When it comes to beverages, 2015 was all about craft. In 2016, it’s going a step further to in-house distillation, plus culinary and cocktails will find more common ground, and whisky will longer hold the spirit crown.
1. Nitro Coffee
Coffee’s next iteration, nitro coffee—a cold brew that’s been injected with nitrogen, improving the mouthfeel and drinkability of cold coffee—is being incorporated into alcoholic and non-alcoholic coffee drinks. Nitro tap systems are available for restaurants and coffee shops. The coffee bar at Beatrix from Lettuce Entertain You serves up Caramel Cream Nitro, made with cold brew nitro, house-made caramel, whipped cream and sugar (yum).
2. Creative Gin Drinks
Bartenders are getting creative with classic gin-based drinks—martinis and gin and tonics—using gins aged in whiskey, brandy or rum barrels and infused with the tastes of botanicals or sweetened with hints of vanilla, maple or brown sugar.
3. Locally Produced Beer/Wine/Spirits
A recent trend has emerged of restaurants showcasing beverages produced either in-store or locally. One such example is Denver’s Mile High Spirits, a private label micro-distillery, cocktail lounge and tasting room. The emphasis on locally-produced drinks aims to promote and publicize the efforts of lesser-known breweries and vineyards while offering a unique, home-grown pairing with local food.
4. On-Site Barrel-Aged Spirits
Aging cocktails and spirits in barrels can add a new level of flavor to your drink and soften the harshness of alcohol. Recently, restaurants and bars have been buying their own barrels to age their cocktails/spirits in the store. This is the case at local Denver restaurant La Loma where they age their whiskey in an oak barrel for a few months before serving.
5. Culinary Cocktails
Culinary Cocktails is about looking forward. Many of today’s great chefs are pushing the envelope of cuisine by using fresh ingredients and modern techniques to create attractive, delicious, and stunningly innovative drinks. It doesn’t just stop at chefs though as at-home mixologists are moving this trend into the everyday.
6. Regional Signature Cocktails
The trend of localism is spreading throughout the United States and the same rings true for the restaurant industry. Although you may not know it, most states have their own signature cocktail, typically catering to their specific food profiles. For instance, the Smoked Salmon Bloody Mary uses local Alaska Distillery’s smoked-salmon vodka, highlighting the state’s uniqueness and love for salmon. Regional cocktails add a whole new approach to dining and drinking around the U.S.
7. Shrubs and the Tart Cocktail
When it comes to flavor, fermented foods have been a hit with diners in 2015. From kimchi to the at-home pickling phenomenon, tart flavors have found fans in adventurous and health-conscious eaters. As culinary cocktails become more prevalent (see above), look for this food trend to extend to cocktails in the form of shrubs in 2016. What’s a shrub? It’s a colonial American method of using vinegar to preserve fruit. and will be applied to cocktails as a new way to mix tart drinks. Shrubs fit all the criteria for a trend-worthy concoction: bold flavor, house-made, and reflects the desire for our vices to become a bit healthier.
8. Tap Takeover in Restaurants
Restaurants are becoming more innovative and focused on their beverage programs as a whole, including cocktails. As popularity and familiarity with pre-batch cocktails grow, look for these batches to leap from the bottle to the tap. Restaurants will begin to offer more cocktails on tap to better suit their service demands. On tap cocktails will be especially efficient for restaurants as they begin to sell more complex drinks because timing is so important in a restaurant.
10. Rum Cocktails and Sipping Rums
Tiki bars have brought rum back to the mainstream. They’ve helped elevate rum cocktails from the purgatory of vacation indulgence or captain-and-coke puerility and shown just how varied cocktails made with the sugar cane spirit can be. As the taste for regional flavors grows, look to see rum on the rise. Rum should undergo a similar arc as whiskey did during its (continuing) boom which means we’ll soon see bar patrons began ordering the spirit neat.
In 2016, more than ever, consumers and retailers will dictate which food trends will dominate in the industry.
1. Agnosticism
Whose customer is it anyway? Consumers are becoming brand agnostic. Retailer agnostic. Daypart agnostic. Amazon started it all as they own the customer experience and the brands they offer have little or no relationship with the buyer. Brands like Hilton or Starwood know less about you than Expedia or Kayak.
