The holiday season is in high gear, with Christmas gatherings, office parties, white elephant exchanges and long shopping lists. While beer will undoubtedly help improve any of those holiday events, picking out gifts for the beer lovers on your list may require a bit more finesse. Whether for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus or another winter celebration, here are a few gift suggestions.
Beer for gifting
First of all, the gift of beer really is what the beer aficionado in your life wants. Luckily, many breweries go out of their way to make it easy for you to find something great. Start by looking for winter beers — they’re usually made especially for the holiday season and are only available for a limited time, so they make great gifts.
Other breweries make special packages for the holidays, often including branded glassware to match the beer. A number of Belgian breweries, known for having a unique glass for each beer, create gift boxes like this, and similar packages exist for British and German beers. This year, consider a Belgian beer tasting box from Van Steenberge, a beer importer, or a Lindemann’s lambic gift set with a tasting glass. The Belgian brands Duvel, D’Achouffe and Westmalle all have similar gift sets available this year.
Many stores also create their own variety packs, usually with nine to 12 bottles of different beers, giving people an opportunity to try a wide selection of beers without having to buy six-packs of each. Often they’re crafted with a theme in mind, like “Beers of the World.” So far this season, I’ve seen selections created by BevMo, Cost Plus World Market and Total Wine & More, but check your local beer store to see if there are others.
Beer books
While a gifted beer may be best, settling down with a beer and a good gifted beer book is a close second option, especially if you sit by a warm fireplace. That’s heaven, at least to me and many beer lovers. Here are a few great beer books published recently:
Jonny Garrett’s “The Meaning of Beer: How Our Pursuit of the Perfect Pint Built the World” (Hanover Square Press, $33) won Best Beer Book in the North American Guild of Beer Writers’ annual awards this year. It’s a fascinating look at how global history is intertwined with advances in beer-making.
The second-place winner was “Tasting Notes: The Art and Science of Pairing Beer With Music,” by Pete Brown (CAMRA Books, $24), but it may be the most interesting book published this year. Brown explores how to successfully pair music and beer so that the combination is better than the sum of its parts. The premise might sound like a stretch, but it’s backed by science and years of research and demonstrations. By the time you finish reading it, you’ll be a believer and will never look at beer — or music — in the same way.
Another title to consider is “Hidden Beers of Belgium” (Luster Publishing, $45), by Breandán Kearney, who’s well-known for his blog and podcast Belgian Smaak. It’s a lavishly illustrated look at Belgian breweries that are off the beaten path but deserve to be better known.
Locals will no doubt recognize Ace Cider, founded in Sebastopol by Jeffrey House in 1993. It was one of the first national hard ciders and continues to be popular today. House is now retired and recently published his story, “The Cider King: How I Ace’d It!” (American Book Publisher, $20). In it, he details his journey in creating the first craft cider to be sold and distributed nationwide.
More ideas
An overlooked aspect of enjoying beer is the glass you drink it from. To really appreciate the beer, having the right glass is almost as important as what’s in the glass. Having a variety of different glasses ready for whatever beer you open is an important part of the beer-drinking experience. So a high-quality set of beer glasses can make an ideal gift. Several companies specialize in glassware for beer, such as Riedel, Rastal and Spiegelau. Plus, many breweries offer glasses with their logos printed on the side.
There are also beer-related items that make great stocking stuffers, such as beer bread mixes, chocolates made with Guinness and other beers, and heavy-duty openers. If your beer lover has a favorite brewery, check out its website. Many offer merchandise, such as shirts, hats and all manner of goodies emblazoned with the brewery’s logo. Brewery fans love showing off their favorites, so these also make great gifts.
Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.