11 Gift Ideas for the Passionate Beer Fan
Most months of the year, buying a gift for a beer lover is a hop-scented breeze. All you have to do is bend elbows alongside them at a bar and say, "The next round is on me." The holiday season is a wee bit harder. You need to buy a gift that speaks to a beer fan's passion, without coming off as utterly cheeseball. Can I interest you in a beer helmet? I thought not. Instead, why not buy a tote bag made from a repurposed malt sack, the world's best glassware, or pickles brined in a perfect IPA? Here are 11 gifts that beer-adoring loved ones wouldn't mind unwrapping.
Kaufman Mercantile1/11Bottle Openers
My fridge is filled with high-test imperial IPAs and barley wines that, if I were to drink an entire bottle, would deep-six my sobriety. So I can savor a single glass without my beer from going flat, I rely on this ingenious Hermetus bottle opener ($9) equipped with a Ziplock-tight seal. It’ll keep my beer bubbly till tomorrow eve. For a more bespoke take on opening a beer, grab Good Beer Hunting’s bronze-cast “Beer Peen” hammer ($55), which is modeled after an antique ball-peen hammer. ____
Riedel2/11Glassware
The shaker pint, that straight-walled cylinder used by bars everywhere, is terrible for serving beer. The glassware doesn't help a beer retain its fluffy head, or capture and retain volatile aromatics. Instead, get the TeKu ($13), a stemmed tulip suited for serving everything from saisons to sour beers. Just like stouts? Try Spiegelau’s stout glass ($25 for two), which was designed in conjunction with Rogue and Left Hand. As an extra stocking stuffer, grab a six-pack of Left Hand’s luscious Milk Stout ($12).
Dogfish Head3/11Beer-Infused Food
Who says you can’t drink your beer and eat it too? Pennsylvania’s Victory offers a smorgasbord of beer-infused food including the pilsner-packed Pasta alla Prima ($5.50), stout-infused Punch Drunk Hot Sauce ($6), and the Victorious B.I.G. jerky made with Storm King Stout ($8, all store.victorybeer.com). Dogfish Head sells Brooklyn Brine Pickles made with its 60 Minute IPA and Cascade hops ($8), while the IPA and a measure of brown ale go into the Hard Tack Chowder ($4, both dogfish.com). ____ For dessert, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams incorporates Lindemans Cassis lambic ____ into its Black Currant Lambic Sorbet ($12). Want to cook your own beer-infused feast? John Holl's The American Craft Beer Cookbook ($14.51) is a sure bet.
Brooklyn Brewshop4/11Homebrew Kits
The sole thing better than drinking beer is making your own. Brooklyn Brew Shop’s beginner-friendly beer-making kit includes everything you need to cook your first batch, featuring crowd-pleasing styles such as the citrusy Everyday IPA and zippy Jalapeño Saison (both $40). Have more money than time? Add ingredients to the automated PicoBrew Zymatic ($1,799), hit brew, and the machine will make mistake-free beer.
Palgrave Macmillan Trade5/11Books
There’s a wealth of books to help you goose your craft-beer IQ, as well as understand how innovative Americans altered the brewing landscape. A fine primer is The Craft Beer Revolution: How a Band of Microbrewers Is Transforming the World’s Favorite Drink ($17), from Brooklyn Brewery cofounder Steve Hindy. Patrick Dawson’s Vintage Beer ($12.41) provides expert advice on aging beer, while Michael Tonsmeire schools you on sour brews in American Sour Beers: Innovative Techniques for Mixed Fermentations ($12.62). Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my latest book, The Complete Beer Course ($13).
Beer of the Month Club6/11Beer By Mail
With more than 3,200 breweries in America, picking the perfect IPA, stout, or saison is trickier than ever. Instead of randomly plucking a bottle or two, leave the selection to experts. Each month, theRare Beer Club($49 a month for two bottles) delivers carefully plucked bottles from cultish brewers such as Brouwerij Dilewyns, Jolly Pumpkin, and Mikkeller. Spot-on tasting notes and suggested pairings ensure that the beers will headline any dinner party. Also worthy are the gift packs from of-the-moment Oregon brewers. My picks areNinkasi($15) orBase Camp($28).
Green-Sew7/11Recycled Bags
To ferry goodies from the grocery or beer store, grab a tote bag repurposed from empty malt bags. Green-Sew Bags offers a variety of different totes ($22), while Spent Planet Fermentation’s bags are made from sacks that contained Germany’s Weyermann malt ($10). For a more fashionable approach to upcycling, Rewilder salvages cloth used to filter hops and malt, stitching then into handsome bags ($32–$248) with handles hewn from old climbing rope.
Brooklyn Brewery8/11Beer Soap
To wash away last night’s indiscretions, I like a hot shower and loads of soap. Beer? That can wait. Or that used to be the case. Lately, breweries have blurred the a.m. and p.m. with beer soap. Brooklyn Brewery’s cleansers ($10) contain its eponymous lager, while Dogfish Head utilizes 60 Minute IPA, ground hops, and barley in its exfoliating bar ($5). Favor stouts? Breckenridge dumps ground barley and its 72 Imperial Chocolate Stout into its soap ($6), while Craftsman Soap Company uses Golden Road’s hefeweizen, brown ale, and two IPAs in its four-pack gift set ($22).
33 Books9/11Beer-Tasting Books
To help me remember what I consumed during epic beer-sampling sessions, I like to take notes with the compact 33 Bottles of Beer ($5), which has an easy-to-use flavor wheel that makes charting a brew’s body, bitterness, and flavor a breeze. Another option is the Little Book of Beer ($4), which offers tips on tasting beer and evaluating flavors and aromas.
Popchart Labs10/11Beer-Themed Posters
In lieu of displaying prized empty bottles, a decorating scheme best left to college dorms, might I suggest a more elegant way to broadcast one’s affinity for beer? For that, seek out the elegant, information-dense posters from Pop Chart Lab. Breweries of the United States ($38) provides a topographical survey of America’s brewing landscape, while the Magnificent Multitude of Beer ($90) examines the interlocking nature of different beer styles.
Brewershirts11/11Beer T-Shirts
Too often, beer-themed tees are as tasteful as a Mickey’s malt liquor. Happily, designers have started ditching frat-boy theatrics and have rolled out quirky-cool tees. A few personal favorites include the imbibing octopus ($20), beer-drinking lobster ($20), and antler-topped “beer” ($15)—that’d be a bear deer. Equally excellent are Pretty Things' fresh sweatshirts ($45) and T-shirts ($20), a band-inspired tee listing beer's core ingredients ($20), and this Ahab-worthy shirt ($20) that's ideal for beer obsessives forever hunting rare white whales. Can't choose? Grab a membership to the Beer T-Shirt Club ($20 monthly).