Because of the sophisticated online tools, consumers no longer care which hotel brands they book.
Their preferences are stored and become richer in data and proactively make suggestions to ensure each experience is successful. This is the trend brands should be most worried about as retailers lose their relationships with food shoppers to apps like Instacart and Uber Eats who are making the retailer or restaurant practically invisible as they continue to offer choices from multiple outlets. They own the customer. For supermarkets to win back the relationship they must become a one-stop “eco-system” similar to Yelp’s Eat 24: offering reviews, recipes, selection, ordering, ePayment, tracking and delivery. It’s time to fight for that shopper relationship.
2. Have it your way
This trend goes well beyond the now-retired Burger King TV slogan as segmentation and personalization continue to grow in importance. Shoppers want retailers to recognize and inspire them. Every shopping trip. Every product. Hartman predicts that by 2020 mid-market consumers will become more selective and continue to upgrade their culinary and healthy eating skills.
Not just for food seeking Millennials, or the top 1% – personalization will become pervasive.
This finally brings to reality the concept that Martha Rodgers and Don Peppers first wrote about in The One-to-One Future back in 1993. Food retailers will need to curate their offerings, and understand what all of their customers’ wants and desires truly are if they will remain in business and grow and compete with online sellers who continue to hone their algorithms and offerings based on purchase history.
Preemptive distribution will begin to take hold as shoppers become more familiar with the same price, hand delivery, expert benefits from retailers like enjoy.com. Personalization moves from being a plus for some to a must-have for all.
3. Bioregions
“Local” has been one of the biggest trends in the supermarket aisles for almost ten years. It is an unsustainable trend as weather conditions and climate change force changes to the sourcing of foods. Think bioregions. Nature defines the regions for what crops and livestock grow and thrive best in which climates, and we will see changes accordingly.
Think about this: California farmers moving to Georgia because of the cost of water. More wines coming from South Carolina. Produce growers moving to Peru.
A recent study by A.T. Kearney found that women and children are willing to pay more for locally produced food. The ultimate in local? Growing lettuces, herbs and yes even kale in your own kitchen year-round without herbicides. Perhaps the ultimate in bioregions? The Urban Cultivator and Grove are coming to your home very soon.
4. Micro-stores
Far from the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink hypermarkets, look for smaller, neighborhood grocers to spring up. These stores, such as ALDI (with over 1,400 locations in the U.S. and counting), Bfresh in Boston, Green Zebra in Portland are more relaxed, attentive and curated, with a heavy emphasis on products that Millennials yearn for, and buy.
Excellent private and exclusive brands with prices that this generation can afford.
Think about Lund’s & Byerlys’ Kitchen with 17,000 square ft that includes a 4,000 square foot sit-down restaurant and scores of local beers on tap. These retailers are proactive offering benefits to their shoppers, to build that relationship across many touch points. One example is how ALDI announced their decision to remove certified synthetic colors, partially hydrogenated oils and MSG from all its exclusive brand foods by the end of 2015.
Look for these micro-stores to take a stand and dispel the belief that you need to stock 50,000 SKUs to be successful, or that you have to serve everyone everything.
5. A new way of eating
Beware of Dr. Google. Your shoppers now rely on search engines to find out about diets, health issues, nutrition and what they should be eating. According to the 2015 SupermarketGuru National Grocers Association Consumer Survey, the internet is the number one source for nutrition information and as almost 50% of people in the U.S. say their diet could be healthier. This trend will continue – unless stores can disrupt the pattern by offering retail dietitians, health fairs and a 24/7 source of unbiased food and health information.
In 2016, we will see new kinds of proteins that are more sustainable and affordable than animal sources. Algae, nuts, vegetable, yeast and even insects will be used as ingredients to up the protein punch and we will see development of new healthier profiles such as Thrive – a cooking and salad oil made from algae that has 75% less saturated fat than olive oil and has the highest level of monounsaturated fat.
Look for an emphasis on “less is more” – fewer ingredients, and many more products touting their “free from” claims – free from growth hormones, free from GMOs and even stoic brand like Kraft Mac & Cheese and kids’ breakfast cereals highlighting their free from “artificial” claims. 28% of shoppers want minimal processing and one-quarter say they want a short list of ingredients. IFIC’s Annual Food & Health Survey reports that 36% of shoppers say they worry about chemicals in their foods; and foods labeled with a health attribute have enjoyed a sales increase of 13% in the last year, vs. overall flat sales throughout the store.
