Wow! That's the best beer ever, dear! |
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What a Homebrewer Likes They like beer. Especially their beer. No, scratch that. They especially like other people to especially like their beer. If you want to make your homebrewer happy, like their beer. Loudly. Wax poetic, if need be. If you really want to make them happy, get a group of other people to come over and like their beer. Seriously, this is a social hobby. When you brew beer, you end up with - beer! Nothing lends itself to get-togethers like a big pile of beer. Throw a beer party for your homebrewer featuring their beer. Throw everything you can find on the grill and invite their friends. If their friends are not brewers, invite them to enjoy your homebrewer's beer. If they are brewers, suggest they bring a batch of their own brew over. Have a big old beer-tasting! For extra bonus points, walk around the party loudly proclaiming that all these beers are wonderful - almost as good as the beer your homebrewer made. Not into hosting the party yourself? Talk to the local pub. See if they'd like to host a beer-tasting. They'd probably like the opportunity to host such a thing. 
Find out about Homebrewing You can find out what they're up to without much effort. The following resources should help. Imagine the fun of finally understanding what they're talking about! Ask your Homebrewer Brewing is a process. Depending on how your homebrewer does it, it can be an extensive process with lots of steps. "So, how's the beer coming?" is likely to garner some pretty interesting information, especially if your homebrewer thinks you really want to know. There are a lot of things to like about this particular hobby besides the final product. You might find yourself getting into it! Explore a Parallel Hobby A lot of things go with beer. With a little creativity, pretty much anything can go with beer. Find ways to integrate your homebrewer's beer into whatever you do with your time. If you like to cook, you've got a perfect in. Try making dishes that complement whatever kind of beer your brewer is trying at the moment. If you need some suggestions, take a look at these listings from Beertown.org. If you want to cook using the beer itself, this site has some truly scrumptious looking recipes! You can also look into recipes that use the spent grain. Here are a few to get you started:
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Gift Ideas Unlike many hobbies, this one offers a wide range of gift choices. With options ranging from gift certificates to multinational microbrewery tours, you can keep your homebrewer hopping. Get it? Hopping? Hops? Sigh. Never mind.
Gift Certificates Brewing is a batch process, so these folks always need more supplies. Gift certificates are always welcome and allow them to get whatever kind of supplies they need for whatever kind of brew they're trying at the moment. Local Homebrew Shops Like many hobbyists, mostly homebrewers like to shop locally. It gives them the opportunity to socialize and trade recipes and tips with the proprietor and the other patrons. Check the Yellow Pages for local homebrew shops. If you aren't local to your homebrewer, try one of these homebrew shop listings. We found several within 20 minutes of us! Homebrew Supply Shops at Beertown.org Homebrew Supply Shops Locator at RealBeer.com If you can't find a local shop, Northern Brewer has it all and is a perennial homebrewer favorite. With gift certificates starting at $1.00, you can make any budget work! This online store has wide selection of items and is organized in a way that we found very easy to manage. Lots of pictures! To send a gift certificates, you put in any amount you want starting at $1.00. You can't get more flexible than that.
Clean Up A big brew day has a lot in common with cooking a big family dinner. When you're done, the kitchen is a mess of pots, dirty dishes and other debris. If you want to see your homebrewer faint with joy, catch them at the end of a long brewing day and tell them to go relax while you wash up the pile of dishes and mop the floor. They'll think they've died and gone to a happy place.
Memberships and Magazines American Homebrewers Association Membership A gift membership to the AHA would be welcomed by any homebrewer. It comes with a subscription to Zymurgy magazine, lots of good information and discounts on all the best homebrewer gatherings and activities. They get a gift card announcing their membership, and you get a happy homebrewer.
Books
Time They call it a "brew day" for a reason. From start to finish, they need 6-9 hours to brew a batch, not counting getting the yeast started and ordering supplies. They want to go to the game and the recital and dinner and all that stuff, but they also want to brew beer. Try to set aside at least one day a month when your homebrewer isn't scheduled for anything else. And don't forget to let them know when it is!
