The 19 Best Alcohol Gifts for Cocktail Lovers

Lock Stock & Barrel Vatted Straight Rye Whiskey

Housed in a uniquely elegant, all-black bottle, this sophisticated blended rye whiskey won Best in Class at the 2023 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Buying Options

$78 from Total Wine & More

$81 from Caskers

For mixed cocktails, whiskey drinkers who prefer a little edge opt for rye over sweeter bourbon. In addition to its tall, dark, and handsome bottle, the Lock Stock & Barrel Vatted Straight Rye Whiskey also distinguished itself by winning Best in Class at the 2023 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It comes recommended to us by Audrey Saunders, one of the industry’s most discerning palates and proprietor of the game-changing, now-closed Pegu Club. Made from a blend of aged whiskeys ranging from four to 18 years, the complex rye has baking-spice aromas, a hint of butterscotch and fruity sweetness, and a peppery finish. “I love this rye,” Saunders told us. “I first enjoyed it in a classic Manhattan at Raoul’s, and I remember my eyes rolling to the back of my head. I can still taste it.”

Los Poblanos Rose Cocktail Rimming Sugar

This pretty, rose-perfumed garnish would add a salty-sweet sparkle to the rims of French 75s, margaritas, and more.

Buying Options

$24 from A.Mano Brooklyn

May be out of stock

$20 from Cork

Made on an organic farm in New Mexico, the lovely Los Poblanos Rose Cocktail Rimming Sugar mixes just three ingredients—Mexican sea salt, turbinado sugar, and rose petals—to charming effect. Unlike some flower products, this rimming salt doesn’t veer into a soapy flavor territory. It’s just salty and sweet, with a delicate rose blush. It would add a sparkly floral flourish to the rim of a statuesque French 75, a pink-tinged watermelon margarita, or even a purple-hued Aviation. We like that there is a little key on the side of the tin, to help pop it open—just remember to tell the recipient to open it over a plate, since the contents can easily spill out when the tin is full.

Peregrino Anchovy Stuffed Olives

These excellent, firm-fleshed manzanilla olives are stuffed with mild, silky anchovies.

Buying Options

Buy from Amazon
(four cans)

$19 from La Tienda
(four cans)

Torremar Jumbo Gordal Olives

Crafted by a fourth-generation Spanish olive maker, these meaty and crisp pitless olives are flavorful but not overly salty.

Buying Options

Buy from La Tienda
(two jars)

May be out of stock

Whether they’re drink garnishes or a salty nosh, olives are a perennial favorite at the bar. The pitless Torremar Jumbo Gordal Olives are unlike the mushy, sad green olives found in US grocery stores. Fourth-generation olive makers Torremar, in Valencia, Spain, use the Gordal varietal, which are crisp, meaty, and have a bright green flavor. These extra-large specimens would be an elegant garnish, sloshing around in cold gin and vermouth, and their not-too-salty yet flavorful brine would be very nice stirred into a dirty martini. For straight snacking, we particularly love Peregrino Anchovy Stuffed Olives, which are so wonderfully balanced that even the anchovy-averse could love them. Crisp Andalusian manzanilla olives are stuffed with mild, freshly cured anchovy filets for a delicate, briny-umami combo. Given that they’re so easy to pop down the hatch, it’s a good thing they come in a four-pack.

Spritz: Italy’s Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail

With 50 curated recipes in the bitter and bubbly category, this beautiful coffee-table book would be a breezy addition to any drinks-recipe library.

Buying Options

$20 from Amazon

$20 from Walmart

Talia Baiocchi and Leslie Pariseau, the editors of drinking-culture website Punch, bring insight to Italy’s leisurely cocktail with Spritz: Italy’s Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail. The strikingly designed, easy-to-navigate book features 50 aperitivo recipes, both classic and modern, from top bartenders around the country, and it includes frame-worthy illustrations. It also presents a history of the drink, all the way back to ancient Rome, along with classic Italian snack recipes and a guide to building a spritz bar.

Atanasio Reposado Tequila

Housed in a shapely bottle with a wood topper, this small-batch tequila is made with hand-harvested agave, which is cooked in traditional brick ovens and distilled in copper stills.

Buying Options

$99 from Total Wine & More

If there’s anyone in the US who knows tequila, it’s Julio Bermejo of family-run Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant, in San Francisco, with over 300 tequilas on offer. When we asked him for a gift-worthy tequila, he gave us one: Atanasio Reposado Tequila. “It is a true 100% Agave Valley Tequila from a serious but very small producer located in Tequila, Jalisco,” Bermejo said. Don Chico Jiménez rests this smooth, small-batch tequila in American white oak barrels to highlight the flavors of hand-harvested Blue Weber agave, which is grown in the Jalisco highlands and roasted in traditional brick ovens. The nuanced, lightly golden tequila has notes of vanilla, almond, and baking spices.

Cody Foster Cocktail Olives Ornament

With three pimento-stuffed olives facing in different directions on a toothpick, this shimmery glass ornament will delight martini lovers.

