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The 2016 Holiday Gift Guide for Austin Food Lovers

Local present suggestions, edible and beyond

Nadia Chaudhury/EATX

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The holiday season is upon Austin. It’s time to start hunting for the perfect presents for the loved ones in your lives. Eater is here to help out with this handy, highly-curated, locally-focused holiday gift guide.

For the food-obsessed friends and family on your holiday list, don’t bother with restaurant gift cards (how boring is that?). Instead, seek out items that offer unique tastes of the Lone Star state with sweets, drinks, homeware, books, and much more.

Below, you’ll find ultimate shopping picks. There are sweets like honey combs straight from Austin backyards; snacks such as beef jerky from cattle ranch 44 Farms; refreshments in the form of cider, whiskey, and coffee; and boastful apparel from Franklin Barbecue. Liven up kitchens with mezcal copitas and beautiful wooden cutting boards.

For even more ideas, peruse Eater’s national guide, as well as last year's Austin guide. Get a head start on those shopping lists and read on.

SWEETS

Two Hives Honey’s Comb Honey

Snack on honey combs sourced straight from Austin bee hives thanks to the very locally-minded beekeepers of Two Hives Honey. Pick your location from Zilker, North Loop, or East Side. Eat the chewy and sweet combs on their own, or as a spread. Barley Swine/Odd Duck pastry chef (and Eater Young Gun) Susana Querejazu uses the sweets often. — Nadia Chaudhury
Price: $15 to $32


Delysia Chocolatier’s Texas Hill Country Truffles

The local artisan chocolatier makes it easy to gift a taste of Texas this season. Adorned with familiar state icons — longhorn, cowboy boots, and star — the small truffles deliver big flavor. The collection includes three rich chocolates from each of the following flavors: smoked salted bourbon pecan chocolate; salted bourbon pecan chocolate; and Mexican mole chocolate. — Elizabeth Leader Smith
Price: $24


Tiny Pies’ Pie Pop Holiday Box

Pie is always great, small pies are even cuter, and pie pops are positively handy, adorable, and delicious. For the holiday season, Tiny Pie’s seasonal box comes with four festively-shaped pie pops: a mitten, evergreen tree, and snowman because of winter, and a gift for good measure. Inside the lollipop pies are blueberry and cherry fillings. It is very easy to eat ‘em all in one sitting. — NC
Price: $20 at the store


EATS

Fixe’s Hot Sauce

The progressive Southern restaurant smartly decided to bottle its coveted hot sauce, which is usually served with the popular light and crispy beef tendons. The to-go bottle of the barrel-aged condiment is perfectly spicy, making it ready and easy to be poured on everything, from soups to, yes, chicharrones. You’ll use it often. — NC
Price: $10


Beef Jerky Box Set from 44 Farms

Trust 44 Farms with beef jerky. After all, the Texas ranch provides cattle for some of Austin’s greatest restaurants like Salt & Time and Parkside. The special beef jerky box set comes with two jerky options: one smoked, the other spiced. The farm even threw in a coveted Yeti tumbler, because why not? Someone’ll need something to wash down the meaty snacks. — NC
Price: $69.99


BOOKS

Tacos of Texas

After tackling breakfast tacos, Austin’s very own taco journalists Mando Rayo and Jarod Neece decided to take on the entire state of the tortilla-based dish for their next book. This paperback acts as a complete guide to Texas’ taco landscape spanning El Paso, El Paso, Abilene, Rio Grande Valley, and Houston, complete with recipes, suggestions, and taco-filled stories and interviews. Keep tacos at hand.— NC
Price: $19.95


DRINKS (ALCOHOLIC)

Austin Cider Park: Austin Eastciders; Argus Cidery; Texas Keeper

Austin’s cider game is pretty damn good and strong, so why not make your own cider gift package with the city’s three local cideries? From Austin Eastciders, find four different types of flavors: hopped, Texas honey, the increasingly popular pineapple, and the good old original dry cider. Argus Cidery offers its Cellar Series Cider, limited bottles of experimental fruits, which right now means the peach sour and the vinho pearde. Lastly, Texas Keeper Cider’s Heirloom 2015 is bubbly with tons of apples. — NC
Prices: $8.50 to $16.50 for Austin Eastciders: available at local stores; $16 to $18 for Argus Cidery: available at the tap room (12345 Pauls Valley Road); $15 to $16 for Texas Keeper Cider: available at local stores and the tap room


Duchman Family Winery’s Wines

Hill Country wines are having a moment, so share the wine love with Duchman Family’s bottles, which focus solely on Texas grapes. For single picks, opt for the Vermentino as a white or Aglianico for red. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a larger gift, order one of two wine boxes, which come with an assortment of bottles. — NC
Prices: $15 to $46 for bottles, $110 to $120 for boxes


Martine Honeysuckle Liqueur

Whispers of citrus and vanilla notes and the pleasing aroma of honeysuckle blossoms come together in the syrupy sweet liqueur from the creator of both Dripping Springs Vodka and Dripping Springs Artisan Gin. The booze adds complexity to cocktails try it in a gin and tonic but it’s also a treat to sip on its own. — ELS
Price: $29.99, available at local stores


