Barware
[Next Level Shiz]
If buying beers themselves are too risky, outside your comfort zone or even amateur hour for you as a shopper and you know somebody who's taken to the lockdown trend of building a garden pub/beer shed/beer room/bar area/designated drinking spot, hopefully this second part around barware suggestions will be the right fit for you. This will hopefully also be of help for you if you already know the beer to get but are just looking for something small and somewhat inexpensive to go as an accompaniment with the first suggestion up being glassware.
Anybody that tells you that you can have too many glasses is a liar and you don't need that negativity in your life. They obviously doesn't understand the nuance of drinking a particular beer out of a correctly branded glass. Can you even post your pictures on the various beer forums if you don't have your drink in the correct style and/or brand of glass? What about expired glassware, eh!? For those of you that are not within the craft community and have found yourself here by mistake or persuasion, I'll give you a hint: the answer is almost always "no". Examples being - Can you have enough glassware? No! Can you drink out of a glass that is incorrectly branded? Absolutely not!
As mentioned in part 1, when you order gift sets from certain breweries, they may come with branded glassware, but you can also order them separately from said breweries without the beers. There are numerous types of glass styles you can choose from and - for people not used to purchasing glassware - they do tend to be around the £5 price point (give or take a few quid depending on the brewery/style).
My personal favourite style is the Teku because it makes me feel fancy as fuck, but I like to change things up depending on what and who I'm drinking.... I won't share my entire glass collection as it'll potentially just make me look sad, but I'll share a few of my favourites just to help give guidance to those that might otherwise be clueless (which is totally fine - I'm clueless at the best of times too). I've tried to break it down so that even those outside the scene have a fighting chance (so apologies if anything sounds condescending).
While I have a fairly large collection of tekus that I love, my favourite hands down are probably the ones from Three Hills. The one on the left is super thick and sturdy and the one on the right just looks luxurious (picked up directly from The Outpost on the Bermondsey Beer Mile location).
In reality, while this is just a gin balloon glass, it was called a "goblet" so I'm sticking to that name. This one came from Staggeringly Good quite a while ago, but I had a look thinking it was long gone and was surprised to find it's still there as they seem to have brought it back! :D They have some other really cool glassware as well - including the wrecker glass that you can get in this special "Wreckmas" gift set.
For those you may know who enjoy both beer and wine, some breweries do wine-shaped glasses called Electra glasses. Again, they make me feel just as fancy as a teku, but also double up for when guests come around and are in need of a wine drinking vessel. The one of the left is from Fallen Acorn and the one on the right was from Phantom Brew Co [no glasses available from Phantom at the moment via the website, but if you're in or nearby Reading and can pop into the brewery, there may be some for sale as well as cans not listed on the website for takeaway].
No idea what you'd call this style of glass [I couldn't find any that were the exact same in my google search] but it's labelled as a goblet on Merakai's website and I do absolutely adore it. A. because it's different, B. because it looks class, and C. because it's also fairly sturdy.
Craft master glasses [I feel like] are a staple. While many people enjoy their Cloudwater craft master - myself included - I do prefer the colours and design on my Vault City one.
The back left is a tubo glass from S43 in collaboration with The Craft Diaries [who mainly focus on barware so definitely worth checking them out]. While they don't have this one available anymore, they do have another one with a cool fish design on it that I nearly almost bought myself. The back right is my glass from my Siren Caribbean Chocolate Cake gift set. Again, I'm unsure what it's official name is, but it's shorter than the tubo, but just as stubby [maybe just a shoerter serving tubo?]. They seem to be out of stock of this one, but they do have the Project Barrista glass of the same style still in stock [which I also have and is just as good quality]. The one in the front was the 1/3rd pint glass from Heist Brew Co. It's not as practical to drink from, but it's fun and makes for some nice photos [if you're buying for somebody that loves taking pics of their beers like I do]. I love the Heist logo in general and the font they use, so you can't go wrong with any of their glasses, to be honest [which you'll also find in that link]...