Custom Glassware Personalized beer glasses and mugs are a great gift for a homebrewer. It can be hard to get small quantities, but Esigns4u does custom etching on a nice selection of glassware with a minimum order of only one item! We ordered some mugs for our homebrewer and were very happy with the quality, selection and delivery speed of our order.
Bottles Clean 'em Want to see a happy homebrewer? Offer to clean bottles for them. You'll need a bottle brush and a sanitizing agent. Your brewer has these things and will fall over themselves to get them into your hands if you offer to do this chore for them now and then. Save 'em If you have brown glass bottles with non-twist-off caps, save them for your homebrewer. They always need more bottles and they may fill them with beer and give them back to you! Buy 'em Boxes and trays of bottles are one of those things that show up at garage sales and auctions. If you see a big box of the right kind of bottle for a buck, grab it for your homebrewer. They need to be the kind that take non-twist-off caps, and they need to be brown glass. It really does matter. Brown glass filters light in a way that protects the beer from "skunking". If you want to be sure, you can buy them new. The standard 12 oz. bottles are always a safe choice. Many brewers like having the larger 22 oz. bottles. These make a great gift and, again, you may get them back full of beer. The local homebrew shop will have these, but, if you want to you can get them online. Northern Brewer Bottling Supplies
Kits With just a small amount of information about what kind of brewing your homebrewer does, you can get them kits that include all the ingredients they need to make a batch of beer. There is a wide variety of kits available for your brewer to try. Links are provided to online suppliers for reference, but keep in mind that most of these items are also available from your local homebrewing shop. Often with online ordering available. You need to know two main things to get your homebrewer a kit. First, do they experiment or do they stick to a particular kind of beer? Second, are they "all-grain" or "extract" brewers? Armed with that knowledge, you should be able to do a pretty good job of selecting a kit they will enjoy. When buying a kit, make sure you go to a site or store dedicated to homebrewing. They tend to create the kits from supplies in stock as opposed to a preboxed kit which may have stale and/or substandard ingredients. Never buy a kit that includes white sugar in the inventory list. Cheap kits use white sugar as a filler used to reduce the amount of malt extract they need to supply. If you're going to get a kit, get one that provides all extract with no white sugar filler. A nice range of kits with a full inventory listing of what they provide. Kennywood Brewing Supply Creatively described and often accompanied by photos of the kit contents. Yeast Starter Kit If your brewer really likes "do-it-youself" then they might enjoy propogating their own yeast. Yeast starter kits include all the necessary ingredients.
Equipment For the most part, equipment like carboys and funnels and thermometers can be covered by a gift certificate to the homebrewing supply store, but sometimes you want to give something special. Pump (All Grain) They cost upwards of $120, but they can really be a lifesaver. Best of all, you can probably actually buy the thing for them rather than having to send them to buy it themselves. March 809 Magnetic Impeller Pump Mill (All Grain) If your homebrewer is an "all grain" brewer and they don't have a mill, they probably want one. There is enough variation that you don't want to try to pick it yourself. If you have $100-$200 that isn't doing anything, get them to tell you which one they want or tell them they can go ahead and get themselves one. Conical Fermenter If you really want to be a hero, tell your homebrewer they can have a conical fermenter. These are not cheap items. Plastic ones start around $200, while the stainless steel ones start around $500. However, if you want your homebrewer to be the big dog in their homebrewing club, this is the way to do it.
Events A trip to an event or festival can really be fun. Your homebrewer gets to hobnob with like-minded folk. If you like such things, you'll have a great time too. If not, combine the trip with something you want to do. How can they say no? Keep an eye out for regional festivals in your area, as well as the big national brew-hahas. National Homebrewers Conference
Tours Microbrewery and regional brewery tours can make for a great day out. You get a first hand look at how it's done and you usually get to sample a yummy new beer! A quick way to find available tours in a particular area. Includes hours, contact info and other information.
Extravagences Beer Trips Part of the fun to be had with beer is traveling around the country (or countries) trying all the different beers. There's plenty of opportunity to combine the beer tasting with other sightseeing opportunites, If you're looking for a special vacation opportuntiy for your homebrewer, this is definitely worth a look. If you don't want to plan the trip yourself, check out the beer trips available at MoreBeer. |
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