DAYTON FOOD GIFT GUIDE: Charm your loved ones with these locally crafted treats

Sometimes, gift-giving is less about giving others what they want. It's about giving them what they need.

And everyone needs food!

To make the gift especially relevant (or if you’d like to give out-of-towners a reason to pay a visit to your neck of the woods), give them a taste of the food crafted right here in the Gem City.

To get you started, here are 10 of the best food gifts in Dayton:

Warped Wing Gamma Bomb six-packs. CONTRIBUTED

icon to expand image

🎅🍺Canned beer from a local brewery

Perhaps the most obvious (and, arguably the most delicious) food gift to give a fellow Daytonian is a pack of canned beer from one of the Gem City's many highly-acclaimed breweries. Yellow Springs Brewery, for example, is selling 6-packs of some of their best brews, while Warped Wing fans will find the brewery's familiar 4-pack on store shelves.

What: Canned beer from Warped Wing and Yellow Springs Brewery

Where to buy: For a complete list of where these beers are sold, visit warpedwing.com and yellowspringsbrewery.com.

More info: Warped Wing: visit warpedwing.com or call (937) 222-7003, Yellow Springs Brewery: Visit yellowspringsbrewery.com or call (937) 767-0222

>> Satisfy your sweet tooth at The Barrel House’s annual Dessert Beer Fest

Ghostlight Coffee is scheduled to open its second location to the public Thursday, Nov. 14. The business will sell coffee, baked goods and an assortment of breakfast and lunch items, including an impossible meatloaf sandwich, Yemeni toast and  Keener Farm sage sausage sandwiches.  The grand opening of the second Ghostlight location will mark the eighth anniversary of the opening of the first.  Shane Anderson opened Ghostlight Coffee in Dayton’s South Park neighborhood Nov. 14, 2011.  The original location remains open. The new location is at 800 S Patterson Boulevard next to Old Scratch Pizza and across from Grismer Tire.

Credit: Amelia Robinson

icon to expand image

Credit: Amelia Robinson

🎅☕Ghostlight Coffee's ground coffee

Looking to perk up your presents and give a non-traditional stocking stuffer this year? This bag of ground coffee from Ghostlight Coffee might be just the ticket.

What: Ghostlight Coffee's Deeper Roots Coffee

Where to buy: 1201 Wayne Ave., or 800 S. Patterson Blvd., Dayton

More info: Facebook | Call (937) 985-2633

>> PHOTOS: A look inside the new Ghostlight

Grab chocolate covered Mike-Sells potato chips as a gift.

Credit: Esther Price Candies Facebook

icon to expand image

Credit: Esther Price Candies Facebook

🎅🍫Esther Price chocolate-covered potato chips 

Mike-Sells potato chips covered in chocolate? It's a thing, and it's AMAZING. Give them to anyone willing to satisfy both their sweet and salty cravings simultaneously.

What: Esther Price chocolate-covered potato chips

Where to buy: estherprice.com

More info: WebsiteFacebookCall (1-800) 782-0326

Pine Club Rib eye steaks in a gift box. Photo from The:PineClub.com web site

icon to expand image

🎅🍴Pine Club salad dressing and steaks 

If you’re looking for the perfect salad dressing to complement a salad, or, perhaps looking for the most savory steak to pair with your famous roasted sweet potatoes, Dayton’s Pine Club might just have the options to impress that amateur chef in your life. The nationally-renowned Pine Club offers an assortment of salad dressings and steaks that taste just like hometown culinary perfection.

What: Pine Club's salad dressing and steaks

Where to buy: Area grocery stores and The Pine Club's online store and restaurant, 1926 Brown St., Dayton 

More info: WebsiteFacebook | Call (937) 228-5371

>> Drink and be merry: Branch & Bone Artisan Ales presents The 12 Sour Beers of Christmas

Mamma DiSalvo's spaghetti sauce. TY GREENLEES/STAFF FILE PHOTO

icon to expand image

🎅🍝Mamma DiSalvo's Italian sauce

These famous sauces, crafted by the DiSalvo family of Mamma DiSalvo’s in Dayton, provides the gift of old-world Italian flavor sure to please any foodie on your list.

What: Mamma DiSalvo's Italian sauce

Where to buy: disalvosdeli.com

More info: WebsiteFacebook | Call (937) 299-5831

🎅🥜Nuts and candy from Dayton Nut Specialties

Dayton's finest chocolates

Posted by Friesinger's Fine Chocolates on Sunday, December 10, 2017

Give someone a present that will drive them nuts (figuratively, of course).
What: Nuts from Dayton Nut
Where to buy: candyandnutstore.com

More info: WebsiteFacebook | Call (937) 223-3225

Bottles wait to be filled with locally-crafted Buckeye Vodka.

Credit: Chris Stewart

icon to expand image

Credit: Chris Stewart

🎅🍸Bottle of Buckeye Vodka

O-H-I-O! The Buckeye State is known for a lot more than just a dominant football powerhouse. As it turns out, Ohio claims a nationally-recognized vodka brand, too.

