orchards
ABV: 23%
Average Price: $33
The Liqueur:
This Californian amaro uses over 15 botanicals in a neutral California grape spirit. The focus of the botanical infusion is apricot, walnut, orange, Meyer lemon, cinnamon, mace, persimmon, and gentian root, which gives the amaro a very Italy-by-way-of-California vibe. Once infused, the spirit spends two months mellowing in stainless steel vats before sweetening with pure cane juice and proofing with local water.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Walnut bread cut with orange oils, dried apricots, and candied walnuts alongside plenty of wintry spice barks drives the nose with a sense of strawberry cobbler and a lemon sorbet feel.
Palate: The candied walnuts really pop on the palate with a sense of winter spice cakes full of clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice before a sharper star anise pulls the taste toward bitter chocolate and espresso beans with a twinge of orange oil and vanilla lurking beneath it all.
Finish: The finish leans into the winter spices and nutcake of it all with a nice balance of bitter chocolate and lush vanilla, creating a silky mouthfeel on the very end.
Who It’s Perfect For:
This multi-award-winning Californian amaro is perfect for anyone looking for a great after-dinner digestif. It’s boldly botanical but very dessert forward. It’s also a great example of the amaro being made in the U.S. right now and will surely be a delectable and unique treat for any big family meal.
EDITOR’S PICK: MEZCAL — Mezcal Artesanal Campante
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $47
The Mezcal:
This mezcal — made by Master Mezcalero Raúl Rodríguez Reyes — utilizes both Espandin and Barril agave that’s slow cooked in a conical ground oven before slow fermentation in wooden tanks. The juice is then twice-distilled in copper pot stills before batching and proofing with local Oaxacan water.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: If you told me this was “agave perfume” I would believe you. It’s very green and black pepper-forward with just a note of smoke. Not so much “the peppers were roasted” more “the raw peppers were wafted with smoke from a nearby fire.”
Palate: The smoke is much more present on the palate with the green pepper turning much darker and moodier — roasted chipotles and ancho chilies. The smoke is present but BAM there is a lot of salinity in it. Like a truly fair bit — more than I’ve ever gotten elsewhere.
Finish: A whole lot of smoke and salt on the finish. It conjures a lot of storytelling and makes you want a bite of a spicy taco asap.
Bottom Line: Get this for the mezcal newbie who doesn’t want to be hammered with smoke. There are complex flavor notes here to dissect but they’re also clear and direct enough for most any drinker to savvy. Also, Campante comes wrapped — a great little perk for parties or under the tree!
