Since today is the first day back to work for many after the long holiday weekend and is also what many have now come to call “Cyber Monday“, I thought it would be fitting to write up a fun post to get you in the holiday spirit. And one which would hopefully prove helpful to some. Without further adieu, here are (only in some sort of order; it’s not exact) the Top 10 Holiday Gifts for the Beer Lovers in Your Life:

10. Cornhole sets. I’m not a huge fan of most drinking games. Sure they can be fun, but they more often than not require guzzling, not savoring, large quantities of mediocre beer. And I’m obviously an advocate of quality over quantity. One game which I do love, though, and which goes great with a good brew (since there’s no need to rush your drinking while you play) is Cornhole. Cornhole.com has a great “Holiday Gift Set” which includes everything you need to play cornhole, including your choice of white or natural finished cornhole boards, 8 regulation cornhole bags, cornhole scoreboards, board and bag carrying tote bags, and 2 drink coozies. All for only $160. And it looks like right now, if you enter the coupon code: xmas10 at checkout, you’ll get 10% off your order!

9. Beer of the Month Clubs and Beer Gift Baskets. More often than not, these clubs and gift baskets are kind of a crapshoot in terms of what beers you’ll get with your order. But lately, with the continued increase in attention craft beer has been receiving from the mainstream world, clubs and gift baskets have been getting better and better with their offers. They know that a bottle of Bass Ale no longer passes as “gourmet”. If these are gifts you’re considering, check out the Beer of the Month Club from Clubs of America and the Beer Gift Basket from GourmetGiftBaskets.com. Order before December 31, enter the coupon code Brew5 and enjoy $5 off your order.

8. Craft Beer Clothing. There are some great options out there to clothe the beer fan in your life. Most every brewery has at least a decent collection of threads, often on their website. Or check out craftbeerclothing.com and the awesome beer-related shirts (see that picture over there for an example) they’re delivering on at great prices. Plus, now through December 25th, enter the coupon code: “holidaybeer” to get 15% off your entire order at craftbeerclothing.com!

7. A Brewer’s Weekend. Here in New England (and probably elsewhere in the country but I don’t know about them personally ) there are a few options for so-called “Brewer’s Weekends” which include weekend stays at inns which double as breweries and include a brewer’s dinner, hands-on brewing experiences and, well, a whole lot of beer in general. Local examples: The Woodstock Inn in N. Woodstock, NH, which has packages ranging in cost from $200 to $300 for the weekend; and The Norwich Inn in Norwich, VT, which doubles as a brewpub. Rates are $70-$150 a night, not including beer and food.

6. Beer Magazine Subscriptions. Mutineer Magazine, Beer Advocate magazine, All About Beer, Draft Magazine, Beer, Brew Your Own, Zymurgy — the official magazine of the American Homebrewers’ Association — and Beers of the World; the list goes on. But needless to say, there are lots of magazines out there to satisfy your monthly need for fresh written words on the world of craft brew.

5. A Kegerator. There are great sites out there — including KegWorks.com and Kegerators.com — which offer lots of options, from conversion kits (to make better use of that ugly old fridge sitting in your garage) to single or multi-tap pre-made kegerators. If you know someone whose been homebrewing for awhile and is finally ready to make the leap from bottles to kegging, nothing says “I love you AND your beer” like a new kegerator.

4. Stock. Oneshare.com offers single shares of stock in many big name national brands (from Apple Computers to Krispy Kreme to Playboy) including the largest American-owned brewery, The Boston Beer Co. (makers of Sam Adams) who thankfully still produce some great beers of their own. Why not show a loved one you care with a custom-framed stock certificate (The scrollwork on the Boston Beer Stock Certificate is uniquely etched with pictures of barley and hops) signed by Jim Koch.

3. Beer books. The list of great beer books out there which every beer fan should own is almost never-ending (and constantly expanding), but some must-haves for every Christmas stocking are The Brewmaster’s Table by Brooklyn Brewing’s own Garrett Oliver; He Said Beer, She Said Wine by Marnie Old and Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head; The Beer Book (Hardcover); Tasting Beer: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink (Paperback); The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer; for the entrepreneurs on your list, Brewing Up a Business and Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery; and any number of homebrewing books, including How to Brew, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, and Brew Like a Monk.

2. Beer. When all else fails, there really is no gift better than a bottle of beer itself. If you’re traveling for the holidays, maybe bring a bottle of beer your family can’t get in their home state or pick up a bottle otherwise outside of your price range for a rare holiday treat. And remember just how important pairing beer with your holiday meals is. A nice bottle of beer is “the new wine” when it comes to housewarming presents and holiday get-togethers.

1. Homebrew supplies. In my humble opinion, the single best beer-related gift you can get someone this holiday season is homebrew supplies. A homebrew starter kit and one of the how-to books above if the recipient has never brewed before, or a new supply kit or even gift certificate if you know a homebrewer. I have long maintained that nothing gets someone into beer, into appreciating better beer like knowing what it takes to brew your own. If you don’t have a local homebrew supply shop you can buy from, check out northernbrewer.com, austinhomebrew.com and the Brooklyn Brew Shop (see my write-up of their awesome business here).

Happy holidays and happy (beer) shopping! What would you add to the list?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! May you all have great beer, great food, great friends, great family and a great time together this holiday. And as always, thank you so much for your continued support and readership of BlogAboutBeer.com!

