Make spirits bright with holiday gifts and cocktails from Chattanooga liquor stores

Elves may officially be Santa’s little helpers, but adult beverages can also provide valuable assistance with merrymaking — just think of each bottle as your own “elf on the shelf.”

To help you cover all your bases as you stock up for the season, we consulted with local liquor experts on the best beverage options for holiday gatherings and gift ideas for every type of drinker.

First of all, you’ll want a bottle or two of something festive to share with everyone.

Michelle Drew of Chattanooga Wine & Spirits suggests Buffalo Trace bourbon cream “for the bourbon-lover in your life who might want to spice up their coffee,” or try it with the Morning Call Coffee recipe below.

Magnum Scotch Malt Whiskey Cream Liqueur tastes and looks holiday-ready with notes of caramel and ginger and an adorable tartan cap that tops its sleek and reusable stainless steel bottle.

“You can’t go wrong with either Bailey’s or RumChata,” Drew says, adding that RumChata’s Peppermint Bark flavor is particularly popular and only available around the holidays. Similarly, Jack Daniel’s Winter Jack — a blend of apple cider liqueur, whiskey and holiday spices — is a seasonal favorite folks look forward to year-round. “People ask us to order it even after the holidays,” she says.

For those who like a little holiday hooch, Drew says Shine Nog, the eggnog from Tennessee’s Ole Smoky Moonshine, is a popular pick.

Other liqueurs good for making holiday drinks include Five Farms, a single-batch Irish cream liqueur sourced and produced in County Cork, Ireland, and packaged in a cute glass bottle with a ceramic swing-top cap reminiscent of old-fashioned milk bottles.

“I’m not a cream guy, but a lot of people who rave about creams, they love this,” says Rudy Yagnik, head spirits coordinator at Northshore Liquor and Wine. Try the brand’s recipe for a holiday-ready sugar cookie martini, below.

Yagnik also suggests Frangelico, a hazelnut and herb liqueur that adds a sweet and nutty flavor to holiday beverages. Try the recipe below for Frangeli-cocoa, a coffee, hot cocoa and whipped cream float.

“For everyone with the sweet tooth, a chocolate liqueur is always a good way to kick up a holiday drink,” says Yagnik, who recommends Licor 43 Chocolate.

Bushwacker Coconut Rum Cream is another popular option for holiday drinks, like the Bushwacker Alexander below, that pair well with seasonal desserts, such as pumpkin pie.

It’s also a good idea to have a vermouth, like Carpano Antica Formula, on hand for classic cocktails like negronis or manhattans.

DRINK IN THE HOLIDAYS:

Frangeli-Cocoa

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces Frangelico

8 ounces hot coffee (can substitute with hot water or milk)

2 tablespoons hot cocoa mix

Whipped cream and freshly grated nutmeg, for garnish

Instructions:

Add hot cocoa mix and Frangelico to coffee mug, pour hot coffee over mix and stir thoroughly.

Garnish with whipped cream and grate fresh nutmeg over whipped cream peak to finish.

(Recipe from Frangelico)

Sugar Cookie Martini

Ingredients:

2 ounces Five Farms Irish Cream Liqueur

1 ounce half & half

1/2 ounce vanilla-flavored vodka

1/2 ounce white chocolate liqueur

1 container pre-made frosting and small package red and green sprinkles (optional)

Instructions:

Rim a martini glass with white frosting and sprinkles (optional).

Add Five Farms Irish Cream Liqueur, half & half, vanilla-flavored vodka, white chocolate liqueur and ice to a shaker.

Shake for 20–30 seconds until chilled.

Strain into the martini glass.

Sláinte!

(Recipe from Five Farms Irish Creams Liqueur)

Bushwacker Alexander

Ingredients:

2 ounces Bushwacker

1 ounce crème de cacao

1 ounce heavy cream

Nutmeg, for garnish

Instructions:

Shake all ingredients and pour into a coupe glass.

Garnish with fresh nutmeg.

(Recipe from Bushwacker)

Morning Call Coffee

Ingredients:

½ ounce Myers’s Dark Jamaican Rum

½ ounce Demerara sugar syrup

1 ounce Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cream

Hot coffee

Bittermens Elemakule Tiki Bitters

Instructions:

Combine rum, syrup and bourbon cream in a mug. Add coffee and stir. Top with three dashes (about 21 drops) of bitters.

(Recipe from Buffalo Trace Distillery)

Liquid Gifting

If you know someone prefers a particular type of alcohol, it’s easy to find a gift they’re sure to love with our guide to the best bottles to gift this season.

For fans of single-malt scotch, Yagnik recommends Glenmorangie Signet, a rare bottle of Highland single-malt whiskey he plans to give to one of his mentors this Christmas.

Most people who like a good blended whiskey will count Johnny Walker Blue Label among their favorites. For the holidays, opt for a limited-edition bottle such as the Year of the Rabbit edition, handpainted by Chinese fashion designer Angel Chen. Drew recommends the limited-edition Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ice Chalet release, featuring whiskies from distilleries in the highest elevations in Scotland for a smooth blend inspired by Alpine winters. Thanks to a collaboration with luxury skiwear brand Perfect Moment, you can purchase a bottle bundled up in a down ski jacket-like case that can be repurposed as a crossbody bag.

For those who like heavily peated scotch, which has the smoky flavor of whiskey made from barley dried over a peat fire, Yagnik suggests Bruichladdich Octomore 15.3. “These are the heaviest peated [scotch varieties] that you could possibly go with,” he says of this single malt, which is relatively strong for a scotch at 122.6 proof. “When you’re talking about peat-lovers and their dream bottle, this is probably going to be one of them.”

Among his top pick for Irish whiskey is the Redbreast 21-Year-Old, an aromatic and complex whiskey with notes of fruit, vanilla and toasted oak.

A good option for traditional bourbon is Stagg from Buffalo Trace Distillery, an unfiltered whiskey aged eight to nine years, with an allocated release twice a year. For those who prefer a wheated bourbon, Yagnik suggests Willett 8-Year.

“People are really big on anything that comes from Buffalo Trace Distillery,” Drew says.

Yagnik says his favorite rye bourbon is from a barrel sourced by Bill Binder, a well-known figure in the bourbon world, that is available exclusively at Northshore Liquor.

Another unique find is the Elkwood Reserve, a 15-year-old single-barrel bourbon exclusive to the store and that Yagnik says was distilled at Buffalo Trace using a Wild Turkey recipe.

Domaine d’Aurensan 1990 Armagnac, a type of grape-based brandy produced in the Armagnac region of France, is aged for 32 years, and its flavor imparts something of a holiday feel with notes of chocolate, dried fruit and caramel. Those who prefer Cognac — another grape-based brandy from France, but produced in the Cognac region with a different method of distillation — will appreciate a bottle of Hennessy X.O (short for “extra old”), which gets its deep, round flavor from an extended aging process.

Fans of football and cognac will appreciate former tight end Shannon Sharpe’s Le Portier Shay VSOP cognac, a bottle customers are constantly asking about, Drew says.

For tequila, everyone knows and loves Clase Azul Reposado, Yagnik says, with its signature blue and white bottle with a silver cap (although the higher-end black and gold bottle looks particularly gift-worthy). A good blanco tequila is Cazcanes No. 10, a still-strength option that packs a punch at about 108 proof but drinks like it’s 80 proof (the strength of most tequila).