THE BEST Drinks

Cinco de Mayo is one of America’s favorite holidays, but contrary to common belief, it is not Mexican Independence Day. That treaty was signed August 24, 1821, a date commemorated by Tequila Corralejo. Their Extra Añejo 1821 honors valiant heroes with 100% blue agave, double-distilled in copper, and matured in oak for 36 months.

Colorado’s Strongwater creates award-winning bitters from ingredients like turmeric, cinnamon, orange peel, clove, cherries, and lavender. They’ll give your next cocktail added dimension, flavor, and aroma. The set of five 3oz bottles is on sale for a limited time from Touch of Modern. Strongwater also makes a 1/2oz sampler.

Sempli’s leaning glass carafe is designed to infuse spirits with fruits, vegetables, and spices, imbuing them with new depth, flavor, and character. The 13 oz vessel comes with a perforated infusing tube for ingredients, and a rubber stopper. Once infused, simply remove the tube, and decant straight from the bottle.

Starbucks brings their popular nitro cold brew coffee to grocery and convenience stores. The ready-to-drink 9.6oz. cans infuse the drinks with nitrogen microbubbles as soon you open them, and come in unsweetened black, dark caramel, and vanilla sweet cream flavors.

BrüMate’s drink flasks feature a look inspired by vintage WWII gasoline “Jerry” cans. They hold 8oz. of your drink of choice, and are cast from stainless steel with a special food-safe coating to eliminate any metallic aftertaste. They’re available in numerous colors, including some cool camouflage patterns.

Sun’s Tea’s glasses feature a double-walled design to help insulate their contents, keeping your spirits cooler longer, without hiding what they look like. Perfect for sipping whiskey all night long. Includes two 9 oz. glasses, each made from lead-free borosilicate glass.

We love a good sippin’ bourbon as much as the next guy, but whiskey also goes great with mixers. Amy Zavatto’s colorful book is filled with 100 great drink recipes, including the perfect versions of classic cocktails, and drinks grouped by sweet, savory, spicy, sour, and other flavor profiles to suit every taste.

Keep your beer bottles and cans frosty cold for hours with these cooler shells that wrap around your beverages. They feature double-wall vacuum insulation and a stainless steel body. A removable cap holds bottles securely in place, while cans fit snugly on their own. As a bonus, its cap doubles as a bottle opener.

After a long day at work, it’s nice to take the edge off with a little booze. But where did humans get the idea to ferment spirits and drink them in the first place? TED-Ed presenter Rod Phillips looks back on the 7,000+ year history of alcohol, which like many things, appears to have its origins with ancient Chinese civilizations.

Funny lady Mindy Kaling has put her wit to work writing holiday messages for top-shelf Johnnie Walker Blue Label.Choose from several engravings including “Damn, someone made the nice list.” Grab one at MindysBlueLabelHoliday or the Johnnie Walker Holiday Pop Up at Brookfield Place in NYC. Free shipping with the code MINDY.

A newborn rum is here, pa rum pum pum pum. Crafted by Trinidadian entrepreneur Marc Farrell – a former Starbucks VP and a Harvard, Cambridge, and MIT grad – his Ten to One rums challenge perceptions of tropical spirits. Light and dark expressions blend premium rums from the Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Jamaica, and Barbados.

“World’s Best Martini” award-winning AK’s Gin is by Master Distiller Kirsty Black, named Scotland’s Young Scientist of the Year for her part in making GMO-free “field-to-bottle” Arbikie the world’s first climate-positive distillery. Founded by the Stirling brothers on their family’s farm, the Highlands distillery honors their father, AK.

What do we want? Drinks! When do we want them? NOW! Fred’s clever cocktail picks let you protest your desire for booze with amusing slogans like “Garnish Drinks Not Wages” and “Four More Beers!” Sold in a set of 24, with two of each design.

Heavensake sake is a Franco-Japanese marriage made in heaven. Award-winning sparkling wine maker Régis Camus teamed with Japanese brew-masters to artfully blend sake for Western palates with three elegant expressions: Junmai Daiginjo, Junmai Ginjo, and Junmai 12. Like delicious revenge, they’re best served cold.

Winner of the Double Gold, Best of Show at the 2018 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Guild Gin is just one of the stars in Watershed Distillery’s collection. Made in Ohio from local apples and corn, Guild mellows the usual juniper jolt with infused chamomile, and a botanical mélange of citrus, nutmeg, and rose petal.

Bertoux gives new life to an old spirit from the Golden Age of the cocktail. This Solera-style blend of pot-distilled California fine brandies is aged 3-7 years in French and American oak. Cheers to Bertoux’s master blenders: ace bartender Jeff Bell (P.D.T. and Legacy Records) and NoMad’s sommelier-winemaker Thomas Pastuszak.

While a Moscow mule is made simply with ginger beer, lime juice, and vodka, there are tons of variations these days. Thoughtfully’s gift set for drink lovers includes seven different mule mixers, each in a 2.3 ounce bottle. We suggest grabbing a bottle of good vodka and some copper mugs to round out your gift.

A very special, limited-edition Hennessy V.S cognac, designed in collaboration with pop artist Filipe Pantone. Its white carafe stands in its center, nestled among a grid of multicolored rods which can be moved and interchanged by the observer to camouflage or reveal its spirit for sipping.

Swag Brewery’s flasks explain what’s really inside of them, with labels like “Tears of My Enemy,” “Holy Water,” and of course “Definitely Not a Flask Full of Booze.” Each one is made of food-grade stainless steel, and makes a great stocking stuffer for boozehounds.

Give a pre-holiday gift to the adult beverage enthusiast in your life. Drinks by the Dram’s spirited advent calendars offer up a delicious and unique assortment for each day of December leading up to Christmas. Choose from whisky, gin, rum, vodka, tequila, and more. Worldwide shipping available from The Whisky Shop.

Washington state’s Bad Dog Distillery crafts this bright and flavorful 90-proof bourbon whiskey, which offers up a light and spicy body, toasty oak notes, and a fragrant aroma reminiscent of a good añejo tequila. Good for sipping or cocktails. Available from BigFish.

Made in Washington state using locally-sourced corn, Nightside Distillery’s 90-proof bourbon is developed and smooth, despite no age statement. It’s got lots of desirable caramel and vanilla notes, and is an easy whiskey for casual sippers looking for something a little bolder than the big name brands. Available from BigFish.

Described as “glassless cocktails,” scotch whiskey maker The Glenlivet’s uniquely packaged booze is sure to raise some eyebrows. Each edible pod is filled with a 23ml whiskey cocktail, offering up a burst of flavor much like taking a shot. While they’re a cool idea, they’re not headed to the US at this point.

This cheeky tiki mug is the first collab between famed Polynesian kitsch carver Danny “Tiki Diablo” Gallardo and cocktail historian Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, proprietor of Latitude 29 in New Orleans, named one of the Top 50 bars the country. The Bora Bora Bum Mug holds 16 ounces and comes in blue, green or orange.

Toast around the campfire or keep warm by the fireplace this winter with a drink from one of these cheeky 16oz. enamel mugs from Swag Brewery. Whether your drink of choice is whiskey, wine, beer, or whatever, there’s a mug for you or your gift recipient of choice.