North Shore Distillery And Letherbee Distillery | Chicago

What do you get for the spirits lover who has everything?

Fancy Scotch? No thanks. Cognac? So overdone. This season, two local distilleries have created limited-edition gift packs filled with exclusive bottles that you can't get in stores.

North Shore Distillery has written "The History of Gin" in a four-bottle gift set ($100)–but there are only 200 available, and you can only get them at the distillery. In addition to its two signature, award-winning gins, the distillery has created an Old Tom gin and a traditional Genever, which they have never sold before.

"It's a great way to share the history and evolution of this most interesting spirit with others, in liquid form," explains owner Sonja Kassebaum.

According to Kassenbaum, Genever is the "grandfather of modern day gin." Distilled from malted grains, just like Scotch, it has some of the same rich, caramel notes common to brown spirits.

Letherbee Distillery has a three-pack of its own ($65; available at Provenance Food and Wine), a wooden toolbox containing Letherbee's signature "Gin for Wellness;" Autumnal Gin, a smoky spirit made with black tea and mace; and a flask of Malört, its version of the notoriously mouth-puckering Chicago classic.

Letherbee only produced 120 cases of the Autumnal (and even fewer of the Malört), so when they're gone, they're gone.