2017 LA Beer Hop Gift Guide

We publish a gift guide twice a year – once for the Holiday Season and once for Father’s Day. Curating the gift guides provides us with a chance to do a whole bunch of imaginary shopping and provide you with some of the best things that we find on the internet or in real life.

All of these gifts below would be terrific addition to any beer-drinkers life.

For the Cocktail-ier

Oak Whiskey Glasses

What’s a better way for detecting the nuanced character of oak in your whiskey than in handmade oak glasses? (Do we still call them glasses if they’re made of oak? Do we call them oakses?).

Smoke Whiskey Glasses

I’m not usually one for color tinted glasses (I like to see the unadulterated color of the beverage I’m consuming), but these hand-blown whiskey glasses are too handsome to pass up.

Bartender’s Knife

Choose for yourself between these two bar knives. This one offers a pointy tip, which is good for picking things up like olives, citrus wedges or Luxardo Cherries (inarguably the world’s best cocktail garnish).

Bar Knife

This bar knife looks a little more intimidating, which may be a good thing, I don’t know what kind of bartender you are.

Non-Alcoholic Spirits (waaaat?)

For those adventurous enough to travel outside the world of booze, this spirit is 0% ABV – that means no alcohol. It’s a terrific accompaniment to any party or to have around the house for those nights where you really need a drink, but maybe shouldn’t have one.

Amaro Angeleno

An incredibly versatile and somewhat locally made spirit. It’s an Amaro, but the bitterness is restrained, letting the glorious citrus of Southern California shine through. Put it on ice, with soda water or make an Angeleno Boulevardier – 1.5 oz bourbon, 1 oz Amaro Angeleno, 1 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth. Stir slowly. Serve over ice with an orange peel garnish. You can purchase a bottle at Barkeeper in Silverlake.

Cocktail Mixing Glass

One of the more gratuitous at-home bar items is (not surprisingly) one of the most luxurious. Grab a well-balanced bar spoon and a Hawthorne strainer and you’re on your way to making a crystal clear batch of Manhattans for your New Year’s Eve party.

For the LA Beer Drinker

Teku Glasses

Truly the world’s best beer glasses. Appropriate for any style of beer, these wine-style glasses showcase the color, clarity, aroma and taste of any beer you sip.

Stimulus from Eagle Rock

A perennial favorite from one of LA’s oldest breweries. Stimulus is a 14% coffee beer that uses Dark Matter coffee beans that were aged in Few Spirits rye whiskey barrels. If you need any other local beer tips – call 855-LA-BEERS.

Hopped LA Brewery Shirt

One shirt to rule them all… This t-shirt from the guys over at Hopped LA names all of the 2017 members of the LA Brewers Guild (with Indie Brewing taking the coveted stem spot).

2018 LA Brewers Guild Enthusiast Membership

Want to be a card-carrying member of the LA Beer fan club? Become an LA Brewers Guild Enthusiast! Tons of perks, benefits, discounts, beer and merch. Too many to list in fact. Check the site for lots of details.

Cellador Single Barrel Syndicate Membership

There are a lot of beer memberships out there, but the hottest ticket in LA is from Cellador Brewery in Van Nuys. They are wizards of barrel aging, blending and mixed fermentation and their 100% oak fermented beer showcases some of the best ingenuity in LA.

Pico Brew

The pico brew is to beer what the keurig is to coffee. Kinda. It’s the most direct and space-efficient way to brew fresh beer at home. Sits on top of your counter top and brews real beer, real fast.

LA Beer Hop Tickets!

They’re good for any tour, any time and never expire! Truly one of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone over the age of 21.

For the Boozy Bookworm

Meehan’s Bartender Manual

Learn everything about modern cocktail building from acclaimed mixologist Jim Meehan. This books covers ‘mise en place’ to Manhattans from martinis to mixers. It’s a tome and a necessary component in any home bar.

The Monocle Guide to Drinking and Dining

Any Monocle Guide is a great gift. They’re beautiful, well-curated collections of the world’s top performers in any category. This edition covers the world of drinking and dining (which is the only world I want to live in).

Fictional Hotel Notepads

Keep these around to delightfully jot down any booze-addled thoughts you may have. The notepads cover the hotels from Dirty Dancing, Vertigo, At Bertram’s Hotel, Twin Peaks, The Shining, National Lampoon’s European Vacation, The Wicker Man and The Graduate.

And a Bunch of Non-Booze Related Gifts

Headlamps

Every man, in every civilization, in every planet, has been obsessed with lights. And in particular, lights they can wear on their heads. You better believe that if there is life on other planets, there are martian Dad’s really to receive a new headlamp.

Tenkara Rod Net

This is a really good-looking, well-made fly fishing net. It’s a pretty specific gift for those group of people who actively pursue fly-fishing as a hobby, but for those people, this is a great gift.

AirPods

Not since 2003 has it been common to see so many white pods hanging out of peoples ears. But, Apple has managed to make it a thing again with their new Airpods. They come in Black too…

BioLite Base Lantern

I am not a fan of combining technology with camping. Being outdoors is about blunt instruments like fire, axes and whiskey. But… almost everything BioLite makes is pretty awesome and this lantern is great in so many ways.

