<p>But don’t think this an isolating endeavor. Imbibing, after all, is an inherently social practice, built in generations of connection, interaction, and, after a few drinks bullshitting. These subscription services might be personalized but they can still take advantage of the community aspect built around alcohol. Subscribers can host their own tastings, interact with industry pros virtually about what’s in their glass, and gain a higher IQ about their favorite drinks; a great tool to take advantage of next time you’re small talking at a party. Here are the 16 best alcohol subscription services of 2023.</p><p><a href=”https://www.menshealth.com/health/g32335260/healthy-meal-delivery-services/” target=”_blank”><strong>Best Meal Delivery Services</strong></a> | <a href=”https://www.menshealth.com/technology-gear/g42661295/best-bartending-kits/” target=”_blank”><strong>Best Bartending Kits</strong></a> | <strong><a href=”https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/g41782112/best-food-gifts/” target=”_blank”>Best Food Gifts</a></strong> | <a href=”https://www.menshealth.com/technology-gear/g41824914/best-cooking-gifts-for-men/” target=”_blank”><strong>Best Cooking Gifts</strong></a> | <a href=”https://www.menshealth.com/technology-gear/g41538651/best-wine-gifts/” target=”_blank”><strong>Best Gifts for Wine Lovers</strong></a> | <a href=”https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/g19537784/whiskey-gifts-for-whiskey-lovers/” target=”_blank”><strong>Best Gifts for Whiskey Lovers</strong></a></p>” />
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Pros
- Great Selection
- Cool Format
- Educational
- Member Pricing
Flaviar is our overall winner, a great service that marries discovery with great presentation and selection. The spirits are well-curated and generally hard to find and the test tube approach (looking like something out of Jurassic Park that should show up in dry ice) is admittedly cool and great in terms of volume.
You get samples and a full bottle, three times a year. Subscriber then get access to other perks, as it should be. For the spirits lover, there’s hardly a better option. It’s also great for blind and side-by-side tastings, great means of understanding drinks even more. Gaining access to special collaborations is a big plus as well.
VINEBOX operated by the quarter as well, setting you up with a shipment every few months. In it, you’ll find vials filled with wines from relatively small-scale vintners, allowing you to throw your own wine tasting parties. You’re then set up with credits to buy by the bottle, ensuring you get only the stuff you really enjoyed.
The service is pretty good and pivoting with the time of year, offering more refreshing wines in the hotter months and more robust wines during the cooler months. The sample-first philosophy is nice and makes you feel like you have a Coravin. In other words, each tube is just a glass (not a full glass, mind you), so you effectively get to sample the wine before you shell out for the full 750mL.
Pros
- Great Selection
- Smaller-Producer Emphasis
- Variety of Club Options by Spirit
Cons
- Shipping Locations Are Limited
What’s cool about Mashbox is that the club feels a bit like having a close friend in the industry. You know, that guy with all the Pappy van Winkle or obscure rums from faraway places. That said, you’re likely to fall for a new favorite distiller and might even support a few smaller drinks businesses en route.
This is a good club for expanding your palate as well as stocking your home bar with hard-to-find goods. The presentation of the shipment is neat and tidy but drinks nerds might appreciate a little more tech info on what’s in the box and how it got there.
For those looking to get their paws on highly-regarded or trending winemakers who make smaller batches, this is the way to go. Subscribers will be exposed to something new, whether it’s a racy white from the Sardinia or some Beaujolais from an indie French producer.
The selections are made by a Master Sommelier, so you know you’re in capable hands. You even gain access to older vintage wines, which is great as wine tends to improve over time and most of us drink it way, way too early. Presently, there are nine club options, often curated by different types of industry experts.
Want to nail a classic cocktail or learn how to make one you’ve only ever ordered at the bar? Shaker & Spoon is the way to go. While your base spirit is not included, you can easily shop around what’s to come in the box, or even forage through your own stash and find easy workarounds (they send thoughtful selections of what to get at the liquor store).
It’s a good deal, financially, and you’ll learn to put a little more care and effort into your drink making. The little samples of various tinctures and syrups are a blast to work with and can really change a drink for the better. You’ll learn to match flavors better and even fine-tune your garnish game.
Pros
- Good Deal
- Nice Selection
Cons
- Some Lesser Wines Included
- Could Feature More Independent Labels
Naked Wines started with a bang but has since undergone a bit of a reckoning. Shares dropped big time last year and the leader of the company stepped down. That all aside, the club is a nice way to expose yourself to well-priced wines from all over the globe.
