Last-Minute Local Gifts: Wine & Spirits

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

One foolproof gift for most adults can be picked up on the way to the party. Cole Chilton of T.B. Ackerson on Cortelyou was kind enough to provide these five last-minute wine and spirits gifts:

Ordered from least to most expensive, these are the easiest wine and spirits gifts to pick up if you waited until the last minute.

1. Wine Pairing eBooks: You don’t even have to get up from your computer to give these as gifts, they cost less than a coffee, and the person you give them to will remember you forever. They’re actually perfect to give to people far away who love food and wine but who might have to navigate huge chain stores to get their vino where there might not be anyone to tell them that their wine tastes like chocolate-dusted raspberries baking over an active volcano.

… The steak and wine pairing book I wrote is getting great reviews on Amazon, and it’s a great digital treat for all the meat-loving foodies in your life.

… My pizza and wine pairing book just came out yesterday. It features some of our neighborhood’s best pies, i.e, Di Fara’s, and it takes you on a tour through many types of wine that even your most wine-loving friends and family have certainly never tried before!

P.S. You don’t need an actual Kindle to read them–they work for any computer or smartphone!

2. Gift Certificates: You can make them out for any denomination, they never expire, and you can call them in over the phone if you can’t make it into the store (please, expect longer than usual hold time if you wait until Christmas Eve). The best tasting piece of paper you could ever give!

3. Bitters, Vermouth, Liqueurs & other mixers to make your spirits taste even better: With these in your cupboard you don’t need expensive spirits to make an amazing cocktail. They range in price from $10 to $30, and they are the most fun gift you can give someone who might have a life that doesn’t let them go to a fancy mixologist cocktail bar every week.

4. Pinot Noir: Pinot Noir is the easiest red wine in the world to pick out. Everyone is impressed by it, and the more you spend on it the bigger the bang when you pop it. $15 gets you the good stuff and $25 gets you the tastiest bottle in the store. Bring Pinot Noir when you don’t know exactly what type of wine your host is into!

5. Single Malt Scotch: It may cost $50, $75, or even $100 or more, but Single Malt Scotch makes an impression. Bring Single Malt Scotch to your boss if you are fishing for a promotion. Bring Single Malt Scotch to your in-laws if you imagine that they might have spent their past lives as robber barons rubbing elbows with J.P. Morgan. Bring Single Malt Scotch if you want to tell your special someone that you want to spend a cold winter snuggled up together in front of a smokey fireplace.

For more helpful tips on what to buy this holiday season (or any time), be sure to stop by the shop. T.B. Ackerson’s store hours will be noon to 9pm every day this week but Christmas Day, when they’ll be closed.

Tags: gifts, T.B. Ackerson
See All: Food & Drink, Holidays