With Christmas in full swing, we’ve turned our thoughts to tipples inspired by the holiday season. Year on year we’re seeing new varieties of festive gins hitting the shelves, and with so many to choose from we’ve gathered up a selection of our top gins to celebrate Christmas.
For any gin lover, there is no better time than Christmas to try out new flavours and styles of gin, whether that’s for yourself or maybe a special gin-loving friend!
Our selection focuses on gins featuring traditional Christmas flavours, perfect for those cold wintry evenings, with a couple that can also be enjoyed throughout the year.
1. Caorunn Blood Orange Gin
Produced by Scottish gin makers at the Balmenach Distillery, Caorunn Blood Orange is a wonderfully fruity gin with citrus at its core. The original recipe of Caorunn is enhanced with the infusion of refreshing blood oranges and a hint of chilli, creating a vibrant and zesty flavour with undertones of sweet earthy spice. It can be enjoyed in a classic G&T or served as a base in a number of cocktails including an ‘Orange Lady’: featuring Cointreau, lemon juice, sugar syrup and egg white.
2. Edinburgh Christmas Gin
If you’re looking for a gin that is bursting with Christmassy aromatics, Edinburgh Christmas Gin has just that! It is made with a blend of seasonal botanicals, including frankincense and myrrh, providing wonderful rich aromatics accompanied by sweet orange and warming notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. We find that it works fabulously served in a festive Negroni.
3. Warner’s Christmas Cake Gin
You can tell just by the name of this gin, it’s going to be full of festive flavours! Warner’s Christmas Cake Gin is a real treat for the holiday season, featuring the likes of orange peel, nutmeg, ginger, black treacle, cacao and cherry juice. We love it served neat over ice, but it also works well mixed into an espresso martini or topped with a premium Cola.
4. Sipsmith Orange & Cacao Gin
As it’s Christmas time you can’t go wrong with combining chocolate and orange, and this offering from Sipsmith showcases exactly why they are the perfect match. With notes of citrusy marmalade and cacao it works a treat for those who prefer a little added sweetness to their serve. The finish is warming with notes of chocolate, ginger and spices.
5. Christmas Globe Gin Liqueur
Presented in a gorgeous glass bottle decorated with a charming Christmas scene, this lovely gin offers a delightful festive blend of warming spiced orange and cranberry, with notes of cinnamon and dried cloves on the finish. Plus, as an added bonus it even comes with edible 23 carat gold leaf inside and an integrated LED light, lighting up the festive scene inside.
6. Smugglers Spirits Winter Gin
When it’s cold and dark outside there’s nothing better than getting all cost and enjoying a hot toddy by the fire, and this gin has been created just for that. Smugglers Winter Gin features botanicals such as cinnamon, ginger, cranberry and angelica root offering both sweet and spicy notes. Furthermore, all the ingredients are 100% natural and pure. It works well in a hot G&T or, as a holiday serving, in a mulled gin and cranberry.
7. Monkey 47 Sloe Gin
Monkey 47 Sloe Gin is the perfect choice for any sloe gin lover out there this Christmas. Created by the Black Forrest Distillers, they have combined sloe berries with their outstanding 47 botanical gin recipe. The result is a rich and complex flavour providing a delicious tangy taste with gorgeous, sweet red berry notes. We recommend trying it in a mulled sloe gin cocktail, for a festive serve full of warming spices and fruity flavours.
8. Tappers Figgy Pudding Christmas Gin
Based on the traditional dessert, Tappers Figgy Pudding Gin is made with a combination of fruit and spice providing a festive medley of flavours. The key botanicals include figs, raisins, sultanas and apples. On the palate, it’s sweet and rich with notes of Christmas cake. For the big day why not try it in a ‘Christmas Alexander’ made with Figgy Pudding Gin, Crème de cacao and single cream.
