Gift Pack Season

I love the Christmas season. Not for the reasons you are thinking (8 years in catholic school squeezed any faith out of me). No, I love going to the liquor store and seeing what gift packs have been cooked up by the liquor companies.

On a recent trip to my local VA-ABC (that's the horribly named Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control) to pick up bottles for an upcoming tasting (if you are curious: Famous Grouse, Scapa, Highland Park, Ardbeg and Old Pulteney).

Wandering around the shop I got to see what's in this season:

Many companies stick with the easy way out and offer glasses: Herradura Tequila, Bacardi Rum, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, JW Black Label, Chivas Regal, and Crown Royal all offer gift packs with one of two rocks style glasses. Vodkas are big with martini glasses - Citadelle, Belvedere and Chopin; while Stolichnaya takes a more Russian approach and offers 4 shot glasses. Corazon tequila decided to offer a choice of shot glasses OR rocks glasses.

Cocktail shakers are also big: Beefeater, Ketel One, Patron Tequila, Drambuie and Tanqueray No. Ten all went the shaker route - but Tanqueray wins the prize for kitsch with a shaker that resembles the bottle. Kahlua decided to offer a decanter - though for the life of me I have no idea why you'd decant Kahlua.

Some companies go a little bit more practical - Starbuck's with a choice of a coffee mug or a bag of coffee beans. Dewar's and Jameson's offering coasters. And Bowmore and Jim Beam offering the most useful item of all - flasks.

Enough window shopping - back to business. I headed over to the Scotch section to make my purchases. On the Famous Grouse Shelf I had the choice of getting a 750 ml bottle with golf balls or a 1 liter bottle with a Famous Grouse shirt. I'm not a golf player, so I don't need the balls. And I just got a bunch of those very same shirts - so I grabbed a 750 ml. bottle (no gift)  and went to check out. 

On the way to the register, a previously missed display of Famous Grouse Gift Packs caught my eye.

By purchasing a 750ml bottle, I had a choice between a rocks glass or what's that... a copy of Jim Murray's Whisky Bible?

Yes. For exactly the same price as my 750 ml bottle of Famous Grouse I could also get a free copy of the latest Whisky Bible. Do I care that I already have a copy? Not at all - I was basically getting a free bottle of whisky for buying the book.

Next to the pile of Whisky Bibles was a stack of 1.75 bottle gift packs with a neat little poker set. You can't see it very well from the picture, but it includes dice, cards, chips and a carrying case - for exactly the same cost as the 1.75 liter bottle alone.

I left with the Whisky bible (along with all of my other purchases) and when I got home I called Lana Pattinson, the US brand manager for Famous Grouse to make sure this wasn't some sort of Virginia only deal.

She assured me all the things I had seen were available throughout the US, though not all are available in all markets. Lana told me that the Jim Murray book was actually a special printing done just for Famous Grouse (sounds like a collectible to me).

Said Lana:

I personally wanted to see how much I could age Jim Murray in a 6-month time span...just kidding! It was definitely a challenge for us both to meet printing and packaging deadlines, but I hope you'll agree that the end result was great.

When I asked about the Poker kit she told me:

We wanted to create a great gift pack for this holiday season, and decided to capitalize on the current Poker trend.

So, head over to your local purveyor of fine spirits and take advantage of gift pack season - and remember -  no one has to know that bottle you bought for them came with a poker set.

Comments

[Mike]

I hate buying a $50, $75 or more bottle and not knowing what I'll get. That's why I like tastings. It's also why I wish I'd see more holiday packs of mini-bottles.

[Michael Nelson]

My local VA-ABC store has Glenlivet Nadurra on sale this month (small batch, bottled at natural cask strength, aged for a minimum of sixteen years in first-fill American oak casks, and non chilled-filtered). Have you tried it? If so, what do you think of it?

[Bill Lewis]

I have tried the Nadurra and I did enjoy it. But I prefer the 15 and 18 year olds better. I have a friend who doesn't care for the Nadurra and I hope he will give to me to finish!

[Patricia]

I am a Virginia resident and am interested in buying my husband a bottle of Macallan 25 year old for his 50th birthday. I liked the idea of giving him something to love half his age that he probably won't leave me for. Anyway, is this a wonderful single malt? Can I get him a crystal decanter to put it in or will that do it harm? What is a good glass to drink it from? Can I get it at my VA-ABC?