The price is right, and you get to meander all over the wine map, but there are usually some misses on each shipment. Overall, it’s a nice way to dip your toes into the international wine scene but those in the know might prefer something a little more sophisticated, featuring even more small-batch producers making genuinely unique wines. The case deals are out of this world, though, so if you’re looking to pad the cellar, this ain’t a bad way to do so.
Pros
- Trending Wines
- Good Selection
- Good Value
Cons
- Expensive
A membership with Winc begins with a short text that determines what you like in a wine. The service builds around that info, looking to send home runs in each delivery. The price is right and the bottles are generally good selections. Winc’s main flaw is that it sometimes opts for the cool factor over wine quality, but we’re pretty much all guilty of that now and again.
Ten varietals are offered, pulling from countries all over. You get bulk shipping deals and the wines you’re sent are likely the ones somebody online is freaking out about, which invites a fun conversation about what makes a good wine good. This is a nice wine for those looking to sample organic wines as well.
Pros
- Great Selection
- Membership Pricing and Reviews
- Personalized by Style
Cons
- Shipping Locations Are Limited
Let’s not forget about beer, and craft beer, the best kind. This club is all about the independent brewers of America, of which there are tons. With three different tiers and lots of ways to personalize you’re allotment, it’s a nice suds club indeed.
Subscribers gain access to great, highly-rated brands, like Great Notion in Portland or WeldWerks in Colorado. You can earn points for reviewing beers and in turn use them to buy more beer. It’s a simply but clever system that builds a community of beer enthusiasts looking for the very best discoveries, which is helpful given the sheer scale of craft beer these days.
Best for Moderate Imbibers
Cratejoy American Cocktail Club
Best for Moderate Imbibers
Cratejoy American Cocktail Club
Pros
- Improves Mixology
- Inspiring Recipes
- Includes Alcohol (or Not)
Cons
- Lots of Packaging
What’s nice about this club is that it’s something of a gateway option. You get your makings for four cocktails per month and then you’re set free. Once you’ve made, you often want to replicate the at home with your own stash or move on to other variations and riffs on the cocktail of the month.
That said, four cocktails per month is pretty limited from a subscription standpoint, but the price reflects that. The other ingredients tend to be of high quality, from mixers and flavored tonics to syrups and garnishes.
Best for Mocktails
Curious Elixirs Curious Elixirs
Best for Mocktails
Curious Elixirs Curious Elixirs
Pros
- Great for Mocktails
- Incredible Flavors
- Natural Ingredients
Cons
- Expensive
With the uptick in NA offerings comes a related increase in NA subscription boxes. We like this one as the included elixirs are genuinely curious, so full of flavor you won’t be missing the alcohol at all. Of course, you can add booze, but that’s your call.
The elixirs can be finessed in ways to mimic classic cocktails (think Negroni Sbagliato), which is great for those looking to have a complete a dry month or cut down in general. The monthly variety pack includes a rotating cast of four elixirs, all made from organic ingredients.
Here’s a fetching club for the sake drinker or somebody simply curious about the genre. It’s a bit more of a niche club, but therein lies the intrigue. You’d have to stumble into the right bottle shop buyer or sommelier to get this kind of sake knowhow and exposure.
You begin by figure out what kind of sake you like (a nice touch given that many of us know very little about the stuff) and then customize your orders around that blueprint. Each shipment comes with three or six bottles and your first one includes a nice wooden sake vessel, great for really enjoying the stuff. Members get exclusive access to certain bottles now and again too.
.jpg?crop=0.800xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* 1960w,https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1677821715-61d4c8fbdc90ed2d326a16fe_Untitled20design20(4).jpg?crop=0.800xw:1xh;center,top&resize=768:* 1536w,https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1677821715-61d4c8fbdc90ed2d326a16fe_Untitled20design20(4).jpg?crop=0.800xw:1xh;center,top&resize=640:* 1280w "Tavour")
Pros
- Great Access to Esteemed Beers
- Educational
- Expert Curation
Cons
- Selection Is a Bit Limited
Tavour really does feel like a club. From the outside, you don’t know much and are left scratching your head. Once in, you’re in craft beer heaven, able to access some of the top-rated and most raved-about beers in all of craftland.
The literature about the beers is solid, the beers themselves are expertly-curated, and you will undoubtedly come away with a new favorite style (pastry stout, smoothie sour, cold IPA, you name it). From the descriptions to the selections, you get a real sense that this is a beer-loving club designed by bonafide beer lovers.
