Advent Calendars with a twist, er Dram!
Though some may argue that we’ve barely cleaned up the ashes from the bonfires, like it or not the festive season is almost upon us.
With only one payday between now and Christmas, it’s not too early to start looking at what the shops have to offer. Nothing says “Christmas Spirit” quite like an Advent Calendar, especially when there’s a spirit behind each door!
As a tip, it’s really worth having a good old Google of the various combination of these Calendars before making your choice, as the difference in pricing for exactly the same product can be astonishing. However if you want to skip the time and effort of trawling through the internet, I have done some of the work for you.
Whatever your tipple of choice, there are plenty of advent calendars on offer for adults nowadays, and though you can find gin, wine, fizz, vodka, rum, and even beer versions. Here at Whisky Watch, it’s not hard to guess which Calendars we’re interested in.
If you’re picking up an Advent Calendar as an early gift for a whisky-loving loved one, you might wonder whether you are really getting your moneys’ worth for the quantity and products included, and with some Calendars setting you back the best part of £200 – or even as much as £1000 – you have a right to feel cynical!
A great place to start is the master of malt website, who have several different calendars that you can browse in one place. There is quite a large selection on offer ranging from the £44.95 entry level price up to a mahoosive £999.95 for an old and rare version! (I kid you not).
Applying some sense, for starters we will have a look at the cheapest Calendar on offer. The 12 Days of Drams of Scotch Whisky (2019 Edition) is on sale for £44.95 and includes 12 x drams (30cl bottles). If you don’t want to spoil the surprise of what’s behind the doors, skip past this next part!
This is a fairly decent selection of Scotch whiskies, with most of them being single malts at that. On a positive note, there are 5 whiskies of a decent age with the rest being younger than 12 years old. Less positive is the size of the drams for the overall price, meaning you are essentially paying around £45 for a 36cl bottle of whisky.
Overall, for the fact that you can sample a different dram each day for 12 days, this is a great buy as a gift for a whisky lover and has a price point which will take some beating for this sort of thing (Especially compared to some of the others I will look at).
Value for Money
Variety of whisky
Second up, is the Whisky Explorer Advent Calendar (2019 Edition). This is a larger version of the 12 Days of Drams and cover all 24 Days of the Advent period, giving you 24 x 3cl drams for £99.95 – double the drams for just over double the price.
On the plus side, there is a decent range of whiskies included from across 5 countries so that will spark an interest in whisky lovers. For example, it’s not that often you will get to sample whisky from Taiwan without having to buy a full bottle of it (Kavalan)! There are a couple of whiskies of interest such as Pike Creek (Canada) and Teeling small batch (Dublin). On the downside, there is only about one third of the collection that are aged whiskies, so 10 years or older. Mind you, that’s not always an indication of quality!
Value for Money
Variety of whisky
Value for Money
Moving on, if having 2 dozen different drams floats your boat, you can also have a look at Laithwaites.co.uk which has the Whisky Advent Calendar Gift set of 24 x 3cl drams to take you through to Christmas Eve. It will set you back a healthy £149.95 – and has a wine version available too!
If you’re VERY quick, there’s £10 off at the website at the moment!
As well as Scotch whiskies, some come from wider afield places such as Japan and Australia. Of interest, is a range of cask finishes including Bourbon, Sherry and Rum casks. Without getting sight of the contents of this calendar, it’s proving a tad difficult to rate so best to err on the side of caution, but extra points for Japan with this one!
Variety of whisky
Meanwhile, over at thewhiskyexchange.com, you can pick up a similar array of treats priced at £145 for 24 x 3cl samples. A Bourbon version is also available if you’re that way inclined. This is, essentially, exactly the same product as sold by Laithwaites so you save a fiver through this route.
Value for Money
Variety of whisky
Value for Money
If you’re looking for a value version of 24 x 3cl bottles, then go to the whiskyshop.com where you can pick up the “24 Advent Drams – Whisky Advent Calendar”, a set for £99.
The set of 24 includes whiskies from all 6 whisky regions of Scotland, plus a blended malt, blended whisky, and 4 world whiskies (be surprised by them!). At least 9 of these are aged over 10 years.
When compared to the version from masterofmalt at exactly the same price), the packaging seems a little more basic but don’t let that put you off.
Overall, I would recommend this version over the Whisky Explorer edition based upon the selection, which they appear to have thought out very well.
They also have a set of 12 drams on offer for £79 and a premium 12 dram set for £89, and if you’re a lover of other spirits don’t be fooled by the website name as there is a selection of other calendars here too!
Variety of whisky
For those who are partial to a Bourbon, or looking for a bargain, Asda has a Jack Daniels Holiday Countdown calendar on offer for £50. This gives you the chance to try the entire range of the JD whiskeys including Classic, Tennessee Honey, Tennessee Fire, Gentleman Jack, Tennessee Rye and Single Barrel. Be warned, the set isn’t all whiskey; there are also jiggers, shot glasses and a keyring behind some of the doors! At the time of going to press, we can’t be sure just how many drams are included or how large they are, so that’s reflected in the scores on the doors.
Value for Money
Variety of whisky
Finally, Amazon also have the Drinks by the Dram Advent Calendar for £125 (24 x 3cl). It’s pretty much the same deal as at thewhiskyexchange but, if you’re an Amazon Prime member, then you may well save on postage costs.