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Shopping for drinking gifts is tricky when the cocktail lover on your list already has a bar cart full of basics. Trust me, I’ve spent years figuring out what actually impresses drinkers versus what collects dust. Which is why I’ve been curating this guide for years.
I just updated this list for the 2025 holiday season with drinking gifts I personally own, have gifted, or am adding to my own wish list. These aren’t random picks. Most of these are products I reach for in my own home bar or have given to friends who genuinely loved them.
Whether you need whiskey gifts, champagne gifts, espresso martini gifts, white elephant exchange gift ideas, or something for someone who just loves a good drink, I’ve organized 50+ options by category to make shopping easy!
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Best Cocktail Books to Give as Gifts
Cocktail books make killer gifts for cocktail lovers because there’s something for every type of drinker. I’ve handpicked options for everyone from beginners mixing their first margarita to cocktail historians who geek out over prohibition-era recipes. Plus, they look damn good on a bar cart.
Speakeasy: 200 Underground Cocktails
Speakeasy is a cocktail book that celebrates this exciting gin-soaked, gangster-frollicking era, with 200 cocktails for every taste and spirit. With cool 1920s-style illustrations throughout and a perfect gift format, this is the one cocktail book to relive the heady golden days.
Drinking Like Ladies: 75 Modern Cocktails from the World’s Leading Female Bartenders
Acclaimed bartenders Kirsten Amann and Misty Kalkofen have traveled the world commissioning cocktail recipes–from equally acclaimed female bartenders–to pair with 75 illustrated biographies of trailblazing ladies throughout history. Each two-page spread features an exciting new drink recipe inspired by an insightful illustrated biography of a remarkable woman like Princess Diana, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ada Lovelace or Wilma Mankiller.
Meehan’s Bartender Manual
With chapters that mix cocktail history with professional insights from experts all over the world, this deep dive covers it all: bar design, menu development, spirits production, drink mixing technique, the craft of service and art of hospitality, and more. This makes for a great drinking gift for the professional bartender in your life!
Smuggler’s Cove Tiki Cocktail Book
Martin and Rebecca Cate, founders and owners of Smuggler’s Cove (the most acclaimed tiki bar of the modern era) take you on a colorful journey into the lore and legend of tiki in this James Beard Award-winning cocktail book.
The Drunken Botanist Book
One of my most favorite books, this one studies the biology, chemistry, history, etymology, and mixology of drinking and includes more than fifty drink recipes and growing tips for gardeners.
The Hungover Cookbook
The Hungover Cookbook includes everything you need to understand and improve your hangover. It has dozens of comforting recipes, along with tests for analyzing your state of mind, and quizzes to track your progress.
Women’s Libation! Cocktail Book
This hand-drawn book beautifully illustrates and celebrates the history of strong women through strong cocktails!
Tequila Mockingbird Cocktail Book
A cocktail book perfect for the literary obsessed.
Scratch and Sniff Whiskey Book
Help your whiskey lover learn all about the complexity of the spirit with the help of this scratch and sniff book!
Are You Afraid of Dark Rum?
It’s 90’s nostalgia in a glass with this cocktail book. Inside, you’ll find recipes for re-creating adult versions of your favorite childhood drinks, as well as original craft cocktails inspired by that iconic decade.
Cocktail Codex
Cocktail Codex is a comprehensive primer on the craft of mixing drinks that will give drink-makers of every level the tools to understand, execute, and improvise both classic and original cocktails.
The Mini Bar Cocktail Book Set
I love The Mini Bar book set. 100 classic cocktail recipes are organized by spirits and divided between eight notebooks. It’s sleek, modern, and beautifully illustrated.
Where Bartenders Drink
In the footsteps of bestsellers Where Chefs Eat and Where to Eat Pizza, this book is the guide for where the best bartenders go for the best drinks around the world.
The Art of the Bar Cart
The Art of the Bar Cart features 20 different styled bar setups—from tricked-out vintage carts to a collection of bottles tucked into a cabinet—themed around favorite libations, personal style, or upcoming occasions.
Cool and Unique Drinking Gifts
If you want to stand out from the generic bottle-and-glass combo everyone else is giving, this section is for you. I’ve rounded up drinking gifts that are actually conversation starters, from unexpected bar tools to products your giftee definitely doesn’t own yet.
Unique Bird Cocktail Glasses
Insulated Martini Cocktail Glass (Set of 2)
DIY Gin-Making Alcohol Infusion-Kit
Skull Silicone Ice Mold Tray
On-The-Go Old Fashioned Cocktail Kit
This small but mighty, TSA-approved, cocktail kit makes six for both the short flights and the international getaways. It’s the perfect booze gift for any cocktail lover.
