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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Restaurants Talking Head: Last Minute Gift Ideas for the Beer Lover on Your List

Posted by Jeff Holland on Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 5:41 PM

If you have a beer aficionado on your gift list this year, be it your significant other, friend, or boss, you have lots of great gift options from the extravagant to the modest that will be sure to put a smile on his or her face. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Beer, duh

Of course, the most obvious choice for a beer lover is beer! But don’t just grab some 6-pack off the shelves at Publix; go with a mixed pack that reflects a theme, or pick something from a favorite country. Artistic or off-beat labels are a plus, as well.

Georgia liquor stores are not to keen on breaking six-packs, but if you want to mix things up Whole Foods makes it easy

with their easy-to-wrap holiday gift boxes. For $12.99 you get a selection of 8 beers from one of three categories (American Craft, European Craft, or Local Brews), or you can select your own. The local collection includes beers from Highland Brewing Company and The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery in North Carolina, along with the usual suspects from Atlanta Brewing Company, Sweetwater, and Terrapin. With 6-packs of some of these beers selling for $10-$12, this is a nice deal

for a hand-picked 8-pack.

If you want to pick from a wider variety, the two locations of Total Wine & More have a good collection of single bottles, priced individually, so that you can make up a six-pack of a favorite style from different breweries, or different styles from a favorite brewery, or just 6 beers with cool labels.

Exotic imports are always a classy choice when giving an alcoholic gift. For beer, the obvious choice is Belgian ales. Any of the Belgian Christmas beers that I reviewed last week would make excellent gifts, as would any of the beers from the 6 Trappist breweries that are available in Georgia (Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, Achel, and Koningshoeven). Green’s Discount Beverage stores have a number of these and others like them in gift packs that include two logo glasses that show off the beer to best effect. They may even make the beer taste better, since they are designed just for that purpose.

Most people think of wine, not beer, when they think of Italy, but unencumbered by restrictive traditions, Italy’s burgeoning craft breweries are turning out some fantastic and off-beat beers. Try Noël Baladin from Birrificio Baladin for an appropriate seasonal gift, or perhaps Baladin Nora, bittered with ginger, myrrh, and orange peel in the tradition of ancient Egypt. Birrificio Italiano makes Cassissona, an excellent black currant beer that is fruity and inviting. For something a little more edgy, try Demon Hunter, from Birrificio Montegioco, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale that comes wrapped in black paper with a ghastly illustration of a decapitated devil on the label.

Beer Dinner

Treat yourself and your beer loving mate to some fine vittles and matching suds at a beer dinner. A little friendly rivalry always enlivens these events, so if you are not overly sensitive you can weigh in for the Maccabeans or Santa Claus at the Hannukah vs. Christmas beer dinner at the Tasting Room in Sandy Springs on Thurs., Dec. 18 at 7:30. Darren Quinlan from Shmaltz Brewing Company will be on hand representing the Israelites and Chris Dotson from North Coast Brewing Company will be in St. Nick's corner. Shmaltz will send in its Origin Pomegranate Ale, Genesis Ale, and Jewbelation 12^th Anniversary. North Coast will throw its Pranqster Belgian Golden Ale, Brother Thelonius Abbey-style Ale, and Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout into the ring. Check out The Tasting Room event page for a full menu The cost is $69 per person, plus tax and gratuity.

Beer Book

There are plenty of encyclopedic-like beer books filled with stats on styles, breweries, original gravities, and Lovibond scales. Informative, but not particularly entertaining. For a more narrative style, consider one of two interesting books that tell the story, past and present, of beer in America. For history buffs, there’s Maureen Ogle’s Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer (Harvest Books), which explores the influence of German immigrants on American brewing. She recounts how industrialism, commercialism, changing tastes, along with German ingenuity and ambition, led Schlitz, Pabst, and Anheuser-Busch to dominate the American beer landscape. Ogle debunks many myths perpetrated by modern beer snobs about the evil behemoths that foisted weak piss-water on an unsuspecting public, making it essential reading for those prone to self-righteous pontificating.

In Red, White, and Brew: An American Beer Odyssey (St. Martin’s Griffin), Brian Yaeger traces a lap around the country, visiting small family-run breweries, as well as barbeque shacks and beer bars to take the pulse of the brewing industry and the beer drinking public. This book is more about beer people than beer, but is bound to make a few beer lovers drop out and strike out on their own beer odyssey.

(photo courtesy of Whole Foods)

Tags: Drink, Beer, liquid-diet, Talking Head, beer gifts, Restaurants