The best liquor gift is not the most expensive bottle on the shelf. It is the one that matches how the person already drinks. Someone who sips aged rum by the fire wants something different from someone who mixes gin and tonics on the deck, and a smoky Islay whisky that thrills one friend will sit unopened in another's cupboard. If you are not sure where they stand, a multi-bottle pack from our tasting boxes takes the guesswork out.
This guide sorts Christmas liquor gifts by personality, with gift ideas for spirit lovers of every kind: the rum lover, the summer drinker, the agave fan, the gin enthusiast, the host who cooks, the curious taster, the whisky collector and the person who already has everything.
Quick picks
- For a serious rum drinker: Pusser's Rum 15 Year Old, a full, round sipping rum from the navy rum house.
- For a gin drinker you want to surprise: the Four Pillars Gin Gift Pack, three Australian gins in 200mL bottles.
- For a whisky drinker who likes fruit over smoke: Starward Nova, an Australian single malt at 41 per cent.
How to choose the best liquor for a gift when you are not the drinker
Searching for the best liquor gift for a man, a woman, a parent or a colleague comes back to the same question: what do they already reach for? Look at what is open in their kitchen, what they order at the bar, or ask someone who knows. A gift in a category they already enjoy almost always lands better than a gamble on something new.
Once you know the category, four things separate a good liquor to gift from an ordinary one.
An age statement. A number of years on the label tells the drinker something concrete about what is in the bottle, which makes it easy to see how the gift compares with what they already buy.
A gift pack. Several smaller bottles in one box let someone compare styles side by side. They suit a drinker who likes to taste and talk about what is in the glass.
Minis. A set of small bottles is the safest answer when you know the category but not the exact bottle. Nobody is stuck with a full bottle they do not like.
Presentation. Some bottles are designed to sit on a shelf, and that matters to some people more than others. Choose it for them, not for the photo.
If you are buying for a particular date, read our shipping policy before you order.
For the rum lover
A rum lover usually already owns a bottle or two, so the gift is in the step up: more age, more depth, or a style they have not tried.
Pusser's Rum 15 Year Old at 40 per cent is the pick for someone who likes their rum dark and full. Pusser's describes itself as the original navy rum, and its tasting note for the 15 year old reads demerara sugar, molasses, dried fruit, island spices and caramel, with a full, round body it calls ideal for sipping. If they are interested in the story behind the style, our guide to what navy rum is covers it, and the rest of the range is on our Pusser's page.
For someone who likes to understand how a rum is made, El Dorado from Guyana is a good choice. El Dorado 15 Year Old is blended from rums made on several different stills, including wooden pot stills, and El Dorado credits its Port Mourant double wooden pot still for an earthy finish. The producer's note mentions dark coffee, candied orange, almonds, dark chocolate, pepper and vanilla. Our article on Demerara rum and Guyana's wooden stills explains why those stills matter, and the full El Dorado range is worth a look.
For the drinker who has already worked through the usual names, Foursquare Mandamus is a Barbados rum bottled at full strength: the label reads 57 per cent, 16 years of cask ageing, and ex-bourbon and ex-port casks. Pour it in small measures, with water on the side for anyone who wants it. It sits alongside the rest of our Foursquare bottles. For more gifts for rum lovers, our guide to the best rums to buy in Australia goes further, and so does our guide to spiced and flavoured rum.
For the summer drinker and the after-dinner sipper
Christmas in Australia is a summer holiday, and plenty of people would rather have something cold and lighter than a heavy sipping spirit.
Shipwreck Coconut Rum is bottled at 36 per cent. Shipwreck says it is "blended with natural island coconut" and "hand-crafted on St. Kitts with Caribbean rum", and suggests it for tropical cocktails or sipping chilled. For a summer drinker, that means a piña colada or a coconut daiquiri.
For someone who prefers a creamy after-dinner pour, Sortilège Maple Cream is the alternative. The producer describes it as Canadian whisky and Quebec maple syrup with a touch of cream. More options sit in our liqueurs range.
For the agave fan
Aged tequila makes a strong gift because the words on the label are defined by law. Under the Mexican tequila standard, a reposado has rested for at least two months in direct contact with oak, and an añejo for at least one year in oak containers of no more than 600 litres. Our guide to reposado and añejo tequila goes through the detail.
Clase Azul Reposado suits an agave fan who does not yet own a bottle. As a reposado, it has rested at least two months in oak under the Mexican standard. There is more in our Clase Azul guide, and the full Clase Azul range is there if you want a different expression.
