Holiday Gift Guide 2009
December 2nd, 2009 | Published in barware, books, mixers, seasonal, yuletide | 3 Comments
The holidays are upon us again and it appears that cocktails are more popular than ever. There has been a lot of activity on the home bar front this year as many people have, like us, ground frivolous spending to a halt. As such, I’m sure a lot of you out there have friends or significant others who have started building their home bars—or are interested in doing so—and are looking for something thoughtful, useful and reasonably priced to gift this year.
One of my favorite places to shop for glassware, punch bowls and accessories like trays or coasters is at my local thrift shop. I rarely pass a second-hand store that I don’t visit, and have stumbled upon excellent finds like pristine sets of vintage champagne coupes (perfect for a three-ounce cocktail) for $2 or $1 bargain-priced air-tight jars that are perfect for holding homemade brandied cherries. I’ve even found the occasional vintage cocktail manual, but those are fewer and farther between these days. Don’t pass up eBay, either, as that’s where you’re going to find a great buy on a vintage metal ice crusher.
If you’re looking for something a bit less time-intensive, I’ve gone ahead and curated a list of options for cocktail-oriented gifts. I’ve been at this home bar thing for a while now and I can say with quite a bit of confidence that every gift on this list is a winner. I own 99% of the items and have sampled or used the remaining percent and can recommend every single thing. If you have a friend or loved one who is into cocktails, be they newly interested or an old-hat nerd like me, there is something on this list that they will love with all their bourbon-soaked heart.
Tools
You can amass quite a selection of tools for the bar these days, from shakers and muddlers to Japanese ice picks and ceramic-bladed peelers. I’ve chosen only the tools that I have found to be better than your standard Restaurant Depot purchase—there are no shakers here, for instance, because the average $10 two-part Boston shaker is just fine by me.
Über Bar Tools Pro Stirrer — All bar spoons are not created equal. Most of them work okay, but this one has balance and beauty going for it. I never have a problem stirring a drink properly with this spoon, it is easy to use for measuring and layering, and it doesn’t roll off the bar when I set it down. Win-win-win.
Über Bar Tools Strain Ray — This beast is Dan’s favorite strainer. While admittedly a bit challenging to use for those of us with wee mitts (see the next suggestion), the Strain Ray is a thing of beauty. It’s heavy and stays put in a mixing tin, strains perfectly and I never have to worry about excess cocktail missing the strainer as it pours out the sides. The only downside is, for people with smaller hands, it requires one hand to hold the strainer and one to hold the tin while pouring. Not a dealbreaker, but also not for the clumsy.
OXO Steel Strainer — It seems like a small thing, but a well-designed strainer is noticeably easier to use behind the bar. These OXO strainers are great because they have a short, stubby handle that is easy to use when you have short, stubby fingers (like moi). They are easy to hold on a mixing tin one-handed, strain well and don’t take up much room. The only drawback is that they lack a hole in the handle for hanging, if your gift recipient is into that.
WMF Channel Knife — One of the most important and most frequently overlooked aspects of great cocktails is garnishing. Drinks like the Horse’s Neck and Satan’s Whiskers all require a long citrus peel garnish, which is almost impossible without the proper tools. A great channel knife saves time, energy and fingertips, all while making beautiful peels. This one is easy to hold and has a wide central channel that you pull toward you (as opposed to one that you hold at a 90° angle, which doesn’t make quite as nice a garnish).
Kuhn Rikon Swiss Peeler — A small, inexpensive Y-peeler is the secret to great twists. Every time a recipe mentions garnishing with an orange, lemon or grapefruit twist, they are easily and speedily executed with one small motion of the peeler. This one is a durable little number that is even suggested as a kitchen staple by the staff of Everyday Food Magazine; as far as I’m concerned, if Martha Stewart Omnimedia likes it, you can’t really go wrong.
OXO Mini Stainless Steel Angled Measuring Cup — While I am a big fan of jiggers, I know quite a few people who don’t enjoy using the odd, funnel-shaped devices for measuring their cocktail ingredients. These days, these tiny angled measuring cups that max out at two ounces are all the rage for the home bar. Perfect for measuring ingredients in cocktail-sized portions, the only real drawback about these is that they don’t include a measure for three-quarters of an ounce. They do, however, measure quarter ounces which is an immeasurable help behind the bar.
Bitters & Syrups
Nothing pleases us geeks more than exotic or hard-to-find ingredients, and bitters top that list. Not far behind are syrups like grenadine, orgeat or passion fruit, which are very hard to find of high quality in most localities.
Amargo Chuncho Peruvian Bitters — If you are shopping for a Pisco Sour lover, this should be your go-to gift. Specifically made for use in Pisco Sours, these bitters are believed to have been developed as a replacement for Angostura, which are hard to find in Peru. Now the tables have turned, and Amargo Chuncho are the bitters of choice for cocktail nerds the world over.
