If parts 1 through 4 brought you no tidings of comfort and joy, I proudly present to you part 5, which covers "all the rest" - including general ideas that'll hopefully spark your own creativity as well as allow me to shout out some other small, independent businesses that could really use your custom after the turbulent few years.
I'll try to "blitzen" right through the rest now as I'm running out of Christmas puns, starting with...
Miscellaneous Items or Thematic Ideas
[For the Items that don't quite fit anywhere Else...]
Who doesn't love warm and inviting aromas that a candle can bring - much in the same way a full and complex scent from beer can? While I'm sure you can find many beer candle sellers on Etsy, I can personally vouch for this one! Life in the Old Can I originally found for sale at a venue nearby to me, but can also be purchased via their Etsy shop. The one on the right is actually a citronella one I bought back towards the end of summer, but have been saving it for sitting outside with guests [too nice to waste on just me and the other half]. There's a can for every occasion and preference [including some in the Christmas Brew York cans]. To help keep things that much more sustainable, the cans used are all upcycled and the owner is a genuinely good person.
Beer koozies are very American, so the Americans reading this will likely have a much easier time finding these than those in the UK. They do make a decent stocking stuffer - if you do that type of thing. You can get custom printed ones or even silly ones on Etsy, Amazon, Zazzle, etc. I don't use mine often as I tend to drink from the glass - though if you have a can-shaped glass like I do, it still works. But I do prefer to use my Shipyard koozie from the US or my Siren Koozie which you can buy here when I do use them [typically for the irony and fun]. Again, this was also something you could get as a perk on the Werewolf Beer kickstarter (I went for the t-shirt vs the koozie), but something to keep eyes out for in the coming weeks if you either collect koozies yourself or know somebody who does. I can't find any other craft websites with them at the moment outside Siren, but I know I've seen them in the past and I haven't searched too many just now so you might stumble across them yourself. You can get one from Pints and Panels though.
This was sent to me from a friend as a gift [thank you Helen, you absolute babe!] and it's a "Beer & Honey" Shampoo Bar from Rather Lather - made with actual beer. A pretty damn good gift, in my opinion, and something I'm sure others with hair washing needs will enjoy. Again, could be another stocking stuffer or just something for a Secret Santa with a lower value budget without the lower budget feel.
Beer and Board games - for me - is always a winning combination! If you have a gamer in your life (it could work with video games as well), it can be pretty fun to get thematic and match board games to beer. If you want to give somebody something fun to last all year long - especially when it's too cold to want to leave the house - definitely worth considering getting a board game and finding a beer or two that matches in some capacity. The difficulty is that gaming and beer tend to both, independently, be expensive hobbies, so these may not end up being the cheapest route to present success, but they're definitely pretty fun if you have the budget to spend for that special someone. The three in particular I have showcased above are Happy Little Accidents [Bob Ross game] - currently £19 on Zatu - paired with S43's Happy Little Accidents - £2.50 per can; Azul - £15.99 just now, which is an absolute steal compared to what I paid for it - paired with Polly's Patternist - was around the £5-6 point mark but is now out of stock everywhere as it's a bit older; Downfall of Pompeii - £veryfuckingexpensiveandhardtofindnow - with Dingbat Beer's Etna - also out of stock on their website.
The previous 3 were pairings I had done over the last year, but for a few more recent bits of inspiration, I've also just thrown together the 3 above. They are: Deep Sea Adventure [though I'm a bit dubious of this particular link as this is an OINK! game and not a Big Potato game...] - £12.39 - paired with Phantom's Flood - £20 for a 6-pack [but I believe you can buy singles at the actual taproom if not from an indie bottle shop]; the Home Alone Game - currently cannot find and was purchased originally in the US [don't worry, you're not missing much and could easily match with the DVD set, POP figure or something else Home Alone themed instead] - paired with a Phantom/Hive collaboration Wet Bandits - £4.40 [available directly from The Hive if you live in Berkshire area]; and The Oregon Trail Card Game - £36.50 - paired with Elusive's Tornado Valley - £4.85 - though I normally pair directly with the award winning Oregon Trail [I just didn't have any cans left]. To be honest - I wouldn't pay £36.50 for the game, but in terms of themes, it's obviously a dead ringer. Most Elusive beers you'll be able to easily pair with something gaming related though as it's just the nature of the theme of the brewery.
