With UK sales reaching £2.1 billion last year, the nation’s appetite for gin shows no signs of sating. Velvet recommends seven festive spirits

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Gravity Drinks Christmas Globe Gin Liqueur, 700ml, £24.95, masterofmalt.com

Think the spirit of Christmas can’t be bottled? Think again. Housed in the most festive bottle imaginable - shaped like a snowglobe and patterned with a snow-dusted period street scene, complete with Santa and sleigh scudding across the sky - it’s infused with sweet-meets-spicy Seville orange, cranberry and cinnamon flavours, which together lend themselves to everything from an orange-garnished G&T to a Christmassy cocktail (scan the QR code on the box for recipes). Shake the bottle and edible 24 karat gold snowflakes begin to eddy; press a button on the bottle’s base and the whole thing lights up. Even Scrooge would be charmed.

Foxhole Spirits HYKE Gin, 70cl, £26, Tesco

If you’re dreaming of a green Christmas - and aren’t we all? - this gin is one to add to the drinks/gifts list. The world’s first sustainable grape gin, HYKE is made in Sussex from bunch trimmings leftover from supermarket grape punnets, before being blended with grain spirit and a distinctive and delicious combination of botanicals, notably myrrh, rooibos and coriander. Elegantly bottled and competitively priced, its flavours are showcased best served simply with ice, slice and classic tonic.

Bullards Old Tom Gin, 70cl, £40, bullardsspirits.co.uk

Making its gins the perfect present for any proud East Anglians on your list, Bullards has been distilling spirits in Norwich since 1837; the bottles takes their shape from the brand’s long-since-demolished brewery chimney, which dominated the city’s skyline for more than a century. Bullards has more than moved with the times, though: this year alone, it’s opened a Covent Garden site and won a clutch of awards, including Gold at the London Spirits Competition for its Old Tom Gin, which sweetens citrus, pepper and spice with Norfolk honey and mango to scrumptious effect (and making it an ideal cocktail ingredient: it’s a great switch for vodka in an Espresso Martini). Eco-friendly refill pouches are available, too - nice touch.

Cantium Rubesco Pink Gin, 50cl, £39.95, cantiumgin.com

The bottle alone makes a Cantium gin a great gift: a chic metal flask designed to be used long after the gin’s gone, it keeps drinks both hot and cold for hours. The gin too is excellent, though. Fans of pink gin are sure to love the Rubesco, which takes the brand’s classic London Dry and softens and sweetens it with raspberries and strawberries - apt for a brand based in England’s fruit bowl: Cantium is the Roman name for Kent. Should you not want the flask, the brand will take it back and gift it to charity Warming Up The Homeless, for deliveries of hot drinks and soups over winter.

Atlas Chai Gin, 70cl, £48, masterofmalt.com

Though Atlas is Lincolnshire-born, as the brand name suggests, its gins take flavour inspiration from far-flung delicacies, such as Persian Love Cake and, in this case, Masala Chai. Filled with all the signature chai flavours - cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, Assam black tea - it’s spicy, slightly sweet and wonderfully warming, making it ideal for a winter’s night G&T. Unlike many profiles, which fade away in the presence of a flavoured mixer, it holds its own - try pairing it with Fevertree Italian Blood Orange Soda and garnishing with a fine slice of ginger.

Brookie’s Slow Gin, 70cl, £34.24, masterofmalt.com

An Aussie version of sloe gin, Brookie’s Slow Gin switches the fruits of the British hedgerow for Davidson Plums, foraged from the native sub-tropical rainforest which surrounds its New South Wales distillery. Macerated for a full six months - hence ‘slow’ - it’s peachy, peppery and is sharpened by a tang of pine. A tot is guaranteed to warm cockles; a splosh in a glass of prosecco is something special.

Slingsby Marmalade Gin, 70cl, £30l, spiritofharrogate.co.uk

Like all Slingsby spirits, this gin wears its Yorkshire heritage proudly on its sleeve: core ingredients include water sourced from the world-famous Harrogate aquifer and a classic Yorkshire-made Marmalade, loved for packing a real punch of both citrus and sugar. Served with a Mediterranean tonic, orange slice and plentiful ice, it’s wintry and warming yet singularly refreshing too.

Tobermory Isle of Mill Hebridean Gin, 700ml, £30, tobermorydistillery.com

Inspired by the distillery’s Hebridean home in Tobermory Bay on the Isle of Mull, this gin has won awards - including a silver gong at this year’s International Wine & Spirit Competition - for its fresh, zesty, herbaceous profile. With key botanicals including Hebridean tea, heather, elderflower and sweet orange peel, it’s scrumptious served with a classic tonic, a slice of pink grapefruit and a sprig of thyme.

Its sister gins are lovely too: Hebridean Mountain (with rowan berry and rosehip, slightly sweeter and spicier) and Hebridean Coast (with sugar kelp and samphire, slightly saltier and more savoury). Tobermory offers tasting sets of all three, ideal for Christmas gifting.