Bose SoundLink Revolve 360 Bluetooth Speaker

Bose is at the top of the game when it comes to matching price and quality and this bluetooth enabled 360 degree speaker fits right in the sweet spot.

Weiss Watch

Part of my EDC  – including Raybans, a Pilot Juice .38mm black pen, and my Machine Era Co Brass wallet. I love the watch and I love the company. If you’re at all familiar with LA beer geography, their HQ is located just a stone’s throw from Strand in Torrance.

Brass Match Scratcher

If only I smoked cigarettes… I would be able to use this all the time. Oh well… Looks like I’m going to have to develop a serious candle addiction just to justify my use of this beautiful match scratcher.

Brass Key Ring Bottle Opener

Grovemade describes this key ring bottle opener as having “Majestic Heft”. I hope to God someone will say that about me when I inevitably give up jogging and add on some serious beer-weight. I also hope to God someone gets this for me to add to my EDC.

Secret Hitler

The world seems to think that we’re far enough removed from WWII to make a board game where we accuse friends and family of being Hitler (next game… Secret Roy Moore). It’s a great game for the holidays, just make sure you play with a large grain of salt.

Gift Guide to Father’s Day 2017

Unity Beer from the LA Brewers Guild

Go to El Segundo Brewing and pickup the new Unity Beer brewed by all of the LA Brewers Guild members.It’s an IPA (of course), and it’s delicious (of course).

LA Beer Week Opening Day Tickets

LA Beer Week is coming up and you can give him tickets to the Opening Kickoff on Saturday, June 17th. Tickets here.

LA Beer Hop Gift Certificate

Has your pappy visited the best breweries of LA? Take him on a Beer Hop! You can buy a specific ticket for a date or a general gift certificate good for any day.

Bine & Vine Store

Looking for hard-to-find beers? Check out BineAndVine.com for a bunch of rare and groundbreaking beers. Top pick today? SANTE ADAIRIUS BRIGHT SEA BLONDE 750 Ml

Teku Glass

The Teku Glass is the best beer glass in the world… and if you can imagine your father drinking from it, then it would be a great gift for him.

Yeti Hopper II Cooler

Dad’s always flip out about coolers. This Yeti Hopper II cooler will make all your Dad’s friends jealous.

Pico Brew

The PicoBrew is possibly the easiest way for your father to begin his dreams of being a homebrewer (it’s the beer equivalent of brewing coffee with a Keurig)

Klean Kanteen Insulated Growler

Of all the many, many growlers out there. This is my personal favorite. It’s shatter-proof, easy to clean, has a swing top and is insulated.

Tiny Wooden Barrel

I’ve personally used a 2 liter barrel to age a Manhattan Cocktail and a Boulevardier (it’s a Negroni, but with bourbon instead of gin). I recommend buying some neat bottles in conjunction with the barrel so your father can give samples out to his friends.

Portable Pizza Oven

I mean, come on, this uuni portable pizza oven looks awesome. What Dad doesn’t want to hang around, playing with fire, making pizza, and doing an Italian accent all night?

Aesop Grooming Kit

Does your Dad still use the word “Metrosexual”? Mine does. It’s just his way of saying that he likes to take care of himself. It’s okay Dad, we can all take care of ourselves, and part of doing that is never using the word “metrosexual” again. Grab him this Aesop grooming kit.

Indoor Comfort Meter

I can imagine this “Comfort Meter” sitting on a Dad’s desk. Leather bound books nearby. There’s a big dog. He has a decanter of whiskey that he keeps around for when company comes over. I wanna meet that Dad.

Google Home

“Okay, Google. Find my Dad a perfect gift… oh wait, I just did, it’s Google Home.” Seriously, we have Google Home in our house and we use it daily. We can ask it questions from almost any room in our house and it can hear us. Is it listening to every conversation we have? Yup. Is that terrifying? Only when I think about it.

Nasa Mug

There are a lot of space geek Dads out there. And rightfully so. Every man, at some point in his life should have dreamt of being an astronaut. Then we all watched Apollo 13 and decided we’d rather stay on Earth. Either way. Get your dad this sweet Nasa mug and he’ll be over the moon. (I have one at home).

Filson Travel Kitt

A man on the move should always have a handsome dopp kit. And consider this dopp kit an investment in an heirloom item that he can pass back down to you. All of the Filson goods are built to last for a few lifetimes, so you can be sure that this travel kit will be intact and it will have a beautiful patina of beard oil and sunscreen when he hands it down to you.

Lights

My Dad really likes lights: Security Lights, Flashlights, Headlamps, etc… and I’m pretty sure that all Dads do.

Blazing Block

My dad also flipped out over this portable campfire called Blazing Block. It’s just a piece of hollowed out wood, but it works incredibly well at keeping a whole campfire contained in one place.

Burnie Grill

Speaking of portable fires… this Burnie Grill is a neat gift as well. There are a ton of different ways to use it, including cooking right on the coals.

Watches

Watches always work, I like this one from Timex: Timex Waterbury and this Standard Issue Field Watch from Los Angeles watchmakers Weiss (I have one of these).

Knives

Any gift guide isn’t complete without a knife. This is my favorite: Buck 110. If that’s a little intense for you, go for the French folding knife Opinel.