Some of these are obviously not Ideal due to price point or availability [or both], but they're here to to serve as inspiration. The same also works for video games and beers, films and beers, books and beers, etc. I personally find this type of matching challenge fun and will more than happily assist if you're struggling and want some help. Again - feel free to message me here or on my instagram for help pairing suggestions. I have loads more and have no issues sharing because sharing is caring :D
For just a beer-themed game that's cheap and cheerful, you can go with the Brew Crafters travel card game for £6.79 or - if you want to spend a bit more and you know it's for somebody well-versed in strategic board gaming vs. casual card gaming - you can go with the full fat, Brew Crafters board game at nearly £60.
Regardless, if board games is your chosen route and you live in the UK, make sure to use Boardgameprices.co.uk to ensure you're getting the best price possible. It'll search all the websites so you don't have to.
To get more abstract but stay along the same lines as beer and book/boardgame/film pairings, to quickly run through some more hobby pairings...
If they consider themselves an amateur chef or baker or - like my last blog (part 4: consumables) - they just enjoy food, you can always make pairings there. Examples being:
Getting 2 x a beer - 1 and a bit to drink and the rest to go into the recipe as well as either ingredients or a useful utensil. Look at the flavour ingredients to see what might work best. The lime fruited gose went perfectly when making carnitas while stouts are a good shout for baking chocolatey confections.
Getting a beer that just fits the theme of a food you know the receiver enjoys (either in name or style) and something to accompany it is also a viable option. Everybody seems to own a pizza oven now (guilty) so why not a pizza themed beer with a posh topping (like the properoni pictured or some pizza dough mix). You could also pair with a useful items like a pizza pan or stone. If tacos are more their speed, try something like S43s Taco cat with some hilarious (but expensive) dinosaur taco holders (normal taco holders or some fancy ingredients like hot sauce and cheese also do the job). For those that like ice cream, you can't go wrong with Cold Stone Cream Austin from Top Rope with an ice cream cone-shaped glass (i have these and they are fun) and sundae toppings.
Vinyl collector or overall music junky? There's never a shortage of music-inspired beers. Feeling This from Phantom Brewing is usually always in stock and Leviathan Brewing releases many music (specifically more metal/harder rock) inspired brews.
As I've already said, I love getting super thematic so please do reach out if you need help or inspiration with some more specific hobbies or interests! I love the challenge.
Another quick-win option if you're buying from somebody who has a regular shop or brewery they frequent could be a growler. You tend to get 1 or 2 litre options. Mine is a 2 litre and is metal, but they can also be glass. It's really good quality and I know a lot of breweries and bottle shops offer the same one, just branded with their own logo. For those that have never seen one before, it allows the owner of said item to have the brewery/pub/bottleshop fill it with something fresh from tap for takeaway so it can be enjoyed at home. I know for a fact that Brew York offers the same style with their branding on it [as well as other goodies that touch upon multiple parts of this gift exploration].
Beer artwork is also a potential gift. I mentioned the Craft Beer Diaries on an earlier part, but they also have wall wart listed in their shop. One of my favourite cartoon styles of art is from Pints and Panels. Outside of beer koozies, they sell other merch as well as artwork - though the shop is in the US so may not be the most practical for UK shoppers.
If your gift receiver likes beers but also spirits or non-alcoholic alternatives that don't compromise on flavours, consider getting other hopped products. There's Hop Tonic from Square Root, which'll be a good mixer for spirits or fully non-alcholic but non-compromising "sodas" from Cloudwater [though could also be used as a mixer if you're thinking creatively enough]. If they were slightly cheaper and more accessible, I would probably drink them multiple times a week, which speaks to how nice they are [though if they were cheaper, they would also probably drop in quality].
There is also a whole metric fuckton of craft beer books. Happy to make some suggestions, but the best and hottest ones I've discovered over the last two years were A Year in Beer by Jonny Garrett, Craft Beer: An Argument and Beer By Design - both by Pete Brown, Modern British Beer by Matthew Curtis, Beer: Taste the Evolution in 50 Styles by Natalya Watson [BeerwithNat on insta], Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher for those wanting to get some studying in AND Pints and Panels has a book you can preorder :) There are plenty more and then some. I linked to Amazon just for ease, but would be more preferable to buy indie if possible.
I will also just go on to say that I can't narrow down to any specific item here on Duration Brewery's website. They have literally ALL the bases covered - stationary, homewares, health/beauty...everythanngggg. I'm not going to bother calling anything in particular out, just share the shopping area of the website as a whole and wish your wallet good luck. Particularly good if you know somebody into Yoga or stationary, but I also never envisioned brewery pillows being a thing. I'm in the best kind of awe there is.
