Red alert!! Valentine’s Day (February 14) is less than a week away. If you are still looking for gift ideas and cocktail recipes to celebrate the big day with your loved one, check out these gifts and festive new recipes from Gray Whale Gin, Cantera Negra Tequila, and Bib & Tucker Small Batch Bourbon. (Create Entertainment/Create Studios, 2024)

Gift ideas:

The new Bib & Tucker Double Char Bourbon (best gifts under $55), the entire portfolio of certified additive-free, celebrity-free tequila made from 100% fully mature Blue Weber Agave, Cantera Negra Tequila (including Silver, Reposado, Añejo, Extra Añejo and Café), and the Gray Whale Gin Sustainable Apparel Collection and upcycled candle, both benefitting Oceana.

Cocktail recipes:

Valentine Cheers

• Ingredients:
  • 1.5 parts Gray Whale Gin
  • 1 part Pear juice
  • 0.5 part Simple syrup
  • 0.5 part Fresh lemon juice
  • 3 parts Josh Prosecco
  • Garnish: Green grapes and rosemary sprig for garnish
• Instructions:
  • Set aside 2 green grapes for garnish.
  • Combine remaining ingredients except for Josh Prosecco in cocktail shaker.
  • Lightly muddle grapes, then shake vigorously.
  • Double strain into champagne flute and top with Josh.
  • Garnish with rosemary sprig skewered with grapes. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Love Paloma

A delightful blend of Cantera Negra Silver, pomegranate juice and zesty fresh lime juice, the Pom Paloma is a twist on a classic. Allspice Dram adds a hint of winter spice that balances the tart pomegranate and will have you coming back for more.

• Ingredients:
  • 1.5 parts Cantera Negra Silver Tequila
  • 0.75 part Pomegranate Juice
  • 0.75 part Allspice Dram
  • 0.25 part Fresh lime juice
  • Top with soda
• Directions:
  • Combine all ingredients (except soda) in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into Collins glass over fresh ice. Top with soda water. Garnish with a blood orange slice. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Date Night Old Fashioned

• Ingredients:
  • 2 parts Bib & Tucker Double Char Bourbon
  • 0.25 part Maple Syrup
  • 2 dashes Coffee Pecan Bitters
  • 2 dashes Black Walnut Bitters
  • Garnish with Orange Peel
• Instructions:
  • Add Bib & Tucker Double Char Bourbon, maple and bitters to mixing glass over ice. Stir for 30 seconds until cold. Strain liquid over fresh ice into rocks glass and garnish with orange peel. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Bib & Tucker Small Batch Bourbon: The name, bottle and small batch approach were inspired by the turn of the century in America, a time of unprecedented progress and adventure when all bourbon was small batch. Aged in the rolling hills of Tennessee, Bib & Tucker doesn’t cut corners and uses no additives, artificial flavors or artificial colors. In a time when other brands are taking their age statements away, Bib & Tucker proudly puts the age statement on the front of every bottle. Bib & Tucker 6-Year-Old was awarded 93 Points from Whisky Advocate, ranking #14 out of the Top 20 Whiskies in 2021, and the bourbons are best enjoyed neat, on the rocks, or in whiskey-forward cocktails.

Cantera Negra is an award-winning, ultra-premium tequila, hand-crafted in small batch quantities from 40 years of family tradition in Mexico. Decades ago, Don Alberto Becherano began making tequila as a hobby, and he has been perfecting his proprietary method for making undoubtedly the best tasting tequilas in the world ever since. Cantera Negra means “Black Quarry,” inspired by the rich volcanic soil from where our agaves grow. Their tequila is handcrafted in small-batch quantities using 100% fully mature Blue Weber agaves. Cantera Negra does not believe in cutting corners and permit only time-honored traditional production methods, and unlike others, they never add sugars or colorings.

Gray Whale Gin was founded on the principle that a consciously crafted spirit can bring people together for good times while doing some good in the world. Every bottle of Gray Whale Gin gives back through 1% for the Planet and partnership with Oceana, the largest organization in the world devoted to ocean conservation. In less than 5 years, Gray Whale Gin has already helped make legislative change, permanently protecting the oceans off the West Coast. Gray Whale Gin is perfected with sustainably sourced and wild harvested botanicals foraged along the migratory path of the California Gray Whale.