6. Technology to the rescue
In every way, from supply chain to point-of-sale systems to loyalty and more, technology continues to affect the food retail industry, and there’s no chance of that stopping. But as so many technologies flood the market, some of them aren’t that reliable.
Retailers should be certain they have accurate and relevant information on their websites and apps, so shoppers don’t have to go to other sources.
We cherish our mobile devices, and believe everything that is on the screen. The opportunity to retain a shopper relationship will come through information, service and empowerment. Now more than ever we need to equip store level personnel with information and technologies that can answer the questions that shoppers have. To create a food experience like no other with tastings and classes. To truly be the center of a community.
What will 2016 be like? More mobile. More delivery. More artisan. More curated. More delivered. More nutrition. More expensive.
While some trends that found footing in 2015 will continue to grow in popularity, 2016 will also bring about new concepts and focusses.
1. Chef-casual
As Americans’ appetite for casual dining shows no signs of waning, savvy upscale operators will implement a high-low strategy. We saw this trend emerge (Marcus Sammuelsson’s StreetbirdNYC, Richard Blais’s FLIP Burger, Rick Bayless’s Xoco) and 2016 will only bring more examples.
In a risky act of foodservice subversiveness, well-known L.A. chef Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson of Coi and Alta in San Francisco are taking on the fast food giants where they’re most in demand—the inner cities of places like San Francisco, L.A. and Detroit. Their fast food concept, LocoL, is looking to disrupt Big Fast Food with a cleaner and healthier alternative.
2. Chef’s Choice
Tasting menus are alive and well at many top restaurants, and will continue to be in the next year. While some offer the full experience alongside an a la carte or prix-fixe option, several offer only a tasting menu or don’t even print a menu at all (Ronny Emberg’s Atera). All of these trends reflect diners’ desire for a more chef-curated experience.
3. Cool Bowls
Bowl foods will show up on more menus. Heard of Acai bowls? They’re the new smoothie, according to consultants and trend watchers Baum + Whiteman in their annual trends report. Acai bowls start with frozen pulp from the superfruit, thinned out to a scoopable texture with milk (usually soy), and finished with fruit, granola, chia seeds, coconut flakes, peanut butter or other toppings. Like the one above from Jugos in Boston, they menu for about $10.
Poke bowls are next on the raw fish front. Cubed ahi tuna or other fish is marinated in a bolder, more savory sauce than its ceviche cousin and served over seaweed-seasoned rice. The Hawaiian dish is all over L.A. and is also popping up in Boston, New York and Salt Lake City.
4. Food Halls
The U.S. got its first taste of the modern iteration of the food hall in 2010 when Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich launched Eataly in New York. Influenced by European markets, today’s food halls are showcases for local restaurant operators, food artisans and other purveyors.
2015 saw a food hall boom, and more will join their ranks in 2016. Often housed in repurposed urban spaces, and featuring attractive communal dining spaces, these elevated offspring of the 1970s food court are a stylish, social and convenient way to eat and shop. Some developers have even seen fit to include short-term incubator spaces for emerging concepts (Avanti, Denver; 4th Street Market, Santa Ana, CA.)
Other food halls in development include:
Anthony Bourdain’s yet-unnamed 155,000-sq.-ft. food hall at Pier 57, lower Manhattan. Once completed in 2017, the “chaotic, in a good way…Asian night market,” as the No Reservations star has described it, will be New York’s largest food hall.
James Beard Public Market, Portland, OR, is named for the culinary icon born there. The indoor-outdoor waterfront space will be served by 90 vendor stalls.
The Marketplace at the National, Chicago: On the ground floor of a historic 1907 building, with 10 stalls featuring “many of Chicago’s most respected chefs and restaurant groups.”
Detroit Ship Yard, 10,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and gallery space in repurposed shipping containers.
The Hall at 400 Fairview, located in a new suburban Seattle office tower promises the “spirit and energy of an open-air market.”