If you haven’t yet planned your beer consumpsion for today, click here to see some posts I’ve written on the subject in the past. And please share what you plan to drink today with everyone in the comments section below.

Cheers, all!

Famed beer blogger and author of  The Good Beer Guide to New England, Andy Crouch, is reporting that Vermont mega (as craft breweries are concerned, anyway) brewer Long Trail Brewing Co. is in the process of purchasing neighboring Otter Creek/Wolver’s Brewing Co. According to Crouch,

Long Trail Brewing Company of Bridgewater Corners, Vermont, is in the process of purchasing the Otter Creek Brewing Company, of Middlebury, Vermont. The parties are in the process of perusing all the relevant financials [sic] and a deal would give Long Trail access to necessary additional capacity, while leaving Otter Creek and its brands in an unknown position. Details regarding the actual sale remain pretty closely held.

We’ll see what the eventual outcome of the deal is. If it means expansion for Otter Creek (my favorite of the two, certainly, and a brewery in general that has never let me down), than I’m happy for them. If it means trouble for the Otter Creek brand, than I am deeply saddened by the news. The Otter Creek brewery itself is one of my favorite breweries in New England to visit — great tasting taps flowing at all times, friendly staff, free pretzels and a disc golf hole on the premises — and many of their beers, especially the new imperial series, are outta this world. Their brewery is also used as part of the hands-on “campus” for the school at the American Brewers Guild (where friends of mine got into the business) and is where Allagash founder Rob Tod first learned to love beer (Otter Creek itself, not the ABG).

I have nothing against Long Trail — they make some fine brews and more power to ‘em for being in a position of expansion. But nevertheless, this is a deal I’m going to try and keep a close eye on and I do hope they opt to keep the Otter Creek brand in place.

Needless to say, I was really excited when a friend who was up visiting from Massachusetts recently brought with him a bottle of Newport Storm (Coastal Extreme Brewing Co.) Luke. ‘Cause, well, that’s me. So maybe, given the beer’s name, I’m a little biased as I write my review. But regardless, this was one damn tasty brew!

The bottle describes the beer as an “India Style Red Ale” but at an ABV just shy of nine percent and 65 IBU’s, I’d say it’s much more like an “imperial” or “double” red ale. The beer pours a great rusted caramel red color, with one of the biggest, puffiest, most pillow-like head I’ve ever seen on a beer. Slightly off-white in color, too. And the head retention is great, too, with a whole lotta lacing going on as it slowly recedes.

The nose on this beer is great, too. A great battle of floral and spicy hops and toasted, biscuity caramel malts going on. Some dark fruits, too. It’s spicy one sniff and sweet the next; pretty neat stuff. The mouthfeel is big and bold with lots of carbonation.

The taste is as can be expected from the nose – a lot of slightly toasted (not overly roasted, if that makes sense) malts and caramels with some vanilla in there as well. Plus there’s a great earthy, piney hop bite that hits you as the beer washes over the back of the tongue. You can definitely tell that there are nearly 9 percents of alcohol in there, too. In fact, that’s the only real downside of this beer; as it warms up, the alcohol got to be a little too overpowering. Not in a bad way, I’d just recommend drinking this one on the colder side.

The Newport Storm website doesn’t say much about this beer — could be because they’re in the process of moving to a new location and have other things to focus their website on — but by the look of the rest of the Cyclone Series beers, this one probably won’t be around for too long. But if you happen to find yourself in their distribution range, have a friend who is, or can make a trade for a bottle, I would definitely recommend it. Even without a great name, Luke is a great beer to try.

Needless to say, I’m a big advocate of beer rather than wine ’round the Thanksgiving dinner table. And I’ve written about it at Thanksgiving time every year the blog’s been around (last year’s post here). And the fact remains, if you want to wax traditional this holiday, than wine has no place at the Thanksgiving feast. The Pilgrims, after all, drank tankards of ale with their meal. It’s even been suggested that the reason the colony ended up where it did was because the Pilgrims had run out of beer and needed to set up shop somewhere quickly so they could begin brewing more. William Bradford, the father of American Thanksgiving, is oft quoted as writing,

“We could not now take much time for further search [for an ideal destination,] our victuals being much spent, especially our beer.”

To that end, the folks at SeriousEats.com have come up with a list of what they believe to be the perfect beers for your Thanksgiving meal this year. While it’s definitely an article worth your time, I’ve personally only had a few of the brews on their list but it sounds like they did pretty extensive research (poor them) to whittle down the list and have very good reasons and explanations for choosing the beers they did. Their recommended Thanksgiving beers:

• Bière de Garde (Southhampton Brewery)
• French Style Country Ale (Two Brothers)
• Ashland Amber (Caldera Brewing)
• Singel Ale (Witkap Pater)
• Kerberos Tripel (Flying Dog)
• 2° Below (New Belgium)
• Frambozen (New Belgium)
• Levitation Ale (Stone Brewing)

Personally, I’ll be choosing a bottle of Allagash Fluxus ‘09 to accompany my Thanksgiving feast. The beer having been brewed with black pepper, sweet potatoes, I think it will compliment my meal nicely, provide a little bit of a palate-cleansing bite (from the black pepper) and enough backbone (from the malts and the yams, which add significant body) to stand up to the hearty Thanksgiving dishes. What beers will you be drinking this holiday?