Xmas gift ideas for a craft beer lover?

How about some glassware? Lots of awesome flutes, hefewiezen, snifters out there.

 

1. A case or growler of a rare or limited release beer (suggestions appreciated)
--- If you can find it, Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, Bourbon County Coffee Stout, and Bourbon County Barleywine are in the process of being released in the area. Hard to get (for the coffee and barleywine at least), but all are awesome.

2. Tickets to Extreme Beer Fest held in March in Boston (http://beeradvocate.com/ebf/)
--- Having been to 8 of the last 10 EBF/NOTF weekends, I'd highly recommend this. BA does a really good job running their festivals and the quality of the beers at their fests is top notch. Always fun to go up for a long weekend and do their fests.

3. Planning a road trip to an area heavy in breweries (suggestions outside of NJ,PA appreciated)
--- Have done things like this before and it can be fun. One year my girlfriend hired a limo to take us and some of our friends to Max's in Baltimore for my birthday so no one had to worry about driving from DC, and we partied their for an afternoon. Based on your location, I would suggest trips to Tired Hands + Philly bars, Victory, out to Selin's Grove/Troegs, Baltimore for Max's bar/Pratt Street/Brewers Art/Alewife/whatever I'm missing, or NY for the city + Captain Lawrence, Rushing Duck, Peekskills, etc.

4. Membership to rare beer of the month club (but this strikes me as a rip off with S&H costs)
---IMO these aren't as worth it....I'd rather just have my gf or someone take me to my favorite beer store and bar and buy some beer or special bottle I wouldn't normally get.

Personally I'd rank 'em 2, 3, 1, 4. I think trips can be a lot of fun.

 

Re: #3, if you want schlep up to northern Vermont, you can hit Hill Farmstead and the Alchemist and pick up some Lawson's while you are there. Also, check out the Bed & Brew weekends hosted by the Inn at Cooperstown/Ommegang. These weekends are a blast - the Saturday night private event at Ommegang is outstanding. My wife and I have gone twice.

Another idea is a wooden beer tote - there are lots of nice options on Etsy and most are handmade in the USA. These are great for bringing beer to parties, etc. or for carrying growlers to and from a brewery. Some sellers, such as Meriwhether of Montana, offer custom engraving.

 

How about a book and a few beers related to Christmas?

Don Russel (AKA "Joe Sicpack) has a book out called "Christmas Beer" (probably available on Amazon). He describes several Christmas beers. It could be come a regular tradition for you two to get a hold of some of the beers and enjoy them.

Alternatively, Lou Bryson, also a local writer about beer and spirits, multiple books on Amazon which are brewery visit oriented travel guides. Lots of information about near by States (including PA and NJ) and you can pick your state. (I'm betting he's got some listed in PA that you haven't visited yet.)

 

Agreed - the "Christmas Beer" book is great.

 

Next year will be my first for EBF, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’d drool over the lists in the past and finally decided I’d had enough and next year I’d go. Taking the Friday off and going to hit up a couple breweries in the area or along the way with my girlfriend and a couple other friends. Some of the craziest and most innovative beers from well known and highly regarded breweries (some of which never make it to this area) in one place? It’s hard to turn down.

My girlfriend and I have done several weekend or 3-4 day trips just around the surrounding states. We’ve done Cooperstown (Ommegang and Cooperstown Brewing), Vermont (Magic Hat, Switchback, Fiddlehead, Alchemist, Rock Art, Hill Farmstead), NY (Defiant, Captain Lawrence, and Peekskill), and Boston (Sam Adams and Harpoon). There’s always things to do in between so you can spread things out over several days.

BOtM clubs never appealed to me due to the higher costs with shipping, plus the fact that this area sees some great distribution already.

Visiting the breweries also allows you to sample and purchase beers that aren’t available anywhere else.

 

From what I've read very few BotM clubs are worth the price, and if you live hear Philly you can get those beers relatively easy anyway. I would only consider a BotM if you were a distribution poor area.

I've heard many good things about Ommegang's festival, but haven't been myself.

 

Nothing definite yet, but New England Brewing Co. and Jack's Abbey are along the way. I've tried a couple of things from both places and all were delicious. Maybe Captain Lawrence, Defiant, or Peekskill again since they all had good beer and wouldn't mind stopping in again.

 

Would highly recommend hitting up Jack's Abbey; love their beers. New brewery Trillium which is actually in Boston has been making really good beers too and is an easy way to kill some time on Fri or Sat before the fests, since it is actually in the city.