Bottoms Up!

Buying alcohol as a Christmas present can be a bewildering and pricey experience. So Kevin Fullerton has done the hard work for you, scouring Edinburgh’s fi nest drinking establishments for tipples that taste great and won’t break the bank

Buying boozy gifts for Christmas is a delicate balancing act of generosity and financial prudence. Go for cheap cans and you’ll gain a reputation as the resident miser of your social group, but splash out on the most luscious libations in all of Scotland and you’ll be bankrupt before Hogmanay. If only your pals were grateful for a £1.49 super-strength lager from the offy, life would be a lot easier. To relieve the pressure of your gift-buying experience this year, we’ve tracked down three drinks that’ll make perfect presents; and all are £30 or less.

First up for the wine lover in your life, the Bodegas Ondarre Rioja Graciano 2019, a smooth red crammed with complexity. This is the perfect Christmas wine, its focus on wintry berries and warming spices tingling those festive pleasure centres. The bottle also claims that there’s a hint of aniseed, white pepper and balsamic in the mix. While my peasant’s palate couldn’t detect them, there was still enough body in this bottle to make every sip a new experience.

Finding a reputable whisky below an ‘oh dear, I’ve just had to re-mortgage the house’ price-point is a tricky business. But a novel selection for any dram enthusiast is Thistly Cross Whisky Cask Cider, a dry drink aged in Glen Moray whisky casks for six years. There’s an overt sweetness to most of Thistly’s output that’s welcomingly absent here. Instead, this is the kind of mixture you’d find in vaguely threatening provincial pubs across the market towns of England, but with strong hints of vanilla adding a sweet texture. One to try if you fancy an interesting culture clash between the traditionally English process of cider-making and the quintessential Scottish spirit.

The most decadent drink on our list is Aelder Wild Spiced Elderberry Liqueur, a blood red liquid that has the thickness of cough syrup but the richness of a chocolate gateaux. My god, this one’s a showstopper, every sip feeling like you’re gorging on the finest dessert. It has the heaviness of a port but with a sweetness that makes it a pleasant gateway for those uninitiated in the world of digestifs. As far as gifts go, the bottle is a masterclass, as dark and mysterious as this bottomless well of taste.

Bodegas Ondarre Rioja, Graciano 2019, £14 for 75cl, supplied by Vino; Thistly Cross X Glen Moray Whisky Pairing Gift Set, £25 for three Whisky Cask 330ml bottles, one Glen Moray 5cl bottle, and one Glen Moray glass.; Aelder Wild Spiced Elderberry Liqueur, £30 for 500ml, supplied by Bon Vivant’s Drink Emporium.