5 Splurge Worthy Bottles for Gifting During the Holidays
$100 ain’t what it used to be, in liquor as in life. Sure, you can still find plenty of fine hooch in the $50 range, but when you’re giving a gift (or dare I say treating yourself) for the holidays, splurging a little is recommended, under two conditions: 1) you can afford it, and 2) the bottle you’re buying is a damn good one. I can’t vouch for your bank account, but I’ll definitely go to the mat for these five dandies, priced between $150 and — gulp — $13,000. Hey, there are worse things on which to spend a sizable chunk of change, and the recipients of these most thoughtful and delicious gifts will be delighted. And if they’re not, you can just grab the damn thing back and drink it yourself.
RUM: Mount Gay Master Blender Collection: Madeira Cask Expression
55% ABV, no age statement but at least 6 years old, $220
In business since 1703 — the oldest continually operating rum distillery in the world — Mount Gay is a blend of pot and column distilled rums that, for my money, is one of the best in the world. The Master Blender Collection lets the master blender, in this case the brilliant Trudiann Branker, mess around with the classic formula for unique, one-time-only releases. For this year’s expression, she’s lost the pot still rum and added six years worth of aging in Madeira wine casks. The light column-still rum lets the Madeira take center stage, and the result is pretty damn splendid. Grapefruit, honey, caramel, and roasted nuts segue into a long, very dry finish — the perfect rum for both fans and naysayers who think all rum is syrupy and sickly sweet. With less than 3,000 bottles made, holiday time is the best time for this puppy.
Bottled Cocktail: Sunday’s Finest Gold Fashioned 2022 Blend
42.2% ABV; aged 6-15 years, sort of, $150
There are bottled cocktails, and then there’s… this. A blend of 6 year old MGP rye and 9 and 15 year old Kentucky bourbons (distilleries not specified); fair trade Demerera sugar from Malawi; and saffron bitters, elegantly bottled and boxed. All you do is pour the booze over ice in a rocks glass, spritz the bitters to taste, and you’ve got yourself a fancy-schmancy cocktail (the garnish, alas, is your responsibility). One part of me wonders why this needs to exist? There aren’t many cocktails easier to make than an Old Fashioned, so perhaps your $150 would be better spent on a good bottle of whiskey and some quality bitters (you really can’t go wrong with Angostura for your Old Fashioned needs). On the other hand, the looks of the thing make it a killer gift option, and to be honest, for a bottled cocktail it’s very good. And while I prefer the Old Fashioneds I make myself at home, not everyone has the inclination required to make them. My wife, for instance, has put our bottle of Gold Fashioned to good use whenever she wants a cocktail and I’m not home. So, while it’s not for everyone, for the right person it’s a fine gift option. In other words, Gold Fashioned, you may live.
TEQUILA: El Tesoro 85th Anniversary Extra Anejo Tequila
42.5% ABV, aged at least 36 months, $500
El Tesoro 85 photo credit Ryan Muir
Lately, it seems like every celebrity who’s spent two weeks in Cancun has launched their own tequila brand. So, it’s almost surprising to learn that Carlos Camarena, the longtime tequiliero at the La Alteña distillery which produces El Tesoro, is famous solely for making great tequila. El Tesoro celebrated its 85th anniversary this year, and they did it in style, with the release of an already-legendary extra añejo expression. El Tesoro is part of the mighty Beam Suntory conglomerate, which gives Camarena access to some pretty amazing barrels in which to age his tequilas. Last year, for instance, the limited edition Mundial expression was finished in Laphroaig casks — which, if you can still find it (good luck with that), is pretty amazing. For the 85th anniversary, however, he really pulled out the stops, aging it for three years in barrels that previously held the ultra-rare (and incredibly tasty) Booker’s Bourbon 30th Anniversary edition. It’s less of a vanilla bomb than you’d expect from all that time in bourbon barrels. The vanilla is there, to be sure, along with maple and caramel notes, but it has a minerality that really gives a great sense of the terroir (or tierra, really) of La Alteña, along with a light salinity that threw me a little on first sip, but which I loved by the time I finished my glass (and immediately poured a second, natch). A hell of a gift, but I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to crack it open yourself.
BLENDED AMERICAN WHISKEY: Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Unforgotten
52.5% ABV, aged 8-13 years, $200
Wild Turkey Unforgotten photo credit Claire English
The Master’s Keep series was a way for Wild Turkey’s master distiller, Eddie Russell, to experiment with older whiskeys, aged in interesting and non-traditional ways, that stray from the wheelhouse of Wild Turkey’s other master distiller — his father, the legendary Jimmy Russell. The series launched in 2015, about five years after the release of WT’s Forgiven expression. Forgiven was an accidental blend of bourbon and rye created when an employee dumped the wrong whiskey into the wrong tank, but it was so delicious that few people believed the story was true. Well, it was true, and I’m ashamed to say that I was among the doubters. Because of its unintentional origins, Forgiven didn’t last long before disappearing into history. Master’s Keep: Unforgotten is a blended bourbon-and-rye homage to Forgiven, with the whiskeys aged about twice as long and the proof significantly higher than the original. I got to try them side by side, and while Forgiven is still a tremendous sipper, Unforgotten has a lot more “oomph,” with a richness and more substantial mouthfeel. But it has the same impeccable balance of sweet and spice, with the brown sugar/caramel notes of the bourbon and the fruitiness of the rye complementing each other perfectly. At two Benjamins for a bottle (and likely a lot more, given how liquor stores mark up rare bottles), this is the most expensive Master’s Keep to date, but it’s also one of the two or three best.
Cognac: Frapin Cuvee Rabalais
40% ABV, no age statement but it’s old, $13,000
The Frapin family has been living and, from what we’re told, distilling in the Cognac region of France since 1270, and today they own 240 of the most desirable vine-growing acres in the Premier Cru of the Grande Champagne area. As you might imagine given its age, Frapin has some pretty extensive, and old, and rare, eaux-de-vie in its cellars. Cellar master Patrice Pivetau used some of the best of them in the creation of this liquid homage to the 16th century humanist and writer François Rabelais, whose mother was actually a Frapin. Rabelais was said to have quite a raunchy sense of humor (the word “Rabelaisian” refers to him), so he certainly seems worthy of a first-rate cognac, which this absolutely is. The youngest eau-de-vie in the blend is around 60 years old; the age of the oldest can’t be verified, but likely dates back to the 19th century, possibly even pre-Phylloxera. But miraculously, the finished product doesn’t taste like licking the wood-paneled walls of a stodgy men’s club. In fact, it’s quite lively, with lots of tropical fruit, some citrus, a bit of honey, and a touch of rancio, which I like to call “nuttiness,” but that sounds like Jerry Lewis in a bottle, so rancio it is. Pretty extraordinary stuff for a cognac of this age, however old it is exactly. If you’re looking to move beyond the biggest and best-known cognac houses, Frapin is a terrific way to dip your toe in the water, or the brandy, rather. And if $13,000 is a little steep for you, their Fontpinot XO is excellent in its own right, and about $12,850 cheaper.