Check out these snazzy ideas for holiday gift ideas. And don't worry about those after-holiday blues, because these gifts won't break your budget. Hopefully this top ten list will at least provide some holiday gift ideas and get you in the gift giving mood.
Top Ten List for Gift Ideas Under $25 Dollars
- Beer Savers, six-pack:
The idea for this product seems so stupidly simple one may find himself shaking his head and asking, “Now, why didn’t I think of that?” These durable, stretchy, molded bottle cap charms are dishwasher safe and made of food-grade silicone.
And on the rare occasions where one just can’t seem to find the bottom of that bottle, this product will keep beer fresh and safe, and the standard multi-color set of six will allow for choice of color to clearly and helpfully identify your bottle in a crowd... because, let’s face it, no one likes backwash.
- BeerCloud Mobile App and Website:
The team at GreatBrewers online has gathered vast amounts of beer and brewing data from dozens of beer wholesalers, hundreds of brewers, tens of thousands of retailers, and millions of consumers to provide the information juggernaut that is now known as the BeerCloud (found online and accessed through a smartphone).
BeerCloud tools help pair beer with food, track down neighborhood watering holes, and uncover new styles with the help of hundreds of full beer descriptions.
- The Brew Hauler:
A full, wet, slippery carboy is hard to move, and many brewers still insist on glass carboys for good reasons. The Brew Hauler makes transporting one's precious potables easier and safer than ever before.
Adjustable and constructed of sturdy polypropylene webbing, the harness can be easily moved from one carboy to another. Carry wort with confidence up and down stairs, around tight corners, and for long distances with The Brew Hauler.
- Bottle Tree with Handle:
Who hasn’t squirrled away bottles like treasure in every nook and cranny of the house, eagerly await the next bottling day? (Still counting the hands...) Well, with a bottle tree, bottles get stored elegantly and are allowed to air-dry properly in only twenty-one square inches of floor space.
Each peg is slotted to allow ample air circulation for fast drying, and it holds bottles as large as 750 ml.
- Escali Digital Kitchen Scale:
A digital multi-function food scale can be an invaluable tool for many homebrew recipes. Two names to check out when scale shopping are American Weigh Digital Scales and Old Will Knott Scales.
With a capacity of 11 pounds, this Escali scale can weigh in ounces or grams. And, best of all, it comes with 2 AA batteries so you don’t have to wait to use it!
- 8Blichmann Brewing Gloves:
Dive elbow-deep in scalding-hot wort and surface unharmed and smelling like a rose with these 28-mil gloves. Protect against splash-burns, chemicals, and sanitizing agents.
A product of Blichmann Labs, these gloves will prevent the cracked and bleeding skin often associated with excessive brewing. But be aware that even these gloves are not meant for “prolonged” exposure to hot liquid - any more than 2 minutes of exposure may result in a nasty burn.
- Weldless Sight Tee Kit:
This beer and holiday gift idea is for someone who already has a keg or brew pot and wants to get a little more out of it in terms of precision measurements.
It is sometime difficult to trust the deep, dark depths of a 15-gallon brew kettle, so precisely measure and monitor its contents and color at the same time.
Additional equipment required include tape. a level, a drill, a step-bit (uni-bit), and a workbench, but the upshot is that you don’t have to mess around with that blow torch...
- The Brew Belt
Worry no more about a stuck fermentations due to cold rooms. This electric heating belt helps to maintain minimum fermenting temperatures and fits 5, 6, or 7.5 gallon plastic buckets.
It also fits 3, 5, and 6 gallon Better Bottles and 3, 5, 6 and 6.5 gallon glass carboys, although the manufacturer does not recommend using it with glass fermenters. So, keep wort cozy and warm this winter with a little bit of electric love.
Holiday and Beer Gift Idea Wish List
- Brown Porter - Extract Beer Kit:
Whether one is craving a “night-cap cherry stout” or a “watermelon wit beer,” chances are he can find an ingredients kit for under $25 that will at least get him started on toward his brewing goal. This one was found at More Beer online.
All the major supply stores carry ingredient kits (both extract and grain) - Midwest, Northern Brewer, Williams, More Beer, etc. - so check around for sales and the best rate. The idea is that these kits are stuffed with all the essentials you need to make one batch of quality homebrew - malt, priming sugar, yeast, and hops.
So, if you know someone who already has the equipment to brew in five gallon (or less) batches but has not yet transformed the garage into a mustering station for various brew-making supplies, an ingredient kit might lead to a quick, easy homebrew recipe to be enjoyed, replicated, and improved for years to come. It is also a great way to experiment with different styles and flavors.
- Organically Grown Hops Rhizomes
Although hops are widely available in pellets, plugs, and flowers from most homebrew suppliers these days, a far more “green” and economical way to go is to buy hops roots, stick them in the ground, and watch them produce hops year after year.
If one can get in touch with his own farmer, he will be rewarded with plenty of brewing supplies and a flowery, spicy fragrance like no other wafting through the yard by mid summer.
Top Ten List Beer Holiday Wish List Ideas
This concludes the 2010 top ten beer and holiday ideas gift wish list for this year.
In summary, when it comes to selecting the lasting gift – the kind of thing the gift-getter is going to appreciate for years to come - it is often better to keep it simple. There are a surprising number of quality gifts and presents ideas out there for under $25 - if you know where to look...
Jeremy Perkins - The author has a B.A in Journalism and Writing, an M.A. in Information Technology, and enjoys watercolor painting, sports, coding, hiking, ...
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