What: Buckeye Vodka
Where to buy: buckeyevodka.com
More info: WebsiteFacebook

Double-gold-medal-winning Dayton Gin was first released by Belle of Dayton just last fall. FILE

icon to expand image

🎅🍸Belle of Dayton Vodka or Gin

Searching for a gift for those hard-to-please relatives? Grabbing a bottle of Belle of Dayton’s gin or vodka is sure to impress (or, at the very least, relax) even the most bothersome Scrooges in your family.

What: Belle of Dayton vodka or gin

Where to buy: Available at multiple liquor stores and other retailers in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus. For full list, visit belleofdayton.com.

More info: WebsiteFacebook

Some of Brandeberry Winery’s selections.

icon to expand image

🎅🍷Wine from Brandeberry Winery 

Brandeberry Winery in Enon has a wine for every palette, from Cabernet Sauvignon to Seyval. Their selection of fine wines have made them a popular destination for wine enthusiasts all over the Miami Valley. Now, the wine drinker in your family or friend group can revel in the quality of this local vineyard.

What: Wine from Brandeberry Winery in Enon
Where to buy: Go in person to purchase wine from their location at 5118 W. Jackson Rd, Enon
More info: WebsiteFacebook | Call (937) 767-9103

Dorothy Lane Market is opening a Killer Brownie factory in Miamisburg.

icon to expand image

🎅🤤Dorothy Lane Killer Brownie and Brownie Bites

Often imitated, never duplicated. This is the only sweet you'll need to indulge in this holiday season.

What: Dorothy Lane Killer Brownie and Brownie Bites
Where to buy: shopdlm.com
More info: WebsiteFacebook | Call (937) 299-3561 (Oakwood), (937) 434-1294 (Washington Square), (937) 748-6800 (Springboro)

>> Whole Foods offers big discounts during ‘12 Days of Cheese’ event

An Elsa's Bad Juan margarita. Staff file photo by Jim Noelker.

icon to expand image

🎅🍹Elsa’s Bad Juan

Despite the fact that it’s called the Bad Juan, Daytonians have come to adore this famous margarita from Elsa’s. In fact, Elsa’s has been serving this potent drink since 1979, and now, with the purchase of a bottle of Bad Juan, you can drink and enjoy this famous Elsa’s staple from the comfort of your home.

What: Elsa's Bad Juan

Where to buy: Local grocery stores throughout the Miami Valley, Kroger, United Dairy Farmers, and various other locations throughout the Dayton area. For a full list of locations, head to badjuan.com.

More info: WebsiteFacebook

Charlynda Scales, founder of Mutt’s Sauce.

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

icon to expand image

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

🎅🌶️Mutt's Sauce

For those cooks in your life who are always in search of the next big spoonful of flavor, it might be time to introduce to Dayton’s favorite multi-purpose specialty sauce — Mutt’s. Crafted in Dayton, this sweet and tangy sauce packs just the right punch in every dish you make.

What: Mutt's Sauce

Where to buy: Available in surrounding Dorothy Lane Markets, Krogers, Dot's Market and online at muttssauce.com.

More info: WebsiteFacebook

🎅🌶️JuicyMelt Supreme Hot Sauce

Tracy and Jeffrey McElfresh of Kettering have released JuicyMelt Supreme Hot Sauce.  Varieties include Ruby Wizard (grapefruit habanero), OG Catalyst (orange ginger habanero), and All the Fun (white pepper peach).

Credit: JuicyMelt Supreme Hot Sauce

icon to expand image

Credit: JuicyMelt Supreme Hot Sauce

Attempting to find a gift for that special someone who always carries hot sauce in their bag? Look no further than local gem JuicyMelt Supreme Hot Sauce to fulfill their flavor needs.

What: JuicyMelt Supreme Hot Sauce

Where to buy: Available at Jungle Jims, Dot's Market, Arrow Wine & Spirits and online at juicymelt.com.

More info: WebsiteFacebook

Buckeyes from Winans

Credit: HANDOUT

icon to expand image

Credit: HANDOUT

🎅🍫Winans' Buckeyes

You really didn’t think that we would leave Ohio’s signature Buckeye off the list, did you? It’s the chocolate and peanut butter concoction that seems to show up at every gathering in the state of Ohio. It simply can’t be beat (especially when they’re made by local chocolatier Winans).

What: Buckeyes from Winans

Where to buy: Online at winanscandies.com

More info: WebsiteFacebook

The Ohio Bag from shopdlm.com. Photo from ShopDLM.com web site.

icon to expand image

🎅📦DLM’s “Ultimate Ohio Box”

And finally, if you’d like to almost perfectly capture the culinary culture here in Dayton, you simply can’t go wrong with Dorothy Lane Market’s “Ultimate Ohio Box,” filled to the brim with things like cans of Skyline Chili, and well, basically everything else on this list.

What: DLM's "Ultimate Ohio Box"

Where to buy: Online at dlmmailorder.com

More info: WebsiteFacebook

About the Authors