Beer Lover’s Christmas Gift Guide

Whenever the holiday season rolls around, you know that incessant gift-giving isn’t far behind. While it’s certainly easier to just toss an Amazon gift card into a hastily-scribbled Christmas card, that singular connection between gift-giver and gift-receiver is lost when the gift is generic and utilitarian.

So this holiday season, get the beer connoisseur in your life something special: a gift that says “I care about you, and I know you love beer. A lot.”

Here are 12 gift ideas (for each “Day of Christmas”) to get that holiday magnanimity revved up for the beer lover in your life.

Twelve Drummers Drumming

Have you ever looked at a bottle of beer and thought, “Wow, what beautiful artwork. It’s a shame I have to recycle it.” Well, those days are over when you use the Kinkajou Bottle Cutter.

For any bottles with lasered-on artwork, simply insert the bottle into the Kinkajou, tighten it, then slowly revolve the device around where you want to cut. After a quick sandpaper rub (and a wash) your bottle is repurposed into attractive glassware… and ready for another round.

This product also provides beer lovers with another way to dispose of their used bottles (of which they have hundreds [thousands?] of on a yearly basis).

Eleven Pipers Piping

Speaking of beautiful beer artwork, Harvey Shepard’s Oh Beautiful Beer book is an excellent extension of his award-winning blog.

Featuring gorgeous beer labels and artwork from around the globe, Harvey’s hardcover coffee table (or beer table) book showcases well over 400 images of cans, bottles and growlers with some of the most stunning beer label artwork ever created.

Ten Lords a-Leaping

Many breweries come up with nifty box sets for the holidays and Cooperstown’s Brewery Ommegang is no different.

The brewery’s line of Game-of-Thrones-licensed beers are certainly popular with fans of the series, but some viewers/drinkers were unaware of the craft beer tie-ins when the first beer, Iron Throne, was released ahead of the Season 3 premiere in March of 2013.

Now Game of Thrones and Ommegang fans get a second chance at the first two beers released in the series, Iron Throne and Take the Black Stout. Iron Throne is a delicate blonde ale brewed with Noble hops and Grains of Paradise and Take the Black is a spicy Imperial Stout – perfectly befitting the crows of the Night’s Watch.

Nine Ladies Dancing

Wood-aged beers are awesome. In fact, many of the most sought after brews in existence are barrel-aged imperial stouts. With the Paglione Oak Bottle, you can imbue any beverage you drink with the smoky, woody flavor of a barrel.

The Oak Bottle recently cleared its Kickstarter goal by a muscular $80,000, and it couldn’t be simpler to use. You pour your favorite beverage into the Oak Bottle, let it sit for 24-48 hours and voila! It imparts its oaky flavor into whatever drink you poured into it. Now that’s good wood.

Eight Maids a-Milking

Some wardrobe options and clothing accessories are made for hiding beer. Jackets? Their numerous pockets are perfect crannies for surreptitious swilling. Women’s handbags? Even though she can’t find anything in there, you know exactly where you hid that spare brewski.

However, heading into the office with a hidden beer can be a taxing endeavor. Why not hide it in plain sight with The Beer Tie!

While its website mentions tailgates, barbecues and sporting events as the perfect venues for The Beer Tie, donning one on the job might be the perfect use for it. A blend of both style and substance, The Beer Tie has something for every tie-wearing beer fanatic.

Seven Swans a-Swimming

Everybody loves brackets. No, I’m not talking about the blocky piece of punctuation, but rather the stylish and hugely popular way of organizing tournaments. The 64-entrant bracket has been most successfully employed by NCAA Basketball’s March Madness tournament, but what if there was a fun way to transfer this extravaganza to drinking and rating beer?

Luckily for you, there is! The Brew Bracket (whose slogan “Two Hands. Two Tasting Glasses” pretty much sums up their ethos) was recently kicked on Kickstarter and units should begin shipping in December – just in time for the holidays.

The Bracket comes complete with everything you’ll need to start your own craft beer tasting bracket party, including pitchers, tasting glasses and a helpful “host guide” for those pioneering drinkers who want to find the best beer via good old-fashioned competition.

Six Geese a-Laying

Sometimes you need something solid to pair with that liquid gold you’re guzzling. While pairing food with beer has become an increasingly technical (and delectable) endeavor, there is one staple that will always go well with your favorite pint: pretzels.

Knotty Pretzels is based in Marietta, GA and features two extremely delightful flavors: Zesty Italian and, my personal favorite, Hot Wings. While other, lesser pretzel makers would rely on fake chemicals and additives, Knotty Pretzels uses natural spices and flavors almost exclusively.

The Hot Wings version is outrageously flavorful, with a perfect blend of sweet heat and zesty ranch sauce flavor. Both flavors are available in 6-packs as well as mammoth 15-lb. party bags.

“He’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna found out who’s Knotty or nice…”

Five Golden Rings

Delaware’s Dogfish Head Craft Brewing has an extremely robust “store” section on their website, with many interesting beer-themed items available for purchase including posters, clothing and edible goodies along with lots of other breweriana.

One of the most interesting products, however, is a miniature replica of Sam Calagione’s famed Randall the Enamel Animal called Randall Jr.

Instead of the large, rather unwieldy contraption that the original Randall is, Randall Jr. is no bigger than a thermos and allows you to flavor any can or bottle of beer with whatever adjuncts you want to. Simply twist off the top and filter, pour in the beer, then add whatever you’d like. It’s that easy!

Four Calling Birds

Another product that’s available at Dogfish Head’s store is all-natural soap made with that brewery’s flagship 60-Minute IPA. Numerous other breweries make beer soap, but there’s one company that focuses solely on making you clean with some of your favorite brews: fittingly called The Beer Soap Co.

Their website is loaded with beery soap options, including a number of fruit beer, stout, and seasonal release beer soaps. Even less flavorful options such as pilsners and lagers are given the sudsy treatment.

Three French Hens

Another thing that craft beer aficionados have no limit of are bottle caps. Some people decorate tables or mirrors with them. Others, sadly, just throw them away. The folks at craftbeerhound.com have an elegant solution that’s both attractive and space-saving.

Their beer cap collector boxes are available in various versions, mostly with different designs on the front with some custom options available for displaying in your man cave, bar or restaurant.

Since they hold well over 1,500 caps, you’ll definitely be saving a lot of space… and drinking a lot of beer in order to fill it up!

Two Turtle Doves

There are many monthly craft beer clubs out there. Some of them have fallen by the wayside as craft beer has moved ever further into the public consciousness, and many interesting beer options have become readily available at your local grocery store.

One craft beer club still worth its weight in barley, hops, malt and yeast is the Original Craft Beer Club. The club provides 12 bottles of four different styles every month, mostly with a regional theme.

With beer trading more popular than ever, join a club where you don’t have to give up any beers on your end to get 12 great brews a month!

…And a Partridge In a Pear Tree

Who doesn’t love some shameless self-promotion? Another great gift for that craft beer lover in your life is a subscription to The Beer Connoisseur’s brand new Premium Web Magazine.

It’s just like the print magazine that you knew and loved, but with more content, more expert beer reviews and more, well, everything!

With our revamped BC Store, you can purchase new subscriptions as gifts with ease.

So go out there and get some beer-themed gifts for the craft beer enthusiast in your life, and if you still just want to give them a gift card and be done with it, make sure it’s for a place that sells good beer!

Happy Holidays!