THE DISHING GIFT LIST 2025
From “It’s Only Tuesday!” Issue 28 —The Extra Tasty Issue—we bring our food-lovin’ Gift List 2025.
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Our combined Holiday Gift List, Parts I + II, is sure to make you (and those you love) extra merry. Our picks check the boxes on all things delicious or useful, and—natch—locally made.
At the tail-end of the year, I’m feeling grateful for some unexpected, small things. Take the new split-window feature on Apple Mac making my editing easier, and the fab album drops from Olivia Dean + Lily Allen soundtracking my days. If only Raye could drop an album to round out the holiday trifecta.
I’ve also treated myself to tickets to see Lily + Raye, each in NYC on their respective 2026 tours — but the best part is the time I’m now devoting to reservations for lunch and dinner. You can’t go to the city and not eat.
Shop our hit list holiday gift guide 2025. Feel festive, feed your friends, shop local! Also, pizza dough is an underrated gift!
1. COFFEE BEANS + COLD BREW
Unsure whether they drink wine or spirits, but certain they live for their morning brew? The answer is coffee + this area isn’t short on loca-roasters. We like:
• Upstate’s Cold Brew for its notes of dark chocolate, citrus + caramel in your morning cup or my Cold Brew Negroni. Shop coffee, crewnecks + my fave Nude Dwellings coffee candle here.
• For local, fair trade, craft coffee with full flavor + a story we love:
- Touchy Coffee, Troy
- Gipfel Coffee, Averill Park
- Knockabout Coffee, Ballston Spa
- Kickstart Coffee Co., Schuylerville
2. HONEY, HONEY — June Farms’ bees
June Farms reality TV show has primetime abuzz but you may not know the farm has 6 onsite beehives cared for by local beekeeper-bartender-business owner Nina Young. Young harvests + bottles the organic raw honey which features (alongside their free-range eggs) in a few Pony Barn cocktails. It’s available in 5.2-ounce jars ($15) in the farm General Store. Shop online for farm merch or buy a June Farms gift card: Spend $100 to get a $150 gift card, $500 for a $750 gift card, or pre-book a cabin stay + gift it with a jar of honey to be extra sweet.
→ Meet beekeeper Nina Young.
→ Shop here.
3. C. CASSIS — Hudson Valley Blackcurrant Aperitif
If you go to Rachael Petach’s tiny Rhinebeck tasting room where C. Cassis, her Hudson Valley version of crème de cassis, is fermented and produced, you’ll find creative cocktails, delicious snacks + a lovely shop selling their growing range of liquid treasures, including Cassette, a blackcurrant fruit wine + a green tomato aperitif. Shop their holiday edit online. They have too many ideal gift combos for us to recommend just one! And once you have a bottle of C. Cassis — the original or non-alc version — in your paws, go scoop some fresh, clean snow and pour it on top for the perfect boozy snow cone.
→ Meet founder Rachael Petach.
→ Shop here.
4. Dinnerware?
Kristen Brockmon, owner of Shadow Wood Studio in Saratoga Springs, is married to a chef and her wheel-thrown functional pottery is quite literally made for the table. Brockmon and her husband, Chef Tim Brockmon, executive chef at Yaddo, have collaborated on bespoke vessels for curated dinners, but her Etsy shop is full of pieces you’d want in your home. Check out her glazed cups and bowls accented with 18k gold.
→ Shop here.
We also love the ceramics of Troy-based potter Ash King of Ark Atelier + Co.
5. Spice, Spice, Baby — Upstate heat
In Troy, those in the know will stop by Brown’s Brewing for a hyper-local bottle of Trini Ting Pepper sauce ($10), a zesty heritage hot sauce made with homegrown Scotch bonnets + packing the heat of Trinidad + Tobago. Made by Brown’s Brewing chef Nigel Peters. (Ask for him and the sauce by name.)
And stop into The Seasoning House, Troy, for their Cote d’Ivorian spice + sauce range!
In Hudson, Poor Devil Pepper Co. hot sauces always bring the heat but their umami-blasted fermented chili flakes (a byproduct of the hot sauce process) are an extra treat on everything from eggs to ice cream.
