The 16 Best Colorado Gifts for Foodies

If you, too, believe that delicious gifts make the best gifts, you’ve come to the right gift guide. With 16 Colorado makers, bakers, shops, and sippers, we’ve got something for everyone on your good list, from advent calendars for beer and paintable sugar cookies, to boxes of chocolates, and even something called lebkuchen. (And if you pick something tasty for yourself, too, well, that’s just efficient shopping.)

Eat

Scoop and Scoop Meal Kits

The new Spade & Spoon is like a Blue Apron-style meal delivery kit, but instead of sad lettuce and blah sauces, you cook with Front Range-focused ingredients like Sfoglina pasta, River Bear meats, and Five Freedoms milk and yogurts Dairy. and ricotta. For the busy families on your list, make life easier (and sweeter) with a trio of meal delivery kits or a la carte chocolate set. Order online starting November 26

popcorn too haute cowgirls

What do you get when you combine a couple of big city popcorn lovers with the Wild West? Something much tastier than those mega cans of generic popcorn. Sterling-based Too Haute Cowgirls Popcorn Bags (starting at $25) come in ready-to-use flavors like Have Bacon Will Travel and Srira-Cha-Cha. available online

Damn gouda cheese

For those on your list whose love language is cheese, check out this Sunnyside cheese shop for the best in artisan dairy. From steaks to charcuterie extras to unique cheese offerings, you won’t want to leave empty-handed. 2432 West 44th Avenue; 303-455-2221

jerky climax

Carnivores will love tearing into the jerky (starting at $10) from this Breckenridge-based woman-owned company. Using whole muscle cuts and all-natural flavors in its Red Hot Beef, Smoked Teriyaki Buffalo, and Peppered Elk varieties, Climax Jerky has been making carnivores happy since 1999. 100 S. Main St., Breckenridge; 970-389-2085; or buy online

Restaurants

Denver Food and Drink Pass

Fill your stockings with the gift of eating out. With buy-one-get-one deals on drinks and entrées from 200 local restaurants, wineries, taverns and more, your friends and family are sure to find deals on current favorites and discover new neighborhood hangouts. To buy online; $20 with code FALL50

Gift cards

Whether you’re shopping for a long-married couple looking for new culinary adventures, someone who just had a baby and could handle getting out more, or a best friend who’s always up for the latest hot spots, a card gifting to a local restaurant is your general gift answer. Because a meal at, say, Safta or an ice cream at Smith & Canon is much more memorable than a sweater they’ll never wear.

Kitchen equipment

New West KnifeWorks

The artisan knife company just opened its first Colorado store in Cherry Creek, and the beautiful spurge-friendly blades are sharp gifts for the home cook on your list. From custom knives to sets and blocks, all the tools are made to last a lifetime of holiday cooking seasons. 185 Fillmore Street; 877-258-0100; from $25

Colorado Kitchen Heirlooms

Using discarded wood from local tree trimmers, Lakewood resident Pat Scott transforms aspens, black walnuts and silver maples into culinary works of art. Handmade bowls, cutting boards and utensils make the perfect gift for the diners and kitchen adventurers on his list. To buy online; from $30

sweet

Leckerlee Lebkuchen

Part spice gingerbread cake, part pecan cookie, lebkuchen is a delicious German treat. While living in Berlin, Leckerlee founder Sandy Lee fell in love with traditional Christmas treats at Germany’s famous Christmas markets. After perfecting his recipe and starting Leckerlee in New York City, Lee moved to Colorado and now makes small-batch Longmont lebkuchen. To buy online; cans from $28

Phresh Baked Goods Cookie Kit

For budding artists, the Phresh Baked Goods Paint-It-Yourself Sugar Cookie Kit ($12) is sure to turn out the prettiest cookies on the block. Watercolor-style Christmas designs are almost too pretty to eat, but nothing is too pretty when it comes to butter and sugar. To buy online

bread club

Can you think of a better gift than the regular carbs that arrive at your doorstep? Bread Club delivers pastries and bread from some of the best small bakeries in town, including Rebel Bread, Moon Raccoon Baking Co., Pandemic Donuts, and Mile High Pie Co. You can choose between an annual monthly subscription (starting at $22) or just one – Delicious drop time. 675 S. Broadway, Ste. 200; buy online

Tempered Chocolates

For hostess gifts, teacher gifts, aunt gifts, gifts for the guy who found his missing ferret, chocolate is always the answer. Denver Central Market’s resident chocolatier Temper sells 12-piece boxes of chocolates ($36) that are sure to please, with flavors like Smashing Pumpkins with Pumpkin Cheesecake Ganache and Mac Daddy with Caramel Macadamia Nut. 2669 Larimer Street; 303-562-1966; Shop at the Temper’s Denver Central Market counter or order online

liquor cabinet

Whiskey Barista Spirits

Coffee and whiskey may not yet be a power duo like chocolate and peanut butter, but Denver-based Barista Spirits’ trio of coffee-inspired whiskeys ($52) may change that. Created in collaboration with Copper Door Coffee Roasters, Americano, Aztec and Mocha whiskeys are must-haves for whiskey aficionados. Available at Deviation Distilling’s Denver taproom as well as liquor stores across the state

Horse & Dragon Brewing Co. Beer Advent Calendar

On the solid gift list, beer definitely ranks in the top 10. Give the beer lover in his life a dozen craft beers in the form of an advent calendar from Fort Collins-based Horse & Dragon ($68). They can drink one a day before Christmas, the new year, or drink them all on a very interesting Wednesday. Order online for tavern pickup

cozy drinks

tea with tae

To make it into the cups, mixes, bags, and tubes sold in Tea with Tae’s downtown shop, the tea must be whole leaf (not just fans that skimp on flavor) and come from high-quality, fair-trade farms. . Choose the Apple Cinnamon blend ($7) for the perfect milk tea, or book a Tea 101 class for the tea lover in his life ($75). 16 700 Street; 303-534-9920

sweet coffee flower

This Lakewood roaster is all about sourcing their beans, not only personally visiting the coffee farms the team buys from, but also inviting growers to Colorado to sample the finished cup. He gives away good mornings with his coffee subscription program ($22 per shipment). Visit one of the three Denver Metro cafes or order online; bags from $16