I've got my various snifter-style glasses. It's hard to tell from the photo but they are slightly different sizes and vary a tad in shape, but they all allow for easy swirling and sniffing all the same. The front-most on the left and smallest in stature is the one from Emperor's Brewery [etsy shop] - a must have for the stout aficionados. Next one that's further back and to the right is from Belgian-style but London-based brewers, Solvay Society. The one in the very back and - arguably - the biggest is Boutilliers and I had to speak to somebody within the brewery to get hands on this...sorry. If you are nearby, however, it might be worth paying them a visit if you're dead set on one of theirs to see if there's any available for sale. I have found that when I visit places in general, you can always ask to buy the glassware if they aren't selling them already. While it might not always be a yes, if you don't ask, you definitely won't get so it never hurts.
Nearing the end of the line, we have some of my 2/3rd Pint glasses. I've also seen them called "tumblers" and other various things but they sort of look like a bigger, wider version of a tulip glass, but without the stem. I would say they tend to be the most common style being sold and a majority of breweries tend to have them at an absolute minimum. The left side is from Wild Weather Ales and the right side is from Elusive Brewing [a brilliant brewery to check out for somebody that enjoys 8-bit art and old school gaming].
To finish off the "glass" section, I'll also just call out the joy of taster glasses. They come in all shapes/styles, but are smaller than the originals and make it perfect for [obviously] tasting. I'd recommend this specifically for the type of drinker who enjoys sharing their spoils with others or has any other reason why they may prefer smaller glasses [E.G. if you're like me and Joanne and you only drink taster-sizes on a podcast]. I'd also recommend getting that person more than 1 so they have enough to do "the sharing". I personally like Cloudwater's because of the diversity [and the mini craft master is adorable]. You can buy them individually, but the set with both as well as the full-sized craft master is good value for money.
Just before moving on from the glassware, I'll also add the link for the Craft Diaries - mentioned further above - because they are real crowd pleasers in the craft beer glass game with some really epic art you can drink from. While pulling website links, I also discovered this bangin' deal from Anspach & Hobday for 6 x glasses [2 x 3 different glasses], which works perfectly if buying for a craft couple as it's a 2-for-1.
It's also worth calling out the obvious that there are other glass-styles and options that I didn't call out - such as a flight board - either because I don't have a favourite/exciting one or I don't have it full stop [like with the flight]. I've always wanted one from Fierce Beer or for Phantom to sell the one they use in at their taproom, but neither appear to be selling them at present, sadly! You can just type in "beer flight board" on Etsy - however - and you'll be overloaded with options from all price points [some more elaborate than others, like some with a section for snacks!].
Outside of glasses and geared especially towards the giftee with their special drinking setup, you can also get items such as....
Bottle Blades / Bottle Openers. Can go branded or just a funky design - like my "rustic mermaid".
Bar Mats / Coasters. If you're ordering from a brewery, you can also try to ask them for the cardboard branded mats and they will usually send them or charge a small fee to include them. The two on the left were purchased - one I have a custom photo on and the other is just slate - and the one on the right [as you can tell from the sloppiness] was me making practising resin work for the first time. You can probably find things like this [but better quality due to experience lol] on Etsy.
Drink tray to carry drinks if entertaining guests regularly [a lot easier than multiple runs to and from the fridge]. I got mine years ago from But Is It Art? in Reading, though you can go on Etsy for custom stuff or just do a google.
Bar runners. I use mine - as you can see - for resting some of my glasses on, particularly after cleaning. But, it'll be even more useful for those with an actual home bar. I had one from Tiny Rebel I got a few years back [good if they're a Tiny Rebel fan] but updated to the second one from Siren. Not many breweries selling them - especially craft ones - but can get custom ones made on sites like Etsy. You can also try to find tap handles if you know somebody that has the right set-up but you don't tend to find craft options [and they certainly aren't cheap].
Nobody likes filthy, dirty, rank glassware. If you're buying somebody a glass, help them avoid the dirty glass mafia by getting them some cleaning supplies. I prefer Bar Keeper's Friend [can get it from a standard grocery store or Amazon] and some microfibre sponges [mine are from Amazon]. Makes for a cheap and easy add-on present and useful for more than just beer.
While this is not an exhaustive list of prospective barware themed items, hopefully you can find something of use you maybe hadn't thought of before - even if it might've seemed obvious in hindsight. If not, perhaps part 3 - apparel - might be more up your street?
**Please note that I was not approached or offered anything above in trade for being mentioned. This is all just based on personal experience and what I - myself - have bought or would recommend.**
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