Food and drink subscriptions: Christmas gifts that keep on giving

What do you get the foodie who has everything this Christmas? A food or drink subscription should keep them happy. There are so many brilliant Irish food producers offering subscriptions that will make sure you’re remembered throughout the year.

Piece of cake

What could be better than a year of baked goods?

• Graham Herterich (aka The Cupcake Bloke) has built a reputation for reinventing the traditional brack and has crafted the ideal gift for fans of his baking. Subscribe to his Brack Club and get a monthly brack delivered to your door, allowing you to explore his unique flavour combinations.

• Much-loved Dublin bakery Camerino has a Cookie Club, which offers a choice of a one-off or monthly subscription, each delivery box containing 12 treats that change through the year according to seasonality. They collaborate with other Irish food producers and make a donation to Barrestown with each purchase.

Keep ‘em sweet

If you’re buying for a chocolate fan, there are some divine Irish artisan options.

• Bean and Goose make gorgeous chocolate bars with wonderful Irish and seasonal ingredients. When you sign up for their Tasting Club you’ll get monthly deliveries that include an exclusive seasonal bar, another from their core range and stories behind their creations.

• Limerick-based Braw Chocolate make decadent and fun chocolate bars. Their monthly subscription, The Chocolate Club, includes three bars a month, with one bar always being a one-off or work in progress.

Say cheese

• The Little Cheese Shop in Dingle might be small in stature but not when it comes to their Irish cheese selection. The Little Cheese Club subscription provides an excellent glimpse into the breadth of Irish cheese they stock. Each month four cheeses will arrive along with crackers and chutney and tasting notes and details on each cheese and cheesemaker.

• Mike’s Fancy Cheese in Belfast is run by Mike Thompson who makes the brilliant Young Buck blue. They do a monthly subscription where they select three to five different cheeses to reflect what they think is tasting best in the shop. The delivery will include tasting notes, crackers and a quirky cheese sticker too.

Bottoms up

• Thirsty craft beer fans will be delighted with The Clann Beer Club, a monthly subscription from Sligo-based brewery The White Hag. Choose from The Clann Core, a mix of their classics, or The Clann More which includes new, seasonal and guest beers. Subscribers also get discounts year round and a free pass to an event in their Sligo Taprooms.

• Feel-good foodies will appreciate a subscription to All About Kombucha. You get cold cans of organic booch delivered straight from the brewery in monthly or biweekly drops. Customise the subscription by choosing your favourite flavours or go for a mix of all.

Store-cupboard essentials

• Busy cooks will value Dingle Sea Salt’s sustainable Saltscription, which promises to keep subscribers’ cupboards stocked with their natural, mineral-rich seasoning year round. Your first delivery comes in one of their chic ceramic jars then you receive plastic-free, 100 per cent compostable refill pouches to top up.

• There’s nothing worse than running out of coffee – make sure it doesn’t happen for someone in your life next year by giving them a coffee subscription. Dublin-based roasters Cloud Picker has a host of options for all types of coffee drinkers. Pick from their blends or single-origin coffees, choose the grind that suits, and your chosen coffee is delivered, freshly roasted, each month.

• Sweeten up someone’s year with an Irish honey subscription. Olly’s Farm produces award-winning local honey from locations in Dublin and Wicklow. Choose from blossom, soft-set, heather or a combination; every jar tells its own story. The bonus is that this 100 per cent raw honey not only tastes great but is good for you too.