Angostura Orange Bitters — Many people consider Angostura Orange to be the best orange bitters on the market; while they are excellent, I personally find that having many types of orange bitters to choose from makes for the best cocktails.
That said, Ango Orange are usually among the hardest bottles to find and thus make a great gift. If you’re in the market for more than one orange bitters, I also recommend picking up a bottle of Regan’s Orange No. 6.
Bittermen’s Xocolatl Mole Bitters — This is another rare and eagerly sought-after bottle of bitters that would make a fine gift for anyone of a cocktail mind. These are spicier and less traditional than your typical bottle of all-purpose bitters, and put a nice touch on many a deep-winter warming cocktail.
Aunty Lilikoi Passion Fruit Syrup — Talk to any tiki cocktail enthusiast and they can tell you that finding good quality passion fruit syrup is sort of like looking for the Holy Grail. Other than making it yourself, there are very few commercial products that have excellent flavor. Aunty Lilikoi syrup, made in Waimea, HI, is an exception to that statement. If you have a cocktail nerd on your list who lives for a Don the Beachcomber Zombie, a bottle of this will be like an answered prayer.
The Bitter Truth Orange Flower Water — Orange flower water is one of my favorite ingredients and this formulation by the guys at The Bitter Truth makes for a truly lovely, ethereal flavor. Another must-have odd bottle for the serious cocktail enthusiast, this is indispensable for fans of the Ramos Gin Fizz or Absinthe Suissesse.
Small Hand Foods Raspberry Gum Syrup or Grenadine — Bay Area bartender Jen Colliau started Small Hand Foods to provide bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts with well made, thoughtful, delicious syrups that replicate the sort of natural products that were available during the heyday of classic cocktails. No one should attempt to make a classic cocktail with most commercial raspberry syrups or grenadines, as the flavors aren’t even close. Small Hand products are high quality and truly a great thing to have behind the bar. If you aren’t going to make syrups yourself, Jen’s products are the next best thing.
Books
This is one of the harder items to buy for a cocktail lover. There are about three million books on cocktails in the world, most of them of only marginal value. Most of us have, at one point or another, been gifted a book that turned out to be less than credible—in my case, it was the book that sparked my interest in cocktails. Fortunately, some guidance from others set me on a better path, which led me to the books below. Any of them would make a great gift for a cocktail lover.
The Essential Bartender’s Guide by Robert Hess — The perfect book for a new cocktailian who is seeking the classic and the modern. Hess, aka Drink Boy, was one of the first online cocktail chroniclers and is still one of the most well-respected and knowledgeable cocktail brains out there. This book is a great primer on how and why to set up your bar and it gives a great foundation in classic cocktails with an eye for the modern reader/drinker. An indispensable read for anyone who likes cocktails.
Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails by Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh — If my house was burning down and I could only take one cocktail book with me, my copy of this book would be the one. Ted is, aside from a great friend and rather amazing encyclopedic font of information, unmatched at making the classic accessible. Many of the drinks in his book were largely forgotten until he wrote about them in the first edition of VS&FC and he makes them interesting through his engaging writing and excellent taste. At the end of this tome, the reader can marvel at the historical detail and the quality of the drinks—making this both a great read and great resource.
The Bartender’s Guide, aka A Bon Vivant’s Companion by Jerry Thomas — Perhaps the most famous cocktail manual of all time, this is the book that started it all. Without Jerry Thomas it can be argued that the history of cocktail culture would not have been preserved, which makes this an important book for the enthusiast with an interest in cocktail antiquity. Faithfully re-printed from the original by fellow nerd Greg Boehm of Mud Puddle Books, this edition features an introduction by cocktail archaeologist Dave Wondrich.
Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log or Sippin’ Safari by Jeff Berry — If you want to talk tiki, there is no other name to consider for the history of tiki cocktails. Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, aside from being one of the nicest, most genuine people you could want to meet, is a passionate and un-ironic fan of tiki cocktails. He has unearthed more history and lore (and recipes) than anyone before or since he published his first book in 1998. You can still buy the original Grog Log, chock full of recipes, or his more recent Sippin’ Safari, which contains a lot of great stories and previously ignored history along with the fabulous newly discovered recipes. His new book comes out this year as well, though it won’t be out in time for Christmas.
Photo credit: Long Mai
December 4th, 2009at 12:48 am(#)
[...] at Sloshed! they want to make sure that you get the perfect gift this Christmas and I can’t help but agree with their choices. Please… get me some o’ [...]
February 4th, 2010at 5:13 am(#)
Marleigh, in case you missed it, the fiends at OXO have discontinued the 2 oz. mini measures, both plastic and stainless steel! Stock up while you can, or join the resistance!
February 4th, 2010at 9:23 am(#)
Thanks Doug. I had heard, but I’m fine with jiggers—the OXO cups are nice, but I figure if it was good enough for Jerry Thomas, it’s good enough for me. ;)