Raise a toast to 2024 with these festive holiday spirits

Discover unique holiday spirits and wines from India, perfect for festive celebrations and gifting this season.

With a gentle nip in the air, even in the sultry south, the season often evokes notes of warming spices like ginger and cinnamon, paired with buttery flavours found in gingerbread cookies. So the team at Indie Brews and Spirits (a Chennai-based spirits company), decided to take their traditional 100% Arabica coffee liqueur, Quaffine, up a notch. They created the Quaffine Christmas Edition 2024, which evokes the buttery, luscious notes of gingerbread, but, in a bottle.

“We envision the 2024 edition to not just be a seasonal offering but a new holiday tradition for our customers that will stand out in everyone’s holiday celebrations,” says, Isaac Vivek, founder and CEO. Whether you add a dash of the coffee-based liqueur to your morning cuppa, eggnog, or a highball for a party, the dried ginger, cinnamon, all spice, vanilla, molasses, butter, and Himalayan salt in the spirit, gives it a Christmassy vibe. At 25% ABV (amount of alcohol per volume of beverage), it can also just be sipped on the rocks. (₹2,499, just 1200 bottles available in Goa).  

Wines, red, white and sparkling are great for gifting, and Chandon 2015 (₹6,000, Maharashtra), India’s only aged sparkling white wine, is a good pick to toast the year gone by. “It beautifully captures the warmth of late 2014, which brought perfect ripeness to our Zinfandel grapes, and the cool climate of January and February 2015, which preserved the freshness of our Chardonnay. This unique combination of climate and terroir conditions, makes this wine a one-of-a-kind celebration of nature, time, and artistry,” states Kaushal Khairnar, head winemaker, Chandon India. The bubbly has complex floral and peach notes, enriched by layers of baked apple, pastry, and toasty nuances. It pairs well with a festive spread of roasts and winter vegetables.

If you are looking for a bold red, instead of bubbly, then Sula’s Merlot (₹895, Maharashtra) is full-bodied, with aromas of black plums, cherries and dark chocolate, a good foil to Indian style curries or a cheese board. Gorakh Gaikwad, chief winemaker at Sula Vineyards adds, “Perfectly suited to the Indian palate, this elegant wine is best enjoyed slightly chilled.”

Goa and Karnataka bring two rich jaggery-based rums. Gud Rum (₹650, Goa, 42.8% ABV) crafted by Stilldistilliing Spirits, is a toast to terroir, celebrating a blend of Goan kakavi (liquid jaggery, fashioned from concentrated sugarcane juice) and gud (jaggery) from West Bengal. With aromas of caramel, dried fruits and honey on the nose, spiced oak, warming spices on the palate and a smooth finish of brown sugar and smoky wood, Gud Rum can be savoured on ice, or with lemon or orange juice to make a mean Planter’s Punch.

In Bengaluru, capitalising on Mandya’s rich jaggery heritage, whisky makers Amrut Distilleries, have created Bella (₹3,500 across states). Deriving its name from ‘jaggery’ in Kannada, Bella, is an ode to the mineral rich jaggery, matured for six years in ex-Bourbon barrels. With notes of almond marzipan, a dash of subtle citrus, and chocolatey vanilla and green almond on the palate, Bella can be enjoyed on ice or in Christmas cocktails.  

For those who favour white rum and its versatility in cocktails, Bacardi has a toast to the tropics — a mango chilli white rum. “Presently, Indian consumers are responding strongly to experimental flavours and spirits. The spirit’s unique sweet and spicy flavour profile can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, right from a shot to a wide range of tasty and refreshing cocktails,” reiterates Ashish Jha, brand lead, Bacardi India. From a mean rum based Mango Chilli Margarita to Mojito, the flavoured rum is ideal for cocktails.