The best spirits and liqueurs for Christmas cocktails Warner Edwards Victoria's Rhubarb Gin, Northants (£35 for 70cl) A sweetish, naturally flavoured gin with a glimmer of pink and somehow conjuring up sugar-dusted rhubarb pie. 40 per cent. Masons Dry Yorkshire Gin, (£39.99 for 70cl; Harvey Nichols, £45) Here's a small-batch gin that stands out from the crowds for its exceptionally smooth, rounded texture and soft but lingering flavours of apples, oranges and cream. 42 per cent. Adnams Triple Sec Orange Liqueur, Copper House Distillery, Southwold (£29.99 for 70cl) Just gorgeous, from its art deco bottle to its heady orange-oil perfume and bittersweet Seville-marmalade flavour. Use in classic cocktails such as margaritas or cosmopolitans. 41 per cent. Poire Williams Eau de Vie Grande Réserve, France (selected Marks & Spencer, £35 for 70cl) A stunning bottle containing, amazingly, a whole pear and zingy spirit. The secret: bottles are put around the growing pears on the tree. The Duppy Share Golden Caribbean Rum, London (£27.95 for 70cl; Master of Malt, £29.45) Tasting of demerara and cake spices, this is a blend of three-year-old Jamaican and more robust five-year-old Bajan rum, aged in old barrels. Sip with dark chocolate. Lyme Bay Sloe Gin Reserve Liqueur, Dorset (£14.95 for 35cl; John Lewis, £18) Award-winning, joyously fruity liqueur with a great balance between sweet and sour/bitter. A cockle-warming, great British liqueur. 26 per cent. Fee Brothers Cranberry Bitters, New York, USA (Marks & Spencer, £9 for 150ml) A tiny bottle of red-berry bitterness to transform cocktails and long drinks. Dash a few drops into cold gin with a little dry vermouth for a rose-tinted cranberry martini. 0 per cent.