He doesn't need anything. But he wants this.
There is, in the long and undistinguished history of the necktie, not a single recorded instance of a man being genuinely delighted to receive one. The novelty mug fares little better.
And so we arrive, once again, at the annual ritual of finding something for the man who built the deck, fixed the car, and insists, every single year, that he doesn't need anything.
He is lying. He wants a good drink, made well, without having to make it himself.
Four cocktails. One proper glass. No effort required.
A Negroni, that great Italian act of bittersweet defiance, built on equal parts conviction and Campari.
A Rum Old Fashioned, dark, slow and faintly nostalgic, invented specifically for sitting on a porch contemplating one's life choices.
A Tommy's Margarita, brighter and sharper, named for a man who took a perfectly good drink and made it better by subtraction.
An Espresso Martini, that late twentieth century interloper which, against all odds, earned its place at the bar.
Each one canned at the moment of its perfection, so the only labour required of him is the lifting of a tab.
Presented properly
Royal blue or rich burgundy, gold-stamped, and entirely free of the apologetic cheapness that so often attends the gifting of liquor. Inside, a SPIEGELAU Perfect Serve S.O.F rocks glass, the real thing, not a freebie.
Pour any one of them into it and he will, for a few minutes at least, feel less like a man receiving a present and more like a man being properly looked after.
Which, in the end, is all he wanted.
What's in the box
- 1 × SPIEGELAU Perfect Serve S.O.F rocks glass
- 1 × Tommy's Margarita
- 1 × Rum Old Fashioned
- 1 × Espresso Martini
- 1 × Negroni
- Gift box in Royal Blue or Burgundy