Holiday Gifts for the Indulger

Hip (and Kosher) Holiday Nosh
Remember when Carrie and Miranda met for a cupcake at New York's Magnolia Bakery on Sex and the City? Since then the place has become a sweet sensation and tourist attraction with eight stores in NYC, Chicago, L.A., and Dubai. An indescribably yummy box of Buttercream-Drenched Dreidel Cupcakes or the Hanukkah Cupcakes combo (or even Cookies for Santa, a gingerbread, sugar, and snickerdoodle cookie collection) can be shipped anywhere in the U.S. $24 and up, MagnoliaBakery.com

Survival Booze
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardine, from one of the world's most renowned champagne houses, is the French company's famed yellow-label Brut in a limited edition box that looks like a bright yellow sardine can (it's an insider nod to family origins). The sardine can makes it OK to put this in your emergency survival kit. $46.99, BevMo.com

The Original Japanese Whiskey
Whiskey lovers may feel like they've imbibed it all. But Suntory's Yamazaki 12 or 18 Year, the original Japanese single-malt whiskey created by Shinjiro Torii in 1923, is the whiskey that would impress your fussiest mixologist pal. What makes it special? It's aged in casks made of mizunara, a rare Japanese oak. $55-$150, Suntory.com/Whisky

The New Connoisseurs
Coffee is so old-school, the new gourmands are experimenting with tea. Enter the Artisan's Blending Kit, created by Ahmed Rahim, CEO and chief alchemist for Numi Organic Tea, who is known for his mastery of tea blending (e.g. Chocolate Pu-erh, Rooibos Chai, and Basil Mint Pu-erh). The kit comes with an assortment of organic teas, herbs, fruits, flowers, and spices plus a handmade glass teapot and a recipe book that'll have you experimenting with blends from your own imagination. $39.99, NumiTea.com

Better Than Cheese of the Month
A membership to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society opens the door to a whole new world of whiskey, where members are granted access to the largest and finest array of single-cask, single-malt offerings available to humankind. It also includes an exciting program of whiskey-tasting events across the U.S. and admission to the society's three fabulous Members' Rooms in London, Edinburgh, and Leith, Scotland; a keepsake membership kit; Unfiltered, the society's magazine; and approximately 90 single-cask offerings to choose from. Society whiskeys are available exclusively to members and are not sold in retail liquor stores. $229, SMWSA.com

Booze From the Ghostbusters Guy
Crystal Head Vodka is cool: it's named for an archaeological mystery that spans from American Southwest to Tibet; actor Dan Aykroyd and partner artist John Alexander thought it up; it's made with water from a cavernous aquifer in Newfoundland and filtered through diamonds; and it comes in a bottle that looks like a actual crystal skull. It's won some awards too. $49.99, CrystalHeadVodka.com

A Shot at Love
Make your next drink a literary one with the Great Drinkers, shot glasses with notable quotes from famous drinkers, including queer (or adjacent) lit figures like Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron, and Dorothy Parker. If you're feeling dangerous, Mug Shots consists of six arresting shot glasses with America's most infamous bank robbers and gunmen, such as John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd. $15.95, PhilosophersGuild.com

A Mixologist's Fave
Ketel One Vodka is still crafted in the Netherlands from small batches using traditional copper pot stills, like the original copper pot still, Distilleerketel Number 1, after which Ketel One is named. It's these copper pots you can thank for the unmistakably cool and silky feel of Ketel One (and maybe the fact that the distillery is over three centuries old now). $23, KetelOne.com

Start Your Morning Right
Are you one of those people who have to stay up all night wrapping gifts or assembling bicycles? If so, start the morning right with Ponderosa Roasting Coffee Company's limited edition Christmas blends. Our faves from this woman-owned roaster? Mistletoe Mocha and Mrs. Claus Toffee. $4.75 and up, PonderosaRoasting.com

The Rock Star of Teas
Damn Fine Tea, which comes in limited edition tins, make for a perfect hipsteresque hostess gift, especially Caravan Resurrected. A hard-rocking, smoky black Chinese tea, Caravan has an almost cultlike following. Take a sip and find out why. $20, DamnFineTea.com