6. Dining experiences + Legacy wear
We know restaurants need support in slow winter months. Restaurant gift cards + merch bought this side of the holidays are a win-win in supporting small businesses while treating those you love to a future night out or gourmet fit. Rock band tees are old news; now everyone wants to rock the latest restaurant or bar hoodie, cap or tee. We especially love the red hoodies + beanies at Kitty’s in Hudson, pink sweatshirts by The Meat Stick Chick, DeFazio’s pizza tees in Troy, Sovrana Pizza’s new coffee mugs in Albany, + Sorry Charlie trucker hats + hoodies in Kingston.
7. Serving It Homestyle!
You can rep local upstate style by shopping the bespoke creative streetwear of So’Radical straight off the runways of London + Paris fashion week, the Upstate of Mind hats, sweats and tees from Troy-based Compas Life, or the in-demand Troy crow merch + bespoke embroidery by Lyf Supply.
→ Meet So Radical founder Mo Rabiu.
→ Shop So Radical here.
→ Shop Compas Life Upstate of Mind here.
→ Shop Lyf Supply here.
8. Cocktails by a Local Mixologist? MadMadeThese Holiday Cocktails, A Recipe Book by Madeline Dillon | Blurb Books
Our frequent Ask The Expert mixologist, Madeline Dillon, was not only the beverage director at much-missed The Duchess, but also a founding partner of {pretty to think so} in Rhinebeck. While consulting, she also found time to publish a book of holiday cocktails. I have 2 copies myself and have gifted 3 more. Order soft or hardback copies from Blurb Books here.
9. Big Ice, Ice, Baby
This one will separate those in the know from the pretenders. Sure, you can show up with a bottle of Albany Distilling Co. vodka or New Scotland Spirits rye, but why not prove yourself a cut above with the gift of crystal clear Hudson Valley ice from Twin Lakes Ice Co.? Choose from 2x2-inch or 3x2-inch blocks, shaking cubes, spears or large chiseling blocks. Order from Twin Lakes Ice website, email sean@twinlakesice.co or there’s a lovely option to simply text owners Sean + Abby at 518-822-7753.
10. In Dough We Trust
Honestly, showing up to friends, to dinner parties, to at home brunches with freshly baked bread might be a love language in itself. But, couldn’t we stretch the dough here to include artisanal pizza, bagels, dumplings or cake? We are spoiled for choice with area bakers, but you may have do a little work yourself. Check your local farmers market for vendors or give some of our favorites a call:
→ For bread, DM Ovenbird Baking here.
→ For dumplings, shop Two Little Dumplings here.
→ For pizza, order Pizzeria Mari here.
→ For bagels, shop Circles Bagels here.
→ For cookies + cakes, DM Jennifer Hernandez/La Bakerista here.
11. Charcuterie + fish — Locally raised, locally cured
Maybe people don’t send full hampers anymore, but we have three really good recommendations for you here. Of course, you can’t go wrong bringing cheese as a gift, but when you show up with charcuterie or smoked salmon, people are going to remember. And with amazing producers in the Hudson Valley, it’s local too.
→ For charcuterie, shop Raven + Boar here. (Also available at Honest Weight Coop in Albany.)
→ For salmon/smoked salmon, shop Hudson Valley Fisheries here.
→ For fresh catch, visit Montauk Catch Club here. (We think it’s fun that they opened in a former strip club. Find them at the Troy Farmers Market too.)
12. Natural Wine — Low-ABV, additive free + (virtually) hangover free
I’m always going to suggest you support your local bottle shop whether that’s Grapefruit Wine in Hudson, Sage Wine + Spirits in Ballston Spa, or Kinderhook Bottle Shop + Saisonnier (craft beer) in Kinderhook. But for this gift list, we’re featuring their holiday 3-pack ($80) + 6-pack ($185) curated by sommelier, teacher + Troy Wine Co. director Elissa Feist. In the 3-bottle combo, is a Nibiru, Gelber Muskateller Ancestrale (sparkling), Domaine Tracot, Beaujolais Lantigne Blanc (white) and Torre alle Tolfe, Chianti Colli Senesi (red). In the 6-bottle combo, you’ll get those three, plus an additional white, red, and sherry for after dinner: Collecapretta, Vigna Vecchia (white), Le Puy, Amoreau Duc Nauves Rouge (red), Nathan Kendall, Solera Riesling (dry sherry.) Stop in to buy. I mean, who doesn’t love a curated gift?
>> 🫒 INTEL: Are you a member of The Dishing Social Club? If so, log in to the member portal for your discount code on all Champagnes at Troy Wine Co. through December 31, 2025!