The 2017 Eater Denver Gift Guide

Local Denver sriracha maker Jojo’s uses only organic vinegar, garlic, and palm sugar, along with chili peppers and sea salt to make its beloved hot sauces. Try the green chili sriracha, and buy either a holiday four-pack, six-pack mini sampler, or stocking stuffer two-pack for your favorite spice lover.

Be careful what your wish for this Christmas. If you’re nice, Denver-based quality pork purveyor Tender Belly will send 4 pounds of maple-rubbed or habanero-spiced bacon to your doorstep. Every month. Indefinitely.

May we recommend the caraway garlic dills, jalapeño honey dills, and habanero horseradish dills? Also, the bloody mary mix. Go ahead and get the whole Avid Brunchers Collection ($60), and feel good about going all-out for a home breakfast with products by this charitable, zero-food-waste local business.

Perfect for a couple, or friend who’s new to town, the Winter Passport offers two-for-one drink specials all season long across 40 of the city’s best bars, breweries, and distilleries. New this year: Knock out two gifts with a free Mountain Passport, offering buy-one-get-one beverages at 25 ski-town stops.

A new beer-of-the-month club for Denver, Craft Alley works with smaller area breweries with little or no distribution (see New Terrain, Bruz, Fiction, Spangalang) and provides members with fresh crowler (32-ounce) four-packs for pickup or delivery. Give a beer-loving loved one a gift card or go straight for the pay-as-you-go membership.

New this season, Biju Thomas of Biju’s Little Curry Shop is selling spice blends sourced from small farms in his native Kerala. Go for individual tins of Vindaloo XX-Hot or Madras Curry, or buy the gift set with all six. Good for the home cook and those who are heat friendly.

Denver chefs started this newer knife-centric store in RiNo, so you know the cutlery here is top notch. Test out the feel of tools from a variety of makers, or give the more budget-friendly gift of a favorite knife repairing or resharpening. Shop around the store for aprons, cookbooks, gadgets, and more.

One of the best deals of the bunch, this deck of dining cards provides $10 off a meal of $25 or more at 55 of Denver’s best locally owned restaurants. Buy it online, or find a deck while shopping at Tattered Cover Bookstores, I Heart Denver stores, and Savory Spice stores around town.

Not sure what to bring to a family meal or holiday party? The Perfect Petal in West Highland has lush seasonal arrangements for hanging wreaths or table centerpieces starting around $50. Order online or visit the boutique for a host of other gift options.

Bet you didn’t know you needed new Turkish hand towels or Nordic sheepskins. But someone in the family might (see any recent home buyer). And don’t be surprised if you start ordering your own package of these cultish home goods.

New for 2017, this cookbook features comfort food recipes from great American chefs such as David Chang, Rick Bayless, and Ruth Reichl. Four Colorado chefs are among them: Toni Tipton-Martin offers her Blueberry Buckle recipe; Simone Cormier provides a country pork pate; Adrian Miller prepares Hibiscus-Aid and mixed greens; and Hugo Matheson makes a veggie bowl. Buy locally at Book Bar here.

For students of regional history and politics, Tershia D’Elgin’s 2017 Colorado Book Award winner in creative nonfiction paints a sweeping landscape of farming in the West amid climate change and city growth. Buy locally at Tattered Cover here.

Want to get all of your holiday shopping done in one spiked-punch swoop? Head to the Holiday Flea this weekend for a three-day market extravaganza, including hundreds of local makers. Shop for beauty products, jams, candles, apparel, leather goods, home decor, and more. And pair your Friday night outing with a few seasonal cocktails to get the purse strings loosened.

Know someone who plans October around Great American Beer Festival? Well tickets just went on sale for Denver’s local, springtime alternative, the 5th annual Collaboration Fest. So give the gift of all-evening beer drinking with more than 80 Denver-area breweries and 40 collaboration brew tasters. Then give the biggest gift of all: Offer to be the designated driver.