So you're a beer geek; so am I. Obviously. I write a beer blog and you're reading it. So why am I writing a blog entry on what to get a beer geek for the holidays on a blog only beer geeks will read? So you can print it out, cut this part off and then leave around the house for someone who has the potential to care enough about you to get you something you really want.
So how does this work? I've got a few categories below with blank lines for you to make suggestions. You're supposed to fill that part in. I can't do everything. You're still going to get socks and a wallet, but it's worth a shot, right?
Cut here ------------------------------(and don't leave the words "cut here", I shouldn't have to tell you that)
MY HOLIDAY WISH LIST FOR A VERY BEERY SEASON
BEER - No one ever gets me beer because no one I know knows beer the way I know it. I'm also not very good at hiding the look on my face when I'm given another bottle of Chimay. Everyone who doesn't know beer asks the guy at the liquor store and it's usually not a liquor store that carries craft beer and the best beer they have is Chimay and so I invariably get at least one bottle every year. Not a bad deal really, but it's getting a little old. So, to make it easier this year, I've listed the top five beers that I've always wanted to try, but haven't bought for myself. Here's my list:
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GLASSWARE - Drinking beer out of a plastic Solo cup or one of your dinner glasses with the floral motif just doesn't work for all styles of beer. Each beer has its particular style of glass that helps enhance the beer drinking experience. Many breweries have their logos on their glassware, but please no logos that you could find on the hood of stock car driving fast and to the left every Sunday during the warmer months. Here are a few ideas:
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BEER GIFT PACKS - Make it easy on yourself. A lot of breweries bundle their beers in packs that include one or two of their glasses, just in time for the holidays! You can usually find these near the front of good beer stores where they keep the best gift ideas. Most of these tend to be pretty good, but here are some of the best ones:
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HOME BREWING EQUIPMENT - I can save us money by brewing beer at home. Who knows? I might even win a competition if I get good at it and, if I'm good enough, I might be able to open my own brewery someday. Think of this as more of an investment than a gift. Every home brewer has different methods and like to brew in certain batch sizes, so here's a list of stuff that I would need to either get started or to enhance the equipment I already have:
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BREWERIANA - No, I didn't make up that word! It's actually its own category on eBay. Go ahead! Look it up! See? It simply means "brewery related memorabilia". You know all those brewery logo coasters the bar lets me take home when I ask? Those would be considered breweriana. Then again, so would an illuminated, rotating Guinness sign that mounts to the wall. How cool would that be? So many things fall under this category, like brewery logo model train cars, bottle openers, beer mats, beer trays, tin brewery signs, etc. It can be overwhelming so you can refine your search with these ideas:
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BEER TOURISM - Oh yes, there's a niche market in the travel agency world for beer geeks. Classic beer tourism destinations are Germany and Belgium since the beer culture is so interwoven into the everyday life in those countries. But we don't even need to leave the United States to hunt down places where beer is revered. The San Diego area, Portland (Oregon, not Maine, although Allagash is in Portland, Maine) and Denver are all chock full of breweries and brew pubs. And to make it even better, they're also great centers for culture, history and shopping! These are the top five places I'd love to visit:
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STORAGE AND SUCH - A beer fridge is a necessity; a kegerator would be awesome; a double-tap kegerator would be legendary. A racking system for cellaring stronger brews can be stylish as well as utile. Wall-mounted bottle openers and shelving to display an empty bottle or a glassware collection is also very nice and reduces clutter in the man cave. These are a few things that I could use, ordered on importance level:
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BOOKS - If you think all this beer-drinking is killing brain cells then books are something that would stimulate the brain to help stave off all that mythical, urban-legendary brain damage caused from excessive drinking. Charlie Papazian wrote some great books on brewing (and there are many others on the subject) and there's a really good book by Garrett Oliver (he's the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery) about beer pairings. But the expert on the subject was Michael Jackson. No, not the glove-wearing, pasty-faced, noseless King of Pop you're thinking of; I'm talking about the Beer Hunter. If you want me to read then I'd read these:
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GIFT CERTIFICATES - This is even easier than the gift packs above, since you won't have to decide which gift pack. All the best beer stores sell gift certificates and then I can decide. Most of the homebrew stores sell them too. I believe you can even get gift certificates off of eBay. So you need to decide what you might want to get me and then figure out where the best place would be to get it and then that's where the gift certificate comes from. I'll even tell you the top five places I'd like a gift certificate to:
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So now you know what I'd like this season...stuff to make my cheeks rosy, like Santa's, and make my belly slosh when when I laugh like Santa. I promise to not operate the sleigh after having a few.
Love you tons! ____________________
(put your name here)
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