The Best Drinking Gifts for Their Bar Cart
Bar cart accessories are where you can really upgrade someone’s cocktail game. I’ve pulled together the essentials and the nice-to-haves that’ll make their home bar look professional and function even better, whether you’re spending $20 or $200.
Pink Highball Cocktail Glasses
Insulated Stainless Steel Cocktail Shaker
Marble Coasters with Gold Edges (Set of 4)
10-Piece Bar Tool Set
A beautiful and high-end cocktail set is a must for any self-respecting bar cart. This set fills that need and comes with everything you need to make and serve cocktails.
Crystal Glencairn Whiskey Glasses
Serve your whiskey the way it’s meant to be served with these crystal Glencairn whiskey glasses.
Woodford Reserve Bourbon Cherries
These Woodford Reserve Bourbon cherries are our favorite for Old Fashioneds.
Bourbon Bitters Bundle Set
To go with the Bourbon Cherries listed earlier, this set of four bitters from Woodford Reserve will be a delight to any lover of Old Fashioneds.
Funny Alcohol Gifts
Sometimes the best gift is one that gets a genuine laugh. These funny alcohol gifts aren’t cheesy gag gifts that’ll end up in a drawer. They’re actually clever, usable, and guaranteed to make your cocktail-loving friend crack up.
“Drinking Buddies” Glass Markers (Set of 6)
Alcohol Shot Gun
Discrete Seltzer Can Covers (2 Pack)
Tabletop Golf Shot Drinking Game
Beaker Shot Glasses Set
“May Contain Alcohol” Enamel Coffee Mug
These campfire-style enamel mugs are sure to make someone smile wherever they’re used.
Corkcicle Cigar Glass
This glass from Corkcicle is a cigar lover’s dream. Part rocks glass, part cigar rest, the Cigar Glass lets you hold your drink and cigar in the same hand at the same time without all the awkward finger fumbling.
Drunk, Stoned, or Stupid Party Game
Drunk, Stoned, or Stupid is a hilarious party game with 250 cards to decide who in the group is most likely to… (for example) “#1 Wake up with half a burrito in bed”, “#27 Have a 20-minute conversation with Siri” and “#147 Shame people for going to bed”.
Luxuyr Drinking Gifts
Shopping for someone who already has a fully stocked bar? These luxury drinking gifts are for the person who appreciates quality and doesn’t mind spending for it. I’m talking investment pieces they’ll use for years, not just pretty things that sit on a shelf.
Tequila Decanter Set with 6 Agave Shot Glasses
Bartesian Premium Cocktail and Margarita Machine
Locally Handmade Cocktail Tumbler Glass
These hand-blown, made in Austin, soda-lime cocktails glasses are an absolute work of art. They’re too gorgeous to keep hidden away in the cabinets. No, these are the kind of glasses that you keep out on your bar cart as your ‘go-to’ beauties.
Corkcicle Ice Bucket
Sleek, stainless steel, and insulated, Corkcicle’s signature triple insulated ice bucket will keep your ice-cold for up to 48 hours. NO JOKE. With a 128 oz capacity and a matching lid, this ice bucket is sweat-free and easy to grip.
Premium Titanium Bartender Set
Six tools are stored safely in a traditional, waxed canvas roll bag; Keeping your tools organized and ready to transport to any event. The titanium finish gives this bartender kit a unique and professional look combining high quality with a distinct style.
Yeti Hopper Backpack Cooler
Part cooler, part backpack, the Hopper BackFlip 24 is the perfect reason to extend your trek. It’s sizable enough to fit a day’s worth of drinks and food for you and your crew.
Check Out These Other Holiday Gift Guides!
Lots of people drink alcohol, and some people really love alcohol. We hope this post has given you some ideas for the alcohol lovers in your life. Whether they prefer wine, whiskey, beer, or something else entirely, we have got you covered!
If you don’t want to drink alcohol, you should still get one of these gifts for your favorite booze lover. They’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness and effort to find the perfect gift! And if you are an alcohol lover yourself, consider giving these gifts to someone else. You’ll make their day with some tasty alcohol.
- 17 Austin Spirits and Where to Get Them | LINK
- 32 Gifts for the Craft Beer Lover in Your Life | LINK
- From Homebrewing to Beer History, Here’s 28 of the Best Books About Beer | LINK
- Gifts for Wine Drinkers, But Make it Fancy | LINK
