Top 24 Best Gifts For Foodies 2020
Mon Nov 23 2020
Written by Melanie May
Looking for fantastic Irish food- and drink-inspired Christmas gifts? Look no further! We’ve picked some perfect presents for home cooks, budding chefs, cocktail lovers, drinks aficionados and gourmands. Best of all, everything on this list comes from an Irish business.
So, what ever your budget, you are bound to find a wonderful, Irish Christmas gift for the food and drink lover in your life.
Hampers
There are some many wonderful artisan producers around the country putting together exquisite Irish food and drink hampers for Christmas. Here are just a few we are loving.
Burren Smokehouse – from €3.45
The renowned Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare has the perfect selection of hampers to gift a taste of Ireland this Christmas. We particularly love its “Burren Breakfast Basket” that features a selection of products from the region that will get Christmas morning off to a cracking start.
Dr. Coy’s Health Food – from €3.00
Dr. Coy’s Health Foods is a family run Irish business and this year they have a selection of hampers and care packs to suit most budgets. These hampers are filled with all kinds of healthy goodies including the utterly divine Dr. Coy’s chocolate bars.
Hampers from Fallon & Byrne are filled with the finest, artisan food and drinks and luxury goodies from the treasure trove that is the food hall. The hampers are beautifully wrapped and will be delivered straight to the door of the lucky recipients. When you think someone is the best, give them the best.
This is you one-stop shop for beautifully put together hampers featuring an array of Irish food, drink and craft products. They have gifts to suit most budgets and you should find something here whether you are sopping for your partner, best friend, relatives or children. We love the Irish Farmhouse Hamper and the Family Fun Christmas Sack.
Organico is a Bantry-based family business selling a whole array of products that are good for you and better for the environment. From grocery to beauty to health and well being, you are sure to find a lovely gift here no matter who you are buying for. We think that the Organico Winter Wellbeing Packs are perfect gifts to help you get through the festive period with nourishment for the body and the senses.
Pudding Row Christmas Comfort Kits – from €60
Bursting with flavoursome festive foods, these hampers are full of Christmas cheer. Each kit consists of a 1lb homemade Christmas pudding; 6 homemade mince pies with brandy butter, 4 homemade shortbread biscuits, 1 jar of raspberry jam; 1 jar of tomato chutney; 1 bag of house-made granola; 1 bag of Ariosa Christmas Blend Coffee and a handwritten Pudding Row Christmas card with a custom message for the recipient.
Taste Wexford Seasonal Boxes – from €100
By gifting one of these terrific hampers you’ll be supporting plenty of food producers across Wexford. The Salty, Malty Sweet Box, Clever Women Box and Honey Pot Box, are all filled with premium Wexford-made food and crafts and are beautifully presented in a burnt-finish wooden crate to symbolise the rich agricultural significance of County Wexford.
The Scullery Christmas Range – from €3.80
Known for its delicious plum puddings, this year, The Scullery has expanded its Christmas range to include a selection of scrumptious gift sets feature all its best-loved delights. We adore lashing of its brandy butter on its homemade mini puddings. They are so hard to resist. You have been warned.
Food Space Irish Food Hero Hampers from €60
Conor Spacey Culinary Director of Food Space has created amazing hampers packed full of Irish products. This would most certainly make the foodie in your life very happy.
Tableware
A beautifully hand-crafted piece of tableware or kitchenware makes for a wonderful gift. Just make sure you choose something that is timeless and will never go out of fashion. Here are some of our suggestions.
Arran Street East – from €16
For beautiful ceramic tableware check out the stunning pieces on the Arrant Street East website, This year there is a limited edition Christmas shop section where you can purchase gift sets like the coffee lover set, which is sure to impress any recipient.
Handmade Irish pottery by Nicholas Mosse makes for a very pretty, and thoughtful, gift. With vibrant colours and beautiful patterns, these pieces will brighten up tables and kitchens. There are some lovely reindeer patterned pieces and adorable winter robin pieces too.
Looking for a stunning hand-cut slate gift? Dublin based Slated has some striking pieces. What’s more, you can personalise each gift with engravings. These truly are gifts to cherish.