5. Sister Farms & Onsite Gardens
“Farm-to-table” dining is so ubiquitous now that restaurants don’t need to tout it. But many of the best are taking the concept to the next level, using their own gardens and farms to produce ingredients for the kitchen. The French Laundry is famous for its bountiful kitchen garden, while Arethusa al Tavolo was born out of Arethusa Farm — chefs and growers are more connected than ever.
6. Snacks and blurred dayparts
Make room on your menu for snacks as customers continue to want customizable experiences and something to nosh whenever the craving hits. Increasingly, guests are looking for snacks that deliver protein and other nutrients. The ideal snack combines sweetness with salty, spicy or smoky flavors. The chorizo-stuffed dates at Paul Kahan’s Avec in Chicago are a perfect example.
Here are some more:
At The Violet Hour cocktail lounge in Chicago, snacks include roasted nuts with cayenne, paprika, sugar and oregano; and a truffled ricotta tartine of toasted rye bread topped with ricotta, truffle oil, herbs, honey and arugula.
At Bryant Ng’s Cassia in L.A.: Kaya (coconut jam)-filled toast made from brioche and served with a slow-cooked egg.
At Sambar in L.A.: Chicken wings finished with Malabar hot sauce and summer fruit chutney.
7. Southern roots
2016 will embrace the South and its ultimate culinary icon, fried chicken—a carryover trend of the last few years that’s showing no signs of fatigue.
In fact, the experts at Baum + Whiteman have called 2016 “the year of fried chicken.” The dish not only crosses geographical lines, but the dining spectrum as well. A host of startup and independent fast casual chicken concepts (including David Chang’s Fuku, a fried chicken sandwich shop in NYC, and Danny Meyer’s Chicken Shack) will expand and give the chicken chains a run for their money.
8. Vegtables are still stars
As Restaurant Hospitality predicted last year, vegetables will still be center stage in restaurant dishes in 2016, often taking center-of-the-plate roles and pushing protein over to the side.
Consumers seeking more antioxidants and fewer hormones, rising beef prices, and vegetables’ seasonal nature and variations are driving this trend. The radish plate at Vedge in Philadelphia, for instance, features eight different varieties of the vegetable, prepared in eight different ways.
Vegetable-forward eating is shedding its earthy-crunchy rep and associations with odd meat substitutes. Hearty cauliflower or portobello steaks aren’t trying to be something they’re not. They’re out and proud because chefs are making them delicious and satisfying. Watch for the “root to stem” movement (similar to the zero-waste, nose-to-tail movement) to gain traction, says Baum + Whiteman.
So what does 2016 have in store for restaurants: a more casual and community focus, lots of vegetables and fried chicken, chef-centered menus.
In today’s restaurant and bar scene, with both fancy ice programs and water sommeliers, clearly people have begun to appreciate the finer aspects of H20’s role behind the bar or at the dinner table. But, water plays an even bigger role elsewhere, before it’s ever frozen into those perfectly aesthetic, slow-melting ice spheres, or bottled up for exorbitantly priced sales all on its own. Water sources, and their unique and distinctive attributes, have a huge impact on the specific flavors and qualities of spirits from around the world.
Water & Whiskey
A great place to begin a global journey in search of the importance of water sources for spirits is in Kentucky. While the development of the burgeoning whiskey industry in Kentucky hundreds of years ago had more to do with farming, the limestone water is what made the whiskey particularly good to begin with, and what kept the industry rooted there.
“Water sources, and their unique and distinctive attributes, have a huge impact on the specific flavors and qualities of spirits from around the world.”
Kentucky’s limestone water supply provides minerals to the water, filters out certain undesirable compounds, and also affects pH levels, which plays a key role in the distillation process. Step into any distillery in Kentucky and “limestone” will be a prominent player in that particular brand’s story.
As it is with New York’s bagels and pizza crusts, Kentucky’s whiskey is imbued with minerals from local water that affect, and improve, the end product. Meanwhile, some of the best bourbon made outside of Kentucky hails from locales touting limestone water supplies.
Limestone quarry in Jessamine County, KY
In Japan, Suntory Whisky, which produces the Yamazaki, Hakushu and Hibiki brands, takes their relationship and balance with nature quite seriously across all fronts. This includes with their water sources, both of which were designated by the Japanese Ministry of Environment as among the “most precious” water sources in the country.
