Give the Bespoke Whiskey Gift They’ll Never Forget

Receiving a great bottle of whiskey is always an incredible experience, especially if it’s one you haven’t tried before. Giving the perfect personalized whiskey as a gift can be even more rewarding. What you are about to create is something unique – it should be designed for precisely that one person. Be sure to take stock of what they like and what would make their personalized whiskey a truly magnificent gift. 

Determine What Your Gift Recipient Likes 

If this gift will be a surprise, it may take a little digging to understand the kinds of whiskey they enjoy. If you know them well enough to give a bespoke whiskey gift, you should understand a bit about the whiskey they drink and like. Even if your only experience is sitting at a bar and seeing what they order and like, that could give you a lot of information. 

Most whiskey lovers have no problem talking about their favorites and the last bottles they drank. They might even mention that super special whiskey they once had. Learn from what they tell you because it will open up their preferences and give you solid guidance for building their personalized whiskey. 

Do they seem to prefer pure bourbon? Or do they like rye, wheat, or barley mixed in their whiskey? With this basic information, you can get started creating your Designer Dram personalized whiskey gift. 

Determine the Flavors and Aromas They Like

Once you have an idea of the whiskies they like, the next step in creating the perfect personalized whiskey is to figure out the flavors and aromas associated with the whiskies they drink. You can look up the flavor profiles of most whiskies you’d find at a bar and get an idea of where to start. Most pure bourbons will have flavors of vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, maple, and honey. 

Rye whiskey or bourbons with rye will have more spicy and grassy flavors. Rye tends to be bolder, drier, and more aggressive than bourbon. You’ll find flavors of black pepper, fennel, smoke, oak, and dried fruit. 

Whiskies with wheat will tend to be even smoother than pure bourbon and enhance the sweet flavors. You might notice some light touches of mint or honey, and since it’s wheat, maybe a bit of breadiness in the taste. 

And lastly, adding barley to your personalized whiskey will give you a bit of sweetness and spice. Barley will add smoke, spice, and fruit. You can also use our palate test to select the flavors easily that you know your gift recipient likes. 

Match the Barrels

The great thing with making a personalized whiskey gift with Designer Dram is that we make it easy to match preferred flavors with barrels. To start the process, go to the “Make My Whiskey” page. When you get there, you’ll start with the barrel menu. You have five barrels to choose from to create the mash bill.

Each barrel has tasting notes to help you match the flavors and aromas to perfect the whiskey for your gift recipient. Spend a little time matching the characters of the barrels with the whiskey your gift recipient likes to get as close to you can to that perfect mix. 

You can also use our mash bill creator if you have a good idea of the whiskey they like and build the personalized whiskey from there. 

Determine Alcohol Strength

Often, alcohol strength is overlooked when selecting whiskies. Most people are more concerned with the type of whiskey and taste than looking at the alcohol strength. 

That said, when creating a personalized whiskey, alcohol strength plays an essential role in how that whiskey will taste. Lower alcohol content will tend to give a more subtle, smoother, and diverse flavor profile. Matching that with a pure bourbon could result in a very smooth, silky whiskey. A higher alcohol percentage will provide a more robust, bold, concentrated profile.

Customize The Bottle

One of the extraordinary things about the Designer Dram experience is that you customize a bespoke decanter for your recipient. You are able to choose from three label types, seven different monograms, and you get to customize the monogram text and bottle description. This is where you can get creative and make the first impression of the personalized whiskey extra special. 

Is your gift for a birthday or anniversary? Perhaps you want to send a special message to mark an occasion or milestone. It’s entirely up to you. This is the last stage to make this a gift they will never forget. You can choose a prominent monogram letter for your whiskey, and a description of it where you can dedicate it, describe it, or whatever you want! This is a great opportunity to add a sense of sophistication and prowess to the process to your creation

If you’ve gone through all of this and still need help, contact us and one of our experts can walk you through the process and help you make the perfect personalized whiskey gift. If all else fails, you can also give the Designer Dram Experience as a gift and let your gift recipient make their personalized whiskey themselves.