Bargain booze for Xmas

by Robert Powell on 10 December 2010  |  13 comments
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With Christmas almost upon us and millions around the country preparing to eat, drink and be merry - here's the lovemoney.com guide to getting your hands on some bargain booze for the festive season.

We Brits don’t half love a tipple at Christmas! According to research from mySupermarket we spend 13% of our weekly shopping budget on alcohol in December. That’s twice as much as the rest of the year!

The bad news is that the average cost of booze has also jumped by 13%.

So to help you save a few pounds this Christmas and still get suitably merry, here are my top tips for picking up some alcohol on the cheap...

Champagne and sparkly

Fancy a bit of fizz on Christmas Day or New Year's Eve?

Here’s a breakdown of the costs of champers and sparkly in various retailers:

£10 and under

• Andre Carpentier Champagne is £10 a bottle at Tesco – that’s a whopping £15 discount! The offer runs until the 4th January, so you can stock up for New Years!
• Codorniu cava is 50% off in Sainsbury’s at £5.99! Or if you’d rather Rosé, Tesco is offering over 50% off the Codorniu Rose, again £5.99.
• Oddbins has a Cavalier Blanc fizz at £6.75 and a Cava Torre for £8.99 – and if you buy six or more bottles you’ll save 25%. This offer also includes all still wines, ports and sherries. Oddbins are also offering 20% off if you buy two bottles of champers, although, obviously these bottles are touch pricier!

 £20 and under

• Andre Carpentier Rosé Champagne and Champagne De Vallois are half price at Tesco – that’s £13.99 a bottle.
• De Laurency Champagne in 50% off at Sainsbury’s - £13.49 a bottle. As is Etienne Dumont Champers – down from £27.99 to £13.99.
• Heidsieck Blue Top Champagne is £17 at Asda and over at Majestic Wine Jacquart Tradition Champers has £10 off – it’s now £15 a bottle, and Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne has £8 off at £17 a bottle.

£30 and under

• Moet & Chandon Non Vintage Champagne is £7 off at Tesco at the moment – it's £22.99 a bottle.
• Lanson Black Label is £8 off at Sainsbury’s – down to £21.49 and Veuve Clicquot is £28.49 a bottle.
• Majestic Wines have taken £10 off bottles of Bollinger Special Cuvee Champagne – they're now £28.

To get hold of some more advice on how to pick up discounts in the supermarket this Xmas read The best Xmas food bargains.

Wine

Asda are currently offering 3 for £10 on over 50 bottles of wine – so whether you’re a red, white or rosé drinker you’ll be sure to find something to suit your taste!

Tesco are also running a 3 for £10 offer across several wines including red and white bottles of First Cape, Lindemans, Blossom Hill, Kumala and JP Chenet (my personal favourite!).

As mentioned earlier, Oddbins will give you 25% off if you buy six or more bottles of wine, port or sherry. They have money off the Concha y Toro Chilean Sauvignon – now £5.49 as well as discounts on the Australian Gemtree Tadpole Shiraz (£7.99) and the Chilean Cono Sur Pinot Noir, now £5.99.

Sainsbury’s are running a 50% off offer on a large selection of wines until the 22nd December. You can pick up a South African Cape Bay Chardonnay or Rosé for £3.99 or an Australian Tasman Bay blend of Shiraz, Cab Sav and Merlot for £4.49.

For more tips on cutting your shopping bill head to Top tips to slash your weekly food bills.

Spirits

Asda have some good deals on spirits in the run to Christmas. There’s over £5 off Bombay Sapphire Gin – it’s now £18 for one litre. Also on the £18 deal are 70cl bottles of Courvoisier Cognac, Jack Daniels Whisky and Chivas Regal 12 year Scotch as well as litre bottles of Absolut Vodka.

Jameson whiskey has £3 off on Ocado – it’s £15 for a 700ml bottle. Sainsbury’s have taken money off bottles of Bells Whiskey until 14th December – one litre is now £12 and 70cl is £11.

Tesco are currently running a 2 for £25 deal on several litre and 70cl bottles of spirits including Bombay Sapphire, Bacardi Rum, Jack Daniels and Famous Grouse. But this offer ends on the 14th December, so you better be quick!

To find out about more Xmas shopping bargains read Uncover the secret Xmas shopping discounts.

Beer, Lager & Cider

You can pick up a 24 can party pack of Carlsberg for £15.99 or Carling for 17.99 at Bargain Booze. Or if you’re a cider drinker, 12 packs of Gaymers bottles are £9.99 and you can get 15 cans of Blackthorn for £8.99.

Sainsbury’s have a couple of good offers on Mexican and Peruvian lagers: an 11 pack of Corona is now £11 and Cusquena four packs are 2 for £7.

Bottles of Becks (12 pack), Cobra (12 pack), Grolsch (15 pack) and Magners Cider (6 pack) are on 2 for £15 at the Co-op and it’s 2 for £8 at Tesco on ales and lagers including Hobgoblin, Directors and Abbot Ale. But, again you’ll need to be quick to snap up this Tesco deal as it too finishes on the 14th.

Asda have a 3 for £18 deal on packs of lagers and ciders including Budweiser (15 bottles), Carling, Carlsbery and John Smith’s Extra Smooth (12 cans), Bulmers or Bulmers Pear Cider (8 bottles) and Guinness (10 cans).

Soft drinks

There are loads of deals in all the supermarkets on soft drinks for the kids and designated drivers this Christmas. Coca-cola currently has a large 3 for £3 deal in most of the shops on two litre bottles of coke of all varieties!

So there you have it, whatever your tipple this Christmas, you’re sure to find a bargain somewhere!

To compare prices on specific brands and types of alcohol it’s worth heading to mySupermarket.co.uk or if you’re a devoted wine drinker try their specific vino-store at wine.mysupermarket.co.uk.

But if you do decide to buy the festive booze a couple of weeks before Christmas it’s probably a good idea to hide it away until the big day – or you could find yourself down the supermarket again on Christmas Eve!

Your top tips

Have you seen any bargains in your local supermarket or offy? Let us know in the comment boxes below.

More: Make money from Christmas! Slash your food bills online