to suggest that MIL might like to bring her own brandy at Christmas?

[rara67]

Or should we just offer what we have in the cupboard and when it runs out offer an alternative? I wouldn't buy cigarettes or drugs for any other house guests who had a dependency. There will be plenty of good wine and we have a selection of thinks like Cointreau and Tia Maria. I am hoping that because she is with us (well, I think it's mainly DH) she wont feel the need to start on a very large brandy at 6pm each night. A long back story involving falls and numerous hospital visits.

Yep at 81 she can get as drunk as she likes IMO

youareallbonkers cheers to 10am on Christmas day- Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a morning Buck's Fizz.

My DP's Grannie is partial to Pernod and lemonade (each to their own....) so there'll definitely be a bottle in for her, although she'll probably have about three inches of it and it'll languish at the back of the cupboard until the end of days.

If your MIL is going to be drinking anyway, I would definitely have some brandy for her, if that's what she likes to drink.

Agree with everyone else, buy her some brandy.
She may not have that many more Christmas's and whilst it sounds as if she might be able to function a bit better without the brandy, you're not going to change her at this age.

rara thank you! Very impressed with myself

My MIL brings a bottle of spirits stashed in her bag ...

She probably asks for brandy as it will be a fresh bottle.

The Tia Maria and Cointreau no doubt being last years.

Not daft is she?

Wow, can't believe there is someone who thinks 6pm at Xmas is an early start! I'm with the other posters who start with the bucks fizz at 10am.
I think its rather cruel to even consider depriving an 81 year old of what must be one of the few pleasures left to her. And who on earth wants to drink a musty bottle of cointreau that has probably been in the cupboard for years!
Get her the brandy, all enjoy yourselves and be there to help her get around if she's unsteady on her feet

I imagined that the problem was that she starts at 6 pm every night, not just at Christmas! And however old someone is, spending an evening with a drunk alcoholic isn't always pleasant.

I'd buy a bottle in for her but then I always have brandy for baking.

I make sure to get extra red wine in for PIL -we don't really drink ourselves. First time they came for Christmas I was pleased I'd got a bottle of red in for Christmas. They drank it on Christmas Eve! Luckily DH had bought a bottle (because it had an amusing label) as a present so they drank that on Christmas Day. When MIL realised we had no more on Boxing Day she went out to buy some more!

Last year we made sure to have lots in!

ok different dillemma, if guests come for dinner and bring wine, do you just offer wine to drink? we had guests who helped us with a bottle of gin last time they came but we were hoping not to crack open the xmas gin this weekend so were only going to offer wine. dh says if they want gin they can bring their own.

Hell, if I'm still here at 81 I'd like the chance to get pissed with the drink of my choice .
However, for the sake of my dcs , it would probably be better if I wasn't around at that age!!

OP Buy a bottle, decant 1/2...replace with water.

Stepaway, same principals apply. If I knew that gin was the choice of drink of my guests then I'd buy some in.
If it's really expensive stuff I'd buy half a bottle or buy something that would be deemed as acceptable i.e. Gordons rather than Tanqueray, but not own brand.

Either that or I'd be planning on serving them the Christmas stuff in the hope that they will bring their own like they did the time before.

Disclaimer - I know nothing about Gin !