Chocolates
Grá Chocolates are no ordinary chocolates, they are exquisite hand painted artisan chocolates with unique aromas, textures and flavours. We cannot get enough of these chocolate Christmas baubles. They look too pretty to eat! But eat you must as these chocolate balls of delight are filled with the flavours of the festive season!
Glaslough Chocolate – from €2.50
Trish Murphy-Thom cooks the fresh cream and butter filling for her award-winning milk chocolate caramels in the traditional way, on the stovetop in her chocolate shop in the Glaslough, We adore her creations are handmade in small batches using the best quality Belgian chocolate and the finest local cream. They are scrumptious.
Bean and Goose Chocolate – from €8.50
Karen and Natalie Keane sisters and founders of Bean and Goose. They make deliciously luscious chocolate at Last Tree Farm in the Wexford countryside. They have some really delicious chocolate Christmas gifts.
You can’t go wrong with Butler’s Chocolates. With a wide range of boxes, hampers and tins to choose from there is really something for everyone.
Coffee
Be your own barista with De’Longhi’s Dedica pump machine. You can make a range of different coffees and you even make hot chocolates. The great thing about this machine is it does not take up too much counter space.
Cloud Picker Coffee – from €10
Cloud Picker Coffee has a great selection of products for every coffee lover. From gift cards to home brew starter kits, this is the place to get your caffeine gifts. We particularly love the Beanie Gift Pack which has a beanie hat for keeping you warm and a camp cup for keeping your delicious coffee warm.
Bean Delivered Subscription – from €60
Bean Delivered offer a subscription of a variety of Irish roasted coffee beans. This Christmas they have some really amazing hampers for the coffee lover in your life. We love their ‘Wild Atlantic Way Coffee’ which includes 4 coffees roasted on the Atlantic coast, from Carrow in Sligo, right down to West Cork, with stops in Calendar in Galway and Bean in Dingle along the way. This gift box is completed with 2 cups, evoking the west of Ireland seascape, handmade by Cork native and ceramic artist Luke Sisk at his studio in Carrigaline.
Moyee Coffee subscription – from €75
Dubliners, Killian Stokes and Shane Reilly, founded Moyee Coffee which grows and roasts its coffee in countries of origin. This ‘Fair Chain’ model redistributes profits to local farming communities in African countries, enables coffee farmers to earn a living wage; and supports sustainable coffee production long-term. Moyee Coffee has a monthly subscription coffee club, which not only delivers delicious coffee to your door but also gives you discounts on coffee equipment, an annual impact gift, and first access to seasonal microlot blends.
Gin
Old Carrick Mill Honey Dew Gin Limited Edition – €40 from the Celtic Whiskey Shop
This small batch gin is infused with honey from hives on the site of the artisan distillery set up a 200-year-old flour mill. Just 600 bottles have been produced so this would be a lovely limited edition gift for the gin lover in your life.
Whiskey
Blue Spot Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey €80
Irish Distillers, maker of some of the world’s most enjoyed whiskeys, has once again joined forces with the Mitchell family to unveil its reimagined Blue Spot Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey.
The story of the legendary Spot Irish whiskey range began in the early 1900s when celebrated wine and spirits merchants, Mitchell & Son, began maturing whiskey from the local Jameson Distillery in Bow Street in their underground cellars in Dublin City Centre. Blue Spot takes its name from the blue daubs or ‘spots’ of paint that the Mitchells used to mark the barrels to signify that the whiskey in those casks were to be matured for a minimum of seven years. This is the perfect gift for any whiskey connoisseur.
Sean’s Whiskey – €39.50 from the Celtic Whiskey Shop
Ireland’s oldest pub, Sean’s Bar in Athlone, has released its own limited edition whiskey. With its unique blend of grain and malt whiskey, matured over time in bourbon casks, it has a distinctive flavour that will ‘delight the palate and warm the spirit’. Sean’s Bar Irish Whiskey is dedicated to ‘Luain’, the very first Inn Keeper at Sean’s bar. This whiskey is a winter-warmer with plenty of history and heritage.
Wine
Boutique Wines Christmas Hamper – €103.95
This hamper comes in a stylish black box and includes a bottle of Cava, a bottle of red and wine, a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, Dalkey handmade soaps and a box of Butlers chocolates. The lovely folk at Boutique Wines have hand picked the products so you know you are getting something special.