Treaty Oak’s Experimental Whiskey

Get the whiskey fan in your life something different with Treaty Oak Distilling’s experimental bottles that are very, very strong at 100 proof. Each bottle of the limited supply vary from one another, but all offer strong hints of pecans, working well on its own or mixed within cocktails Eventually, the formula will lead to Treaty Oak's mainstay bourbon. — NC
Price: $44.99, available at local stores


Barbecue Wife’s Bloody Mary Mix

Catherine Stiles, wife of Shane Stiles of Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew, is to thank for this thick and bold Bloody Mary mix. Although a blend of hand-smoked spices like sea salt and coarse black pepper lend to its spiciness, there is also an understated smokiness with Stiles Switch’s house sauce. Bonus: Austin artist Gary Dorsey’s display-worthy artwork includes a hidden illustration on the inside. — ELS
Price: $15, and available at local stores


DRINKS (NON-ALCOHOLIC)

Cuvee Coffee

Give the gift of coffee, coffee, coffee with roasted beans from the Spicewood roastery. Cuvee keeps a close eye on sourcing and sustainability for each of its coffees, along with great stories. Las Mingas helms from Colombia with citrusy notes, Cuberow is made by a mother and son team based in Ethiopia. — NC
Price: $12.80 to $15.05, and available at local stores and cafes


Juice Society’s Juice Cleanses

Give the gift of healthier eating with Juice Society’s curated juice cleanse packages, handy for the new year, after all of that upcoming eating and drinking. Juicing newcomers can opt for the Rinse set, which comes with a variety of green, turmeric, and spiced cashew drinks, or advance over to the mostly-green kit. Each three-day package comes with six bottles. — NC
Price: $180


HOME

Springdale Farms’ Springdale Handmade Soaps

Springdale Farms understands produce well, so co-owner Paula Foore decided to put that knowledge to good use by creating natural soaps. The cleansing bars are made using essential oils, fragrances, and herbs straight from the grounds. The cucumber mint is particularly exfoliating and freshly-scented. — NC
Price: $7.50, and available at Springdale Farms’ market on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.


Broadhill Roost's Topo Chico glasses

In a city fueled by Topo Chico with a big passion for upcycling, this Etsy gift checks both boxes. The bottles-turned-glasses are hand-cut and then sanded for a smooth edge, the sets of four are just the vessels for beer, wine, margaritas — or more mineral water. Plus, the clear and green glasses will look snazzy on any kitchen shelf. — ELS
Price: $20


Coulbury Design’s Cutting Boards

Coulbury Design is where art meets home essentials. Known for its custom cabinets, shelving, tables, and more, the full-service furniture and cabinetry design studio thankfully produces smaller pieces, too. Nab one (or more) of its sturdy wooden cutting boards made with walnut, mahogany, maple, and hickory, which are finished with mineral oil or wax, for the cooks in your life. — ELS
Price: $30 to $150, available at Blue Genie Art Bazaar, from Friday, November 25 through Saturday, December 24, (6100 Airport Boulevard)


Austin Shaker’s Mezcal Copitas

Austin’s love affair with mezcal has lead to the agave-based distilled spirit securing a spot on many cocktail menus around town. Bring the experience home with a beautiful one-of-a-kind set of four handmade clay mezcal sipping cups from Kimmy Rohrs’ Whiskey & Clay, which fires up small batch ceramics on the East Side. — ELS
Price: $15, available at Austin Shaker (1199 Airport Boulevard)


APPAREL

June and Rose’s Taco Pin

Taco love is something pure, so show it off with a tasteful taco pin. The 3D pin, made with polymer clay and a water-based gloss glaze, comes loaded with meat, guacamole, and salsa. Don’t try to eat it, despite how edible it may look. Each pin is made specially to order. If tacos aren’t someone’s thing, look through the Etsy store for other offerings, from pizza, weiner dogs as hot dogs, ice cream, and milk and cookies. — NC
Price: $6


Franklin Barbecue’s Shirts & Hats

Everyone loves Franklin Barbecue, but if you didn’t nab a preorder slot or don’t have the time to wait in line for the perfectly tender brisket as a gift, which would’ve been very thoughtful, give them next best thing: clothing and hats emblazoned with the shop’s logo. There are shirts, tank tops, hats, and even baby onesies, because you’ve gotta start ‘em young. — NC
Price: $15.00 to $22


BLOW OUT

Noble Gas Industries’ Neon Food

Charge up a loved one’s holiday with a locally-made food-themed neon sign from Noble Gas Industries. The handcrafted glass is filled with a mixture of noble gasses, then electrified to create its mesmerizing glow. Choose a favorite from the upright peeled banana, dinner pie, melting pizza slice, and more. It makes for lovely, hunger-inducing decor. — ELS
Price: $175 to $375


All photos by Nadia Chaudhury with the exception of Noble Gas Industries, which was provided by the company.
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