Suntory calls their water sources “soulplaces” for the brand, referring to the concept in Japanese culture of a dwelling that becomes a source of spiritual inspiration. The brand explains:
“Water, with its purity, has always been the representative elemental force for Suntory soulplaces.”
The Japanese whisky giant seeks to embody balance and harmony between “the art of Japanese nature” and “the art of Japanese people” to create their tagline, “The Art of Japanese Whisky.” A pure water source is an integral component of that equation.
Elsewhere in the whiskey industry, in Scotland, water is actually the source of one popular misconception about Scotch-namely how it’s peated. Peaty flavors do not come from water which flows through or comes into contact with peat, bur rather is the result of using peat smoke to dry barley.
Clear Spirits
Water quality and purity is even more important for spirits other than whiskey, where barrels and the aging process may account for upwards of 60 percent of the whiskey’s final character. Vodka, for instance, has no such helpers along the way to producing a desirable flavor profile.
“For us, the biggest piece is water,” explains Chris Doyle, Finlandia Vodka brand manager at Brown-Forman. “It’s the number one ingredient with vodka.”
Finlandia’s water source is pure glacial spring water which has been naturally filtered through moraine sand deposits that resulted from the end of the Ice Age.
This process allows the company to forgo modern purification systems such as deionization or osmosis, and offers their vodka a signature quality.
Maintaining water purity not only in the brand’s home of Finland, but across the globe, has become a priority for Finlandia. They donate one percent of all U.S. sales to water-centric environmental nonprofits in conjunction with the 1% For The Planet association.
Finlandia also just released a video documentary series, Journey From the Source, highlighting unique water adventurers while seeking to raise awareness for the importance of preserving pure water sources, such as the one they depend upon for their product.
Extreme paddleboarding in ‘Journey From The Source’
“Our partners are about keeping water clean,” explains Doyle. It’s not only for vodka’s sake, though, “But keeping water clean environmentally, and also so you can go out and enjoy it, and do cool stuff in it.”
Martin Miller’s Gin is another clear-spirit brand which places a premium on the purity of its water. After distillation, they proof their gin down with pure spring water from Borgarnes, Iceland.
The water they use there is said to naturally have 8 to 30 parts per million of dissolved solids, comparative to leading bottled water brands at about 300 to 400 parts per million, making it at least 10 times purer based on that measure.
Borgarnes water also has a particularly high surface tension, which the brand explains works by “inhibiting evaporation of the volatiles that want to escape quickly -the aromas, the bouquet.”
Therefore, their gin is touted as having a softer nose, to go along with a distinctive flavor profile, and a delicate mouthfeel. It hides more of the alcohol’s heat and showcases more of the herbal flavors.
Water Purification at the Bar
Back behind the bar, controlling the specific taste of water remains important. This includes ice used in drinks, whether it’s part of an “ice program” or not. Anybody who has ever had an at-home batch of ice go bad because, who knows what was stinking up the space next to it in the freezer, can understand that controlling the flavor of ice itself is important.
Further, bars who regularly produce their own syrups and other ingredients want more control over the water they’re using. For instance, at DC Harvest in Washington, D.C., bar manager Matthew Fisk filters the District’s notoriously funky-tasting tap water, and then adds in his own preferred levels of minerals to ensure he’s getting the perfect result from his ingredients.
If he’s considering every other factor and carefully fine-tuning his recipes, why wouldn’t he also want exacting power over the water itself?
Across town at Jack Rose Dining Saloon, the entire three-story building has a water purification system in place. Therefore, when imbibers carefully add a touch of water from an eye dropper to a dram of whiskey, one is accurately opening up the spirit’s aromas, not mucking them up with tap water.
From Suntory’s soulplaces to Finlandia’s glacial springs, Kentucky’s limestone and beyond, don’t overlook the role of water in the spirits and cocktails you love.
You’re in a bar, maybe celebrating the weekend or just blowing off some steam, but you’re not enjoying yourself because you’re getting the cold shoulder from the bartender. Maybe it’s them, but probably not. What’s more likely is that your etiquette is lacking, so what to do?