Buying Options

$22 from Amazon

$22 from Nordstrom

No matter someone’s favored drink or garnish, the Cody Foster Cocktail Olives Ornament is always a darling addition to a Christmas tree or Hanukkah bush. And dry martini lovers in particular are sure to be amused by this glittery-green glass ornament, with three pimento-stuffed olives on a toothpick. It also adheres to the bartending tradition of adding garnishes in odd numbers for good luck. (Staff writer Mari Uyehara knew an eminently sweet bartender at New York City’s Death & Co. who used to take her subtle revenge on jerky customers by finishing their drinks with two—gasp!—garnishes.) And Cody Foster has plenty of other cocktail-themed ornaments, including a bar cart, an espresso martini, and a bloody Mary.

Neversink Spirits Apple Apéritif

Made in New York state, this not-too-strong apple aperitif is perfect for starting or ending a festive meal.

Buying Options

$47 from Some Good Wine

Inspired by France’s Pommeau de Normandie (a fortified wine from France’s Normandy region), Neversink Spirits Apple Apéritif is a lighter take, made with apples grown in New York state. The distillery blends unfermented heirloom apple cider with its one-year-old, whiskey-cask-aged apple brandy, resulting in a libation with about half the alcohol of traditional brandy. The aperitif is “intensely aromatic with loads of warm spices,” said Conor McKee, owner of Brooklyn wine-and-spirits shop Fiasco. It’s ideal when “you just need something a little lower-proof and that can be enjoyed either at the start or the end of an evening.” He recommends serving the “super versatile” sipper over ice with a twist of lemon, as a spritz, or paired with a rich dessert.

Aperol Spritz Cocktail Poster

These moody, colorful illustrations are all printed on museum-quality paper, and each one has a simple cocktail recipe at the top.

Buying Options

$39 from PSTR studio

$39 from Etsy

Whether your giftee’s libation of choice is an old-fashioned, a spicy marg, or an aperol spritz, Swedish illustrator Elin Palmaer Karlsson has a lovely piece of wall art for them, available on the Netherlands-based art-print service PSTR. With saturated contrasting colors and a moody feel, her cocktail-themed still lifes are printed on 18-by-24-inch museum-quality paper, and PSTR offers a range of colorful oak frames. Featuring suave, retro-style typography and a simple drink recipe at the top, Elin PK cocktail posters would look great hung in a kitchen or bar area.

Ten To One Caribbean White Rum

Packaged in a sleek, elegant bottle, this crisp white rum is perfect for making daiquiris and more.

Buying Options

$25 from Total Wine & More

$36 from Wine.com

For someone who loves tropical drinks, consider Ten To One Caribbean White Rum. This bottling, which blends Dominican and Jamaican rums, comes in a sleek bottle with a crisply designed, deep-blue label—sans the tacky pirate or parrot motifs. And the citrusy, fruity white rum is a favorite of Overthrow Hospitality beverage director Sother Teague, who told us it “makes a top-notch” daiquiri. It’s also great for punching up mojitos or for blender drinks, like piña coladas.

Usagi Heavyweight Cobbler Shaker – Gold-Plated

This all-in-one shaker-strainer is easy to use. It fits together snugly, so it has less of a tendency to leak than other cobbler-style shakers.

Buying Options

$85 from Amazon

$80 from Cocktail Kingdom

Cocktail Kingdom Gold-Plated Teardrop Barspoon

This elegant spoon has better balance and a more tightly twisted handle (for an easier grip), so the mixologist can stir cocktails with ease.

Buying Options

$28 from Amazon

$27 from Cocktail Kingdom

Bartending tools are not all built the same. In our testing for the barware guide, the Usagi Heavyweight Cobbler Shaker and the Cocktail Kingdom Teardrop Barspoon both came out on top in their categories—and both are available in gold-plated finishes. For home bars, we prefer the Usagi shaker, which requires less skill than two-piece Boston shakers. This solidly built shaker comes apart without difficulty and doesn’t leak easily, and its cap has an ergonomic indentation for an index finger. Meanwhile, the bar spoon has a smooth, skinny shaft and an easy-to-grip handle, making swizzling and stirring quite enjoyable. Though the stainless steel versions are dishwasher-safe, these golden-plated beauties need to be hand-washed, but they also look gorgeous atop a marble counter or a bar cart.

Old Forester 1910 Old Fine Whisky

Created in homage to a long-ago fire, this foolproof Kentucky crowd-pleaser is appropriately characterized by char and caramel.

Buying Options

$52 from Total Wine & More

Sure, most liquor stores stock dozens of good bourbons. But Nima Ansari, of New York City’s Astor Wines & Spirits, dubs the Old Forester 1910 Old Fine Whisky a true standout: It has the powerful, concentrated flavor typically found in much older bourbons, plus tons of toffee and spice notes. In homage to a massive fire on the bottling line that shut down production in 1910, Old Forester ages this bourbon for a second time in barrels charred “nearly to the point of incineration,” according to former Old Forester master taster Jackie Zykan. It’s then bottled at a high proof (46.5% alcohol by volume). Ansari said it “delivers that really old bourbon flavor,” and it’s reasonably priced to boot.