For those that are wanting to be charitable, you can always invest on kickstarter or crowdfunder for beery causes [or keep eyes out for breweries selling shares]. As an example - the one I have an eye on just now - is female owned and operated brewery in Rwanda called Kweza that's aiming to keep traditional African brewing alive and currently live on Indiegogo. I'm sure there are also plenty more funding opportunities as well that may speak more directly to the receiver of your gift or you could make a charity donation in their name to a hospitality charity wherever in the world you're located. If you want to accomplish both, you can find beers that are also giving back to charity for every purchase you make. The latest one I personally have supported is F%&K Cancer with money being donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust - full details here. There are a lot of other breweries that have also done charity beers in past and present - we covered quite a few of them in our "charity beer episode" of our podcast (episode 11 from a year ago now - so maybe we're due an update??).
And, if you're totally stumped, there's always stickers, buttons, magnets and patches.. all the little bits and bobs that are lower price points that work for stocking stuffers, add-ons, or just for yourself to jazz up your desk or drink fridge. No link to provide here really as they are mostly everywhere. And failing even that, you can check out Etsy for small artists and creators. You can get things like jewellery with beer-themes and many more, just do a search in Etsy and fall down the rabbit hole.
The Gift of Experience
[When all else fails, do the doing.]
We've reached the end of our tour during this most wonderful time of the year - or so they tell me. All we can do is look towards the future and part of that is getting out there and DO.... Which brings me to the end of the end: the gift of experiences.
Last year, I won 2 x copies of the London Beer Passport for 2021. It gave me breweries to check out that I hadn't previously heard of or thought to visit, which caused more beer exploration in the city than I might've chosen to do without. I'm strongly considering buying one when I'm back from the US for the new year as the 2022 passport is out now for pre-order. If the person you're gifting is nearby to, can easily get to, or frequently travelling into London, it could be a really unique and interesting gift. If you're elsewhere in the world - especially in the US - I know certain cities/states have passports as well you could pick up [though I don't know much about them admittedly]. If you're feeling extra crafty and you know your way around the craft beer destinations [or have no reservations about doing a bit of research], you could also make your own "beer map" or "passport" for free, it'd just be without discounts like you get in this one [and, again, I'm happy to suggest destinations I may know of that are close enough to you if needed].
If you know of a ticketed tap takeover or beer and tasting event nearby, that's another brilliant idea and something for the receiver to look forward to (but would suggest buying them 2 tickets so they don't have to worry about going alone). I can even say going to the Three Hills beer and Japanese Swiss Roll pairing was the BEST time and an easy way to kill a few hours. If somebody gifted me that experience, I would've been in heaven (thankfully it wasn't ticketed so I didn't have to worry!).
Other ideas for "experiences" include [but aren't limited to]:
Brewery tours [most breweries will offer them and can be purchased on their websites]. Worth buying 2 x tickets so the person isn't going alone as that's no fun, but you do tend to get free samples or something for free [or discounted] like a glass, so that's exciting.
An at home "escape room"-style experience based around brewery lore. Really...it's here and it's cool! Very well executed from my experience and is a gift for a whole group to enjoy.
A brew day experience [if you have the money to spend]. I've never used any of these before, but have previously looked into one from London Beer Lab.
There are a few educational programmes out there in regards to beer, but my [very biased because of my friendship muahah] preference is for the course that Love Beer Learning offers as an intro to those that want to build not only their beer vocabulary but also their confidence and technique - all with personal attention and small, more intimate class sizes; done remotely from the comfort of your own home.
Tickets to a beer festival for 2022. As a starting point, you can see all the festivals that We Are Beer offer here but there is also BrewLDN or Bigfoot Festival, just to name a few others.
With Plan B settling in here in the UK, if your unsure of comfort levels of the person you're gifting for, you can still get them an experience but a remote one. Many breweries (or independent businesses) will run drink-alongs where you can buy the box with all the beers and goodies you need and a zoom/skype/video chat link will be sent to join on the day. It's a way of still being part of things, having a shared experience, but in a safe environment with no travel necessary (which can sometimes be more of a bonus depending on where you live!).
And there we have it; the end of the line. I'm hoping I left you with some refreshing new ideas that you hadn't thought of, given you that one extra piece to bring what you already have together, or maybe even just reminded you of something that you wanted to grab for that specific someone. Maybe you're even shopping for somebody you don't know that well for a gift exchange but do know they like beer. If not, at least I can say I tried! Happy shopping and may the odds be ever in your favour!
Feel free to comment here with any other ideas you might have to help others in the spirit of giving or provide additions to any of the above with your own first-hand experience or preferred brewery offerings :D
**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.**