Jacqueline Hart, Gilpin County. If you’re looking for the perfect gift to liven up a holiday party for adults, look no further than your own back yard. Local liquor stores are prepared to assist in your holiday celebrations with both the old standby’s like wine, eggnog and brandy, and some exclusive items for special occasions or gifts. The local dispensaries are prepared to supply holiday treats as well.
Underground Liquor, on Highway 119 across the street from Taggert’s, has gift ideas for every budget. For just under $100 you can purchase a bottle of Art of the Spirits whiskey. The bottles are painted with scenes from Colorado artist Danial James’s oil paintings. Each scene is produced for a limited time, making each bottle a potential collector’s item and a great gift idea for the person on your list with an impressive wine or liquor assortment in their home. Underground Liquors has one of the last of a current print, so get there fast. Another unique whiskey in stock at Underground Liquors is 13th Century whiskey, also priced at about $90. This whiskey is fractionally distilled in the bottle, a process you can see through the clear glass. A beautiful wooden wine rack can be purchased for $40, along with the more standard gift sets you can see pictured.
Mid County Liquors, off Highway 119 just east of Roy’s Last Shot, offers some gift ideas as well. Walking Dead Wine is associated with Living Wines Labels, a free app you can download to your phone that brings the scene on the bottle label to life. If you have seen the TV show “The Walking Dead,” you can imagine this wine would be a great conversation starter at a holiday party. They also carry 19 Crimes Wine, which includes the story of an old west criminal on each bottle. You can purchase either of these wines for under $20. Mid Country also has a gift set for Bacon Bourbon Bloody Mary’s, or Five Farms Country Oak Irish Creme for under $40. Five Oaks is made with real crème from a real farm in the real country of Ireland. If you’re looking for authenticity, you’ve found it!
Our local dispensaries are keeping up with the season with gift ideas to suit more of the people on your list than you might think. There will be discounts on certain items for the holidays, but due to Colorado Licensing laws, that’s all that can be shared about dispensary pricing. You must visit the store or give them a call and ask about specific pricing on specific items. Remember, these items must stay in Colorado so avoid shopping here for out-of-state family and friends.
Mountain Medicinals, in Idaho Springs, reports that they carry an affordable assortment of hemp based medicinal products such as balms, lotions, salves and body oils. A local consumer reported that hemp-based pain relief ointments are the only products that relieve muscle aches effectively, making this a thoughtful gift for the athlete on your list. Mountain Medicinals also carries night lights and t-shirts for the enthusiastic marijuana connoisseur on your list. High Time’s 1st place award-winning, hand-painted Coda chocolate truffles are available here as well. Half of the flowers sold in the store are grown on-site, for the freshest possible product.
Golden Nugget Dispensary, in Central City, carries the award-winning truffles too, if this is a more convenient location for your shopping needs. There will be sales the week before Christmas on edibles, including Dixie gummies. Golden Nugget recommends hand-rolled joints as stocking stuffers- which would be great fun in the right stocking! They also carry a variety of pipes and other smoking paraphernalia for the marijuana consumer on your list. Golden Nugget Dispensary is known for, “great quality, high-class grass,” and they welcome visitors to stop by.
Happy holiday shopping, neighbors!
(Originally published in the December 13, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)
