Best Gift Ideas For Whiskey Fans

By Richard Thomas

Bluegrass Soy Sauce
(Credit: Richard Thomas)

In the U.S. today is known as “Black Friday,” the day after the Thanksgiving holiday that signposts roughly one month remaining before Christmas, and therefore the day that so many Americans begin shopping for Christmas gifts. With whiskey trendier than ever and plenty of new whiskey fans out there, the idea of buying whiskey gifts will undoubtedly be a popular one, although many will have no idea how to go about choosing one.

After all, just because someone is a whiskey enthusiast doesn’t mean their nearest and dearest will know anything about Pappy Van Winkle or The Macallan, let alone where to find a fine, rare old bottle of the stuff. With that in mind, here are some suggested gifts for whiskey lovers.

1. NEAT Glasses: For many whiskey diehards, the Glencairn glass is the standard drinking vessel, and for that reason we’re recommending you give out the NEAT glass instead. Odds are the whiskey fan on your Christmas list this year already has a couple of Glencairn glasses, and asking about it to confirm or deny that is always a tricky business. Better to sidestep that issue and get a specialized whiskey-drinking glass he almost certainly does not have, and that would be the novel and relatively new NEAT glass. Plus, the NEAT is reportedly the best there is when it comes to nosing whiskey.

2. Whisky Advent Calender: This combines the notion of giving your whiskey-loving loved one a big bunch of samples with that of putting a fun spin on the boring old advent calender. Drawing on samples from the online retailer Master of Malt, the calender provides 24 drams of Scotch whisky, including one 40 year old single malt. The one caveat about this gift is that the recipient ought to have a taste for Scotch or want to develop one, since American and Irish whiskeys are not part of the package.

3. Age Your Own Whiskey Kit: Is your whiskey enthusiast the type of hands-on person who makes beer at home or goes to winery grape pressings? What that person secretly wants is to try their hand at whiskey-making, and since owning an actual still is both expensive and (usually) illegal, the next best thing is a personal whiskey aging kit. With this small new oak barrel, one can take new make bourbon whiskey and experiment with aging it at home, taking periodic samples until the bourbon is just right.

4. Whiskey Barrel Furniture: Some people love their whiskey so much they want to sit in and drink off it, in the sense that they would just love to have furniture  made from old barrel staves. Combining heavy wood construction with dark char colors and their whiskeyed origins, tables and chairs made from old barrels are the ideal furnishing for any man cave or for creating the outdoor retreat where an enthusiast can go for their evening dram. Carpenters who make old barrel-based furniture are proliferating, which is probably a good thing since you can save a pretty penny by going to the source rather than having the furnishing(s) shipped.

5. Ice Ball Mold: With whiskey stones having as many doubters as advocates, when in doubt the best bet for getting someone something with which to cool their whiskey is to go old fashioned and give them an ice accessory. The main reason people don’t like whiskey stones is that they think they don’t work, misunderstanding that the point is too cool rather than chill the liquid. Ice doesn’t have that problem, although it does dilute the whiskey it’s put into.

With that in mind, the trendy thing in ice and whiskey right now are big solid globes of ice, mainly because they supposedly melt more slowly. As easy to use as an ice tray, ice ball molds are both cool and practical.

NEAT Glass vs. Snifter
(Credit: S.D. Peters)

Honorable Mention: Bluegrass Soy Sauce
This offering from Louisville’s Bourbon Barrel Foods gets honorable mention status because the recipient ought to be both a whiskey lover and a foodie to truly appreciate it. Fermented in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels, this soy sauce is the only premium stuff made in the United States. The note of barrel char really compliments the deep flavors of this artisinal soy sauce, and after trying it you’ll never look at what soy sauce can be the same way again.