12 Christmas gins to try
Check out our favourite festive gins to try this Christmas, plus a Christmas gin recipe to make at home
Want to try a Christmas gin? Looking for a Christmas gift for gin lovers? We've found the best spiced gins to buy for Christmas including our homemade Christmas gin recipe.
Want to discover more unique gins? Try our best gins, favourite Scottish gins, Welsh gins, flavoured gins and British gins, or travel the world from your home with our unusual international gins. For a sunny boost to your G&T, check out our round up of citrus gins.
Looking to really impress fellow gin lovers? Bring the bar to your home and store your favourite gins our best drinks trolley ideas.
Best Christmas gins to buy
Whitley Neill Oriental Spiced Gin, £23.90/70cl, Master of Malt
This spiced gin uses botanicals including cumin, ginger, and star anise to give the spirit its distinct, bold flavour. Pair with an unflavoured tonic to experience its rich, savoury notes, or try in a festive negroni.
Junimperium Winter Edition Gin, £41.95, Delivered Drinks
Complete with attractive juniper wood stopper, this rose-tinted Estonian gin is just made for chilly nights. On the nose it’s subtly herbaceous, with a peppery hit of coriander and vanilla notes. There are berries, too – it’s flavoured with an unfiltered lingonberry infusion. As well as wintery spice (including cardamom and cassia bark), it tastes smooth, creamy and decadent – like crème anglaise. Drink with tonic, a sprig of rosemary and a cinnamon stick.
Reverend Hubert Winter Gin Liqueur, £37.50, Fortnum & Mason
Slightly syrupy, gently spiced, and lifted by the scent of organic citrus (sourced from the Amalfi coast), this warming, amber-coloured tipple tastes like a cross between sloe gin and ice wine. It’s the kind of late-night drink we’d reach for as soon as autumn hits, either on its own (relish those pure, dried fruit flavours) or as part of a hot toddy with hot water, honey and fresh lemon juice.
Four Pillars Christmas Gin, £51.97/70cl, Amazon
A blend of gin distilled with Christmas puddings and gin aged in scotch whisky barrels – plus a touch of muscat – results in a festive spirit that will warm your cockles on cold nights. One to sip neat, preferably in front of the fire.
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Boatyard Old Tom Gin, £45.20/70cl, Amazon
A beautifully packaged, cask-aged Irish gin that comes flavoured with Fermanagh honey. This comes through on the nose and palate, as do notes of hay, cocoa, vanilla and spice. Sip on its own, or try it in a martini.
Whitley Neill Blood Orange Gin, £26/70cl, Amazon
This fragrant number packs in lots of juicy citrus – with dryness from Sicilian blood oranges that pairs well with the gin, and subtle notes of orange peel and pepper. Try it with fresh grapefruit juice and lime for a zesty paloma.
OPIHR European Edition, £26.95, Master of Malt
OPIHR is one of olive’s go-to spiced gins and it has released new expressions that celebrate three different regions of the world – from Europe and Arabia to the Far East. Its European edition, wonderfully soft on the palate, is a warming, subtly savoury affair with woody, earthy spice. Try mixing with Campari and sweet red vermouth for a spiced take on a negroni
Pickering’s Original 1947 Gin, £28.75/70cl, Master of Malt
Made using an old family recipe written in Bombay in 1947, this is a super-powered spiced gin with notes of cloves, cinnamon, anise and cardamom, and some subtle citrus. Soft, and almost creamy on the palate, with background sweetness and a long finish. Garnish with a slice of fresh orange in a G&T.
Slingsby Marmalade Gin, £36.95/70cl, The Whisky Exchange
This brand produces some of the best flavoured gins (try the rhubarb and gooseberry varieties) and its latest release uses Yorkshire marmalade to create a gin with well-balanced sweetness and fragrant tangerine-like orange notes. Drink with Fever-Tree Mediterranean tonic water and a twist of orange peel
M&S London distilled dry gin No 1 spice
With coriander on the nose and black pepper and spices to taste, this subtle gin is a must-have addition to your booze cupboard. Try it with hot orange juice, honey and a stick of cinnamon for a warming festive beverage
Darnley’s Spiced Gin, £33.95/70cl, The Whisky Exchange
One for those who can find some spiced gins a little overpowering, this Scottish number has a subtle, restrained spice that’s balanced by juniper, with a lingering, peppery finish. Drink with ginger ale.
Want to try the best pink gins?
Click here for the results of our taste testFlavours include:
- Pinot noir gin
- Pink grapefruit gin
- Rhuabrb gin
LoneWolf Gunpowder Gin, £25, BrewDog
With heady citrus and piney aromas this punchy spiced gin (clocking in at 57% ABV) packs in masses of peppery spice thanks to botanicals of black, pink and szechuan peppercorns, as well as aromatic anise notes. Its smooth mouthfeel means you could sip it neat, or serve with tonic water and orange peel
Make our Christmas gin recipe here
Infuse your own gin with festive flavours (clementine, ginger and bay), wrap it up nice and give it to a special someone this Christmas. It's a unique and thoughtful gift that's really easy to make.
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