Well, if you want a drink, then DON’T…
1. Fail to have your money ready
We’re waiting on you. Everyone else is waiting on us. Therefore, by the Transitive Property of Equality, everyone is waiting on you. Rule #1: Have your stuff together. Not only will following Rule #1 get you served quicker in a bar, it’s a good general rule to adopt in life. All about efficiency, people.
2. Put pennies and nickels in the tip jar
We don’t want that crap in our pockets any more than you do. We don’t have anything smaller than quarters. Have you ever ordered a drink that cost $3.17?
3. Wave money
Oh, you’ve got a dollar! So does the guy next to you.
4. Give the ever-expanding drink order
You want a Bud. I go get it. I come back and now you want a Margarita. Okay, no prob. I come back, and (oh yeah!) now you want a shot of Tequila, too. You really could have told us this all at once. See Rule #1.
5. Say “make it strong!” or “put a lot of liquor in it”
Are you one of those rare people at bars who like their drinks “strong?” When you say this, it’s like you’re assuming I make weak drinks (which is insulting) and you’re assuming that I’ll stiffen this one up for my new best buddy, you. This is the best way to get a weak drink.
6. Yell out the bartender’s first name
There’s something unnerving about hearing your name called out, turning around and seeing a complete stranger. That’s one of the reasons strippers use stage names. Bartenders do too. Mine is Pixie.
7. Whistle. Just don’t.
You whistle at dogs, not people.
8. Assume we know you’re in the band
We know, we know, you’re gonna be really famous, but you’re not there yet, tiger. Tell us you’re in the band and which band you’re in…chances are we’ll have something to talk about. If you act like a pretentious ass, then we definitely won’t. Capiche?
9. Assume we know you. Period.
Unless you’ve followed the first “Do” rule below, we don’t remember you. You are one of a thousand faces for us, and when you point at an empty glass or a beer bottle that’s invariably facing away from us, your attempt at a shortcut backfires. Please just tell us what you want.
10. Apologize for sucking
Don’t apologize for not tipping. Acknowledging that you suck is not the same as not sucking. Oh, and don’t say “I’ll get ya next time.” We know all about you.
11. Be “The Microbrew Aficionado”
Usually a pseudo-hippy who can’t tip a quarter but can’t bring himself to drink “schwag,” and who has to sample some new berry-wheat-harvest-ale that he heard about at Burning Man. “Do you have the new Vernal-Equinox Special Welcome-Fest?” “Does Anyone?” Here’s your Newcastle. Go.
12. Assume soft drinks are free
Are they free at McDonald’s? Are they free at Wal-Mart? Are they free anywhere? I blame M.A.D.D. for this myth.
13. Ask me to charge your phone behind the bar
Every bartender is different about this, but if they’re busy no one wants to deal with your technology. Also, if you drink too much and leave your phone you’re going to have a bad morning. And no bartender wants you to have a bad morning.
It’s that time of year again; the gift-giving season is upon us. And while some have no trouble finding a perfect present, others may need a little assistance. So, to lend a helping hand, here are 20 gift ideas for the alcohol enthusiast. Whether it’s a taste for wine or liquor, knowledge or gadgets, we have them here.
These whiskey and wine glasses, blown in Fort Collins, Colorado by Ben Belgrad, are great examples of hand-crafted love and attention. Belgrad, a Chicago-born glass-blower puts careful attention into each glass and offers individual glasses as well as full sets. Whiskey drinkers love having their designated whiskey glass, so give them what they love while supporting local art.
Terry Theise’s “Reading Between the Wines” is a perfect gift for wine enthusiasts. This expansive yet accessible book reflects on the beauty of wine culture and the intricate, refined industry. These goes deep into the wine experience from tasting and pairing to cultivation and technique. “Reading Between the Wines” is a tribute to the elaborate, emotional connection that we have with wine and offers an in-depth look at how the industry has grown and blossomed.
Experience whiskey at its full potential. With these whiskey stones, made from Vermont soapstone, get the cool temperature in your bourbon, scotch or whiskey without diluting the taste. Simply freeze these cubes in your freezer and use them as you would ice cubes. The perfect gift for the whiskey aficionado.
For the white wine drinkers out there, enjoy your beverage without compromising the taste by watering it down with ice cubes. These wine pearls are a great addition to summer drinking experience. Freeze these stainless steel pearls in your freezer and use them to cool down your wine.
