Thank you Drinks by the Dram, for ridding us of our inner Ebenezer Scrooge. We’re usually the first to moan about the fact that Christmas goods appear in the shops way too early, mince pies on the supermarket shelves before school summer holidays are over – it’s just wrong. But we’re willing to eat our words (or should that be drink our words) when Drinks by the Dram offered to send over one of their advent calendars in November for us to preview.

A lot of this year’s press surrounding Drinks by the Dram’s advent calendars was about the ‘Very Old & Rare Whisky’ edition – the ultimate in advent luxury, presented in a bespoke, handcrafted wooden box. We should hope so too, especially as you’d only get 5p change from £10,000!

But fret not, you don’t need to be a Russian oligarch or a Texan oil tycoon to get your hands on, or treat someone to one of these wonderful boxes of delights. You can choose from 25 different varieties, starting from £99.95 for one of the gin or vodka calendars – that’s just over £4 a day – click here to see the full range. So what shall we pick? I assumed that the Very Old & Rare Whisky advent calendar wasn’t available so we opted for the Drinks by the Dram’s Bourbon Advent Calendar (£139.99). We’d both fallen in love with Buffalo Trace after a trip to LA last year and subsequently, since I was bought a bottle for my birthday I haven’t really tried any other brand of bourbon. At least this way we’ll be able to try 24 different American bourbons (23 if there’s a Buffalo Trace in the calendar).

So the big day arrived and there in the postman’s hands was our bourbon advent calendar. I was actually quite surprised by just how heavy it was. I shouldn’t have been for behind each of the 24 windows lies a 30ml wax-sealed dram of deliciousness from America’s most exciting distillers.

Drinks by the Dram was launched in 2010 as a way of offering whisky enthusiasts the chance to try sample size tasters of new releases of whisky at a fraction of the cost of purchasing a whole bottle. They definitely got it right and now 7 years on the range includes over 6,000 unique spirits.

So it was time to open the window number one, what would be behind it? The first bottle was a real treat, a shot sized measure of Michter’s US*1 Bourbon. Now I’m not going to lie, I’d never heard of Michter’s before, that’s the beauty of a this calendar.

Now I’m not going to spoil the surprise for those thinking of buying the bourbon advent calendar but what I will say is that every one of the four bottles that we got to sample were fantastic – even our beloved Buffalo Trace made an early appearance. So all that leaves me to do is to wish you a very happy Christmas – albeit a little early!

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We were sent this product to review, this does not affect our review in any way. We always write with complete honesty.

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