Best for Tequila Fans
Sip Tequila The Sip Tequila Club
Best for Tequila Fans
Sip Tequila The Sip Tequila Club
Pros
- Great for Tequila Fans
- Membership Pricing
- Full Bottles in Shipments
Cons
- Expensive
We didn’t forget about you, tequila fans. This club is for you, a collection of some of the best the agave spirits category has to offer. The shipments come with full-sized bottles, meaning you’ll be able to stock the bar and have plenty to work with at home, whether you’re sipping neat or whipping up a Margarita.
There are virtual tastings, you can peruse the online shops for expressions that tend to run on the scarce side, and, while a bit pricy, you pretty much get what you pay for. Tequila fans are advised to check out this subscription service.
Best for High-Scoring Value Wines
Firstleaf Firstleaf
Best for High-Scoring Value Wines
Firstleaf Firstleaf
Banking on critically-acclaimed wines, Firstleaf puts together bundles that the wine writers generally like. If you subscribe to that kind of acclaim, this could be your magic club. When you do the math, bottles end up running about $15 a pop, which is a pretty attractive deal.
Subsequent shipments work off of how the preceding ones went over. You rate as you go and the humans at Firstleaf (or algorithms) put together your next. It’s a smart way to hone in on what you like and explore those styles and varietals further. The company touts a near-perfect accuracy rate and has garnered some pretty good press from legitimate sources. We like the volume amount (a half-case per shipment), which is great for enjoying when it arrives and setting some aside for future gatherings.
Pros
- Multiple Subscription Types
- Great for Spirits Lover
- Good Context and Drinks Recommendations
Cons
- Expensive
With nine different subscription options, Taster’s Club is primarily built around spirit type. We like the historical context included, like the origin stories of the various distilleries. The selections are generally good, sourcing from prominent labels like Barrel Bourbon, Rum Clement, Wild Roots, and more. What’s more, the inclusions tend to be reserve or small-batch bottlings.
If you want to start slow, you can do a month-to-month subscription and cancel anytime. The prepaid options seem steep but considering that you get higher-end bottles from esteemed producers, it more than pencils out. There’s a wine club, which is okay, but the real gems are found in the spirits categories, like bourbon, gin, and Scotch.
Pros
- Interesting Wines
- Membership Pricing
- Great Online Wine Shop
Cons
- Expensive
Natural wine lovers should head straight to MYSA. The selections are well-curated, the varieties are many, and there’s an element of the unexpected which keeps the club fresh and interesting. There are three club options, including red wine, orange wine, and a mix of the two.
Members gain access to special events, on top of club pricing for bottles. The online shop is fun to comb through, featuring a lot of really captivating choices. Yes, the labels are over-the-top artsy and cool but the juice inside so often backs up the look. Natural wine is trending, and that’s fine, but MYSA is also a great option for those simply looking to try something new and unique.
What to Look for
The best alcohol subscription services involve exclusive offerings, educational deep-dives into what you’re drinking, and an overarching sense of appreciation for the craft. If you’re considering one, there are some things to look for. Obviously, you’ll want to narrow down your drink. Many clubs cater to specific spirits or even specific types of beer and wine (and mocktails). Are you looking to enjoy something neat or hoping to become a better mixologist? Are you wanting wines to drink right away or cellar for a few years? Are you hoping to simply avoid the bottle shop or are you looking for rare offerings you can’t often find anywhere else? These are the questions you should ask as you navigate your options. Lastly, be sure to see what you’re sign-up options are (as in time commitment, cancelation fees, etc.).
How We Selected
Our selections were based on a few key factors. Selection and timeliness played roles, as well as the quality of the context involved. Many of these clubs involve tasting notes and background info on what’s included, some useful, some not so much. We also looked at the flexibility of the memberships and how creative they are with their offerings. And we wanted to be comprehensive here, so we included subscriptions that cover all of the major booze categories.
Mark Stock is a food, drink, and outdoors writer from Portland, Oregon. He spent years making, selling, and sipping Pinot Noir in the Dundee Hills before a full return to his journalistic roots in 2016. In addition to Men’s Health, he writes for SevenFifty Daily, Sip Northwest, The Somm Journal, The Drake, Willamette Week, Travel Oregon, and more.
Paul is the Food & Nutrition Editor of Men’s Health. He’s also the author of two cookbooks: Guy Gourmet and A Man, A Pan, A Plan.
Watch Next
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Comments are closed.