Dazzle your friends and family at your next cocktail party with this ten-in-one, all-purpose bar tool. This Swiss Army knife of bartending tools includes a jigger, zester, muddler, strainer, channel knife, corkscrew, bottle opener, stirrer, reamer and bar knife. Have everything you need in the palm of your hand.
Discretion has never been so convenient in this portable flask with stow-away shot glass. Perfect for when you’re on the go, this flask is a handy way to measure your consumption. Take it camping or use it for your backyard barbecue.
Decant your wine straight into your glass with this innovative self-aerating wine glass. Simply pour the wine right into your glass and let it do all the decanting for you. This new technology allows you to aerate the wine, as you would in a decanter, through the inner cell, releasing the aroma and tannin equally into your glass.
Paul Clarke, Editor of Imbibe, has nicely distilled a decade of accumulated knowledge to provide some 200 recipes along with snapshot-like essays about cocktail history and the evolution of the American bar. Cocktails covered range from the oft-quaffed (daiquiri, old-fashioned) to the newfangled (Chartreuse swizzle, Fort Washington flip), and will easily provide a year’s worth of exploration for those forging deeper into the thickets of bottles and bitters.
Give the gift of beer. The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club is one of many places to get this perfect gift for beer lovers. Buy your loved ones a subscription to the Beer of the Month Club and let them sample some of the best craft beers in circulation.
A veteran columnist for the Wine Spectator, Kramer wants to establish fresh guidelines for assessing the quality and character of individual wines and to toss aside the two most common critical tools: the 100-point rating scale and the trusty array of fruit, vegetable and mineral wine descriptors. The better way to get at a wine’s attributes, Mr. Kramer argues, is via seven simple words: texture, insight, harmony, finesse, nuance, layers and surprise.
So you think you’ve tried them all? Prove it. With this 50-state beer bottle cap map you can let your beer lovers prove their wide-ranging love of beer. Fill the map with a beer from each state and feel a strong sense of…accomplishment.
Perfect for the aspiring bartender, Mittie Hellmich’s book, “The Ultimate Bar Book”, contains over 1,000 cocktail recipes and techniques. From simple, everyday cocktails to old-time favorites, Hellmich covers everything you need to know to make all the important drinks. This in-depth look into bar knowledge and form will help anyone become a better bartender and hone their skills.
Add some character and hilarity to your drinking experience. These beer mustaches simply hook onto your beer and bring joy to you and whoever gets to watch you drink.
Whiskey enthusiasts unite over this beautifully written guide to some of the worlds best whiskies. Buxton’s book takes you on a global tour of some of the most famous and most interesting whiskey varieties while peppering in some new and rare brands that you may have overlooked. If whiskey is your game, this is your book.
Never confuse your drink with someone else’s again. With the chalkboard glasses, easily etch your mark on your drink to ensure that you never forget which one is yours. Perfect for parties and narcissists, chalkboard glasses are a fun way to keep track of your drink and bring some added fun to drinking.
Nothing says “I love you” like a fridge full of beer, but a fridge that IS beer, that is above and beyond. The kegerator lets you joyfully express your love for beer with a built-in tap and easy-to-use filter system. Blow the minds of your loved ones with this ideal gift for the beer drinkers in your family.
The wall bottle opener will ensure you always know where your bottle opener is. Perfect for your bar at home or wherever you do your drinking, the wall opener is a convenient way to add style and show your priorities.
These creative coasters give you the perfect place to put your wine corks. Simply place the corks in the wood from and glue them down and you have a perfect set of usable coasters. Recycle all your favorite wine corks in a simple and fun art project, making a perfect gift.
Ever wonder where bars get those huge ice cubes for your Old Fashioned? Look no further with this simple big ice cube mold. Just fill it with water, toss it into your freezer and pop out the cubes for a better whiskey experience. The perfect gift for those post-work, wind-down drinks. Whether you’re drinking your whiskey on the rocks or mixing a drink, do it right using the whiskey cube mold.
Pay homage to Oktoberfest with this boot-shaped beer glass. This playful and unique vessel will take you back to the beer gardens in Germany and prove your love for beer. Don’t forget to twist the glass at the end so you don’t splash.