Don Fulano Añejo suits someone who sips rather than mixes. Don Fulano describes it as a coupage of very old tequilas aged in French Limousin and Nevers oak casks that previously held wines from Burgundy and the Loire, with dried fruit and spice and a light menthol note on a long finish. The producer suggests it to wrap up a dinner, or with chocolate. The rest of the house is on our Don Fulano page.
For the gin enthusiast
Gin drinkers are often happy to try something new from a distillery they already trust, which makes a pack of smaller bottles a strong choice.
The Four Pillars Gin Gift Pack holds three 200mL bottles: the original Rare Dry Gin, Olive Leaf Gin and Bloody Shiraz Gin. Four Pillars calls the Olive Leaf the gin made for martinis, and makes Bloody Shiraz by steeping its Rare Dry Gin with cool-climate Shiraz grapes. Three styles, one box, and a good way to find out which one they reach for next. If you want to know how these compare with London dry and the other main styles, see our guide to gin styles, or browse the whole gin range.
For the host who likes to cook
For someone who loves cooking for friends, choose a bottle with a clear place at the table rather than a big one. Two picks above fit: Don Fulano suggests its Añejo with chocolate at the end of a meal, and the Four Pillars pack includes the Olive Leaf gin it makes for martinis. Match it to what they like to cook and drink themselves.
For the curious taster
Some people care less about a favourite spirit and more about trying something they have not had before. A gift pack from a single producer suits them well.
The Hartshorn Trio Gift Pack comes from Hartshorn Distillery at Birchs Bay, south of Hobart, which makes spirits from sheep whey, a by-product of Grandvewe Cheeses, the family cheesemaker it shares land with. That story alone makes it an unusual gift. Our guide to what vodka is made from has more on Hartshorn. For a wider spread, the tasting boxes collection gathers our multi-bottle packs in one place.
For the whisky collector
Whisky collectors tend to have firm views, so the useful question is which direction they lean: fruit, smoke or bourbon sweetness.
If they like fruit and richness: Starward Nova at 41 per cent is a single malt fully matured in Australian red wine barrels. Starward's note lists red berries, dark chocolate and orchard fruit on the nose. Our guide to Australian whisky and the Australian whisky collection take it further.
If they like smoke: Mac-Talla Terra is an Islay single malt at 46 per cent, matured in American oak, non-chill filtered and with no added colour. Its maker describes it as smoky and fresh, with citrus, smoky barley and fresh sea air on the nose. More smoky bottles are in our peated whisky range.
If they drink bourbon: Eagle Rare 10 Year is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey aged ten years and bottled at 45 per cent. Buffalo Trace's note for it lists toffee, orange peel, honey, leather and oak, with candied almonds and cocoa and a dry, lingering finish. Our guide to types of bourbon explains what straight bourbon means on the label.
If they lean towards Japan, our Japanese whisky collection is the place to start.
For the person who has everything: a bottle from their year
When someone already owns every bottle they want, the year can be the gift. A vintage bottle carries a single year on the label, which is different from an age statement: an age statement tells you how long the spirit spent in wood, while a vintage ties the bottle to one year. Depending on the spirit, that year can be the harvest rather than the distillation, so it pays to read the label. For a Christmas gift tied to a birth year, only the vintage will do.
Our guide to birth year spirits explains how to find a bottle from a specific year and what to check before you buy. You can also browse everything with a date on it in our Vintages collection.
If you do not know their taste at all
Choose breadth over a single bottle. A set of minis, a gin trio or a tasting box lets them find their own favourite, which makes it a hard gift to get wrong. If you know only that they enjoy a drink after dinner, lean towards an aged spirit with a clear age statement, and keep the full-strength, heavily smoked bottles for people you know like them.
Where to start
- Dark rum drinker: Pusser's Rum 15 Year Old.
- Rum lover who wants to know how it is made: El Dorado 15 Year Old.
- Summer drinker: Shipwreck Coconut Rum.
- Agave fan: Clase Azul Reposado or Don Fulano Añejo.
- Gin enthusiast: Four Pillars Gin Gift Pack.
- Curious taster: Hartshorn Trio Gift Pack.
- Whisky collector: Starward Nova, Mac-Talla Terra or Eagle Rare 10 Year.
- Has everything: a bottle from their year, through our birth year guide.
More gift packs are in our tasting boxes, and we deliver to every Australian state and the ACT.