This year I need to get creative with my Christmas gift giving. My loved ones seem to have everything they need and I need to be thrifty. An especially hard one to shop for is my sister-in-law. In the past I've added to her toe sock collection. But her sock drawer is spilling over. The only other idea that stuck was to purchase several cases of Smirnoff Ice Wild Grape wine cooler. She can't get enough of the stuff, rejecting the flavors of beer and wine. I do want to make her happy, despite the uncontrollable gag reflexes I have with one sip.

Last week I sampled a new beverage that I think we would enjoy sipping together. Sake2me is a slightly sweet beverage with 7% alcohol made from Junmai sake. It's in the same "spirit" as a wine cooler, but without the malt liquor and the nasty flavors. The four flavors are: ginger mango, green tea, yuzu citrus and asian pear. When sipping the ginger mango I'm convinced that it's my favorite flavor, but when I tried the yuzu citrus, it climbs the charts to number one. I like to think of it as a flavored dessert wine. When she tries it, Smirnoff Ice will be forgotten.