Bitter Queens Essential Bitters Variety Pack

Dash these sassy bitters into drinks to add just a touch of complex flavor.

Buying Options

$25 from The Bitter Queens

Kick up the cocktails with the Bitter Queens Essential Bitters Variety Pack, a sampler of the most popular bitters from this LGBTQ-owned, small-batch company in San Francisco. The cheeky monikers are all named for women, from Opulent Odessa Orange (ideal for adding complexity to martinis) to Joker Judy Chocolate Walnut (just right as a finishing touch for agave or whiskey drinks). Sother Teague, beverage director at Overthrow Hospitality, favors the smoky, earthy Marie Laveau Tobacco bitters—made with lapsang souchong tea, not actually tobacco—for whiskey or rum drinks. Since bitters are used in dashes, this is a stocking stuffer that will last a long time, enhancing drinks for months or even years.

Modern Classic Cocktails: 60+ Stories and Recipes From the New Golden Age in Drinks

This book is a greatest-hits compilation of the best-loved cocktails created over the past two decades.

Buying Options

$17 from Amazon

$17 from Walmart

Readers who have followed the recent cocktail renaissance will recognize many drinks in New York Times contributor Robert Simonson’s Modern Classic Cocktails: 60+ Stories and Recipes From the New Golden Age in Drinks. It includes such concoctions as the Gin Blossom, a sleek, apricot eau de vie–laced martini variation, from Julie Reiner’s Clover Club. The recipes are accessible enough to re-create at home, and they are accompanied by detailed stories about the drinks’ origins. In other words, this is a solid list of favorites that any cocktail buff will want to have on repeat.

Aguerrido Cupreata Antonio Destilado de Agave

This superlative mezcal is made with Agave cupreata, a rare agave varietal, using traditional production methods in Pantitlán, Guerrero, Mexico.

Buying Options

$95 from Old Town Tequila

New York bartender Phil Ward, inventor of the Oaxaca Old-Fashioned, brought our attention to the Aguerrido Cupreata Antonio Destilado de Agave. It has a light smoke, is pleasingly herbaceous, and has a crisp green profile. The mezcal is made by Antonio Sonido, who uses traditional methods, cooking Agave cupreata (an unusual varietal) in a pit oven, fermenting it with open-air yeasts, and then distilling the resulting liquid twice in a copper alembic still in Pantitlán, Guerrero, Mexico. “Not many mezcals are imported from there,” Ward said. “So, it’s extra rare and very delicious.”

Luxardo Original Maraschino Cherries

Made with sour marasca cherries in Torreglia, Italy, these sweetened gems have a flavor that’s reinforced by soaking in Luxardo marasca cherry syrup.

Buying Options

$23 from Amazon

Amarena Fabbri Pitted Wild Cherries in Syrup

Packed in a lovely little white jar, these cocktail cherries are made in Bologna, Italy. The bitter amarena cherries are mellowed with syrup, for a delightful sweet-tart balance.

Buying Options

$15 from Amazon

In an entirely different planetary orbit than their neon counterparts, Luxardo Original Maraschino Cherries once had to be special-ordered by pioneering Manhattan cocktail bars. You can now buy them on Amazon, thanks to the cocktail renaissance of the past 15 years or so. Produced in Torreglia, Italy, sour marasca cherries are candied in Luxardo marasca cherry syrup (the same stuff used in the company’s cherry liqueur). They have an inky color, a distinctive, firm texture, and a beautiful, complex sweet-tart flavor. We also like the slightly less sweet Amarena Fabbri Pitted Wild Cherries, which are made in Bologna, Italy, from small, bitter amarena cherries soaked in rich syrup. Packaged in a curvy white jar, with lovely navy designs, these cherries are slightly softer and more tart than the Luxardos, and the syrup isn’t as thick, but they’re just as delicious. Both of these Italian cherry offerings are, of course, excellent as garnishes in a Manhattan, a Pink Lady, and other cocktails. And the syrup itself can be used as a sweetener for drinks or drizzled on ice cream and other desserts. Consider giving them together so your cocktail-loving friend can do a taste test and discover which they like best in their favored drink.

Mr. Lyan’s Cocktails at Home: Good Things to Drink With Friends

Penned by famed bartending pro Mr. Lyan, this cocktail book is a breezy guide to home entertaining. It includes cocktail recipes for small and large groups.

Buying Options

$21 from Amazon

$21 from Walmart

Though London-based Ryan Chetiyawardana (aka Mr. Lyan) is known for creating inventive, baroque drinks at his bars, the recipes in Mr. Lyan’s Cocktails at Home are refreshingly accessible. Still, even experienced home bartenders will learn a few new tricks here. Each recipe includes sections devoted to “method” (straightforward instruction) as well as “magic” (optional suggestions for riffing or improving upon the drink). For example, the frozen Smoked Watermelon Shandy, made with IPA and a teaspoon of peated Scotch, is accompanied by suggestions for finding a beer style that works well with fruit. Bonus: Many of the drinks are sized for groups, so this book is especially useful during the festive season.

Kara Newman contributed reporting. This article was edited by Hannah Morrill and Marguerite Preston.