Christmas Beer Gift Ideas

Tis the season for holiday shopping, fa la la la la la la. For the beer geeks in us, we all like to receive beer and beer themed items under the Christmas tree and as stocking stuffers. Here are some Christmas themed beer gift ideas that you could suggest to your loved ones, family or give to other fellow beer geeks!

iPhone case bottle opener - Many of us have a bottle opener with us at all times, generally a keychain based opener, but hey.. if you own an iPhone, I always recommend a case because you don't want to damage that $600+ toy of yours, so why not get a case that also acts as a bottle opener? If you don't like iPhones, there are also phone cases that act as bottle openers for such phones as the Samsung Galaxy SIII.

Beer bottle opener sunglasses! (Posted November 17) - This one deserves a bit of attention. I just checked my email account associated to this blog, and I had an email from June 6th that had never been read, reading it.. I wish I did. Here's what the email stated: Yes, this is a shameless plug but I thought that you and your readers might get a kick out of these. My team of recent college grads invented beer bottle opener sunglasses, called the JackHawk 9000. I was hoping that we could do a guest post, if this is something that your readership would be interested in. 

Damn, that's something I AM interested in, a pair of sunglasses that also can open beer bottles. It's on the pricy side at $145 (US?), so it's a bit much, but seeing at Christmas time, quite often it comes down to the whole theme of not knowing what you want for Christmas, but something like that would be pretty damned sweet. Theses guys started out these beer bottle opener shades thanks to getting funds through kickstarter.com. So props to those guys, you can buy a pair of the shades yourself here.

Brewery branded glassware - The folks over at Russian River Brewing Co. recommend staying away from the standard shaker pint glass for getting a great experience out of the beer. Here's a few beer glasses that you should check out. Sam Adams' famous Boston Lager Glass is a great starter glass for drinking beers such as a lager or a pale ale, the design of the glass allows for the ability to get a better sense of aroma and taste out of the beer. I stole this from last year's beer gift idea piece, but the Hopside Down Beer Glass is something I wouldn't say no to! Also.. some fellow Canadian breweries that sell their glassware to the public include Muskoka Brewery which has glassware such as a Summer Weisse and Cervoise style for as low as Five Dollars. Beau's has a very sweet looking Kolsch glass. Steam Whistle sells a BEER BOTTLE GLASS! Though it's a bit pricey at over $15 (before tax/shipping). Lastly, Unibroue glassware, I've only once ever seen it in the wild but unfortunately it seems the only place you can buy it right now is on eBay.

Beer Soap & Beer Shampoo - The folks over at Luxalune were showing off their homemade beer soap that's made from their own Farmery beer. I know a few friends who say that a good beer makes a great shampoo. Howe Sound sells a Garibaldi Honey Pale Ale or Spent Grain soap. Or get a beer shampoo from Duffy's Brew, which is also 100% vegan. Rhonda has also suggested another site where to get beer shampoo.

Beer Swag - One thing about beer geeks and their loyalty to breweries is that they will show off their loyalty by wearing the logo to support said brewery. As I've lost a great deal of weight over the past year and so, I needed to start changing my wardrobe and I saw some great shirts and hats that would be awesome under the Christmas tree. Muskoka's Spring Oddity beer label is not only one of my favourite beer labels of 2012, but it also looks great on a tshirt! Unibroue is celebrating the end of the world by launching a La Fin du Monde Day website to honour December 21, 2012.. which is the day that apparently the day when civilisation will cease to exist. They're selling a t-shirt in English and French. Beau's sells their famous tractor logo as a tshirt as well.

Lastly but not leastly.. BEER! What would Christmas be without a beer in the stocking? A few beers I suggest as gifts or stocking stuffers include Unibroue Terrible as it is currently starting to ship to various liquor stores across Canada, Muskoka's Winter Beard stout as this year may be their best batch yet as they will using corks (a la Unibroue) this time around, and Half Pints' Demeter's Harvest Wheat Wine, which should be released around December 1st. If you're lucky to be in a part of the country that sells Beer Advent Calendars, you could treat one of those to a special friend.. they'd love you forever!

If I missed any awesome Christmas related beer swag/items, feel free to leave a comment and I'll add it to the list!