Get Stirring and Shaking: Gifts for the at-Home Mixologists in Your Life

Whether you’re shopping for a friend who has the most well-stocked bar cart in the game or one who needs a hand at making better drinks at home, we’ve got you covered. Give the gift your happy-hour obsessed friends want with our curated selection of gifts. Each of these gifts is sure to have them shaking, mixing, stirring, and serving drinks in the utmost style. 

If they own a bar cart that is tastefully curated with accessories and tools, gift them a bundle of three liquors from California-based spirit brand Mulholland Distillery for sleek bottles that they will be happy to put on display. Or wrap up a set of unique cocktail glasses and salts so they have more options to adorn their creations. 

If they don’t have a cart yet (but could benefit from one), we’ve pulled a slim cart that can fit into small spaces as well as a gilded cart that is perfect for the entertainer who is a little more extravagant. Meeting up with some coworkers at a bar for a secret Santa or gift exchange with a lower price point? Fit the theme of the location with The Mini Bar book from PUNCH, which offers 100 cocktail recipes split up into seven booklets organized by spirit. 

Gift-giving can be hard when it comes to booze, so if you don’t want to be the reason for anyone’s hangover, you can rest with ease knowing they’re sipping on some non-alcoholic spirits from Optimist botanicals. Whichever item or assortment of the below you end up gifting this season, we can almost ensure that you will be getting invited to many happy hours in the near future. 

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Any Bottle from Mulholland Distilling

Mulholland Distilling

Stock a friend’s cart or cupboard with any of these delicious spirits brewed and based in California. The Mulholland Distilling gin is brewed with the essence of Persian cucumber and French lavender for a nose and mouthfeel that will make you want to drink gin straight, while the rest of the collection makes for a great Old Fashioned or vodka martini.

Jacobsen Salt Vial Salt Set

Jacobsen Salt Co.

Margarita fan in your life? Help them elevate their salt rims with this collection of eight different salts from Jacobsen Salt Co. Each one has a slightly different flavor, color, and appeal; for a tropical marg they can use pineapple juice with a black lava salt rim. For a more subtle salty rim, the sel gris makes for a softer flavor.

Bartesian Home Cocktail System

Bartesian

For the ultimate cocktail maker in your life (and potentially the Keurig or Nespresso fan), up their game with a Bartesian cocktail maker. With a variety of pods that cover basically every classic cocktail (my favorite is the lemon drop), each pod includes premium bitters, extracts, juice concentrates, and mixers. All you have to do is place the proper glassware or shaker underneath the spout and add ice.

The Bitter Housewife Bitters Set

The Bitter Housewife

Have a friend or family member who’s always wishing their homemade cocktails tasted a little more like the real deal? They’re probably missing out on the addition of bitters; this kit comes with a sampler of three essential bitters to start adding to any drink from a homemade Old Fashioned to a mocktail with soda water.

Optimist Botanicals

Optimist

Someone on your list a fan of partaking in Dry January? These botanical spirits are alcohol-free and inspired by the landscape of Los Angeles. Smokey is inspired by traditional tequilas and beach bonfires, Fresh is more of an alcohol-free gin that reminds us of fresh canyon air, while Bright takes its inspiration from salty beach air and mixes like a lemony vodka.

Fit Anywhere Slim Storage Cart

Food 52

If the at-home bartender on your list could benefit from a little added organization, this universal cart can act as a bar cart, glass holder, or whatever they need it to be and is super slim to fit into the smallest of nooks. Convenient hooks attached to the top make for a great place to store a bottle opener or bartender’s towel.

Straightaway Cocktail Tool Box

Straightaway

This Oregon-based pre-made cocktail company uses great ingredients to make cocktails that come mixed with high-quality spirits. Whether you show up to the party with this toolbox in hand as a welcome gift or pass one along to your friend who’s a little too lazy to mix up a full-on drink but wants something tasty nonetheless, this box comes with six cocktails that each serve three. Be warned—these cocktails are stronger than most on the market, so feel free to top them with a splash of sparkling water or tonic.

Teroforma Liquor Infusion Kit

Food 52

For the bartender or mixologist who has it all, we can bet they don’t have this! This kit comes with everything needed to infuse liquors including flavor pouches that offer unique blends like Lapsang Souchong and bergamot or lemon verbena and ginger.

Sunset Match Cloche

Sunset Shop

This match cloche makes for a great accessory on the bar cart and is bound to inspire its owner to try smoking a few cocktails. The cork in the bottom of the cloche is easy to open when removing matches and allows for the sticks to stand out without a hole appearing in the top of the smoke gray globe.

The Real Dill Bloody Mary Mix

The Real Dill

Maybe your favorite bartender is always looking for hangover remedies or is already a known fan of shrugging it off with the hair of the dog (drinking the next day to remedy the pain from the night prior). Either way, this bloody Mary mix just needs a shot or two of vodka or gin and a stick of celery for you to end up with a fresh and delicious cocktail in hand.

Selene Bar Cart

Urban Outfitters

A bar cart that’s made with the host who’s always moving around the party in mind, the handles make for easy moving to and from, and the wheels lock with ease so it doesn’t roll away while drinks are being shaken. Plus, it can be used for books, sculptures, or plants when entertaining is over.

Swoon Cocktail Mixers and Syrups

Swoon

Unlike a lot of mixers on the market that are overly sweetened or full of artificial flavors and ingredients, Swoon is raising the bar with its sugar-free mixes and syrups. The best part about a sugar-free mixer is that the bartender in your life can tailor their drinks to their desired level of sweetness by adding their own sugar cubes, agave, or honey products.

The Mini Bar: 100 Essential Cocktail Recipe Book Set

Urban Outfitters

For the mixologist in your life who is always trying to whip something up—sometimes with little rhyme or reason—add some organization to their happy hours with this book set. The set contains seven separate books that break down recipes and mixing tips for each of the major spirits, so no matter the base they can find a delicious drink to throw together.

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