About Beer Gifts
You want to buy the best beer gifts!
When you’re buying a gift for your brother, boss or wife getting the right gift for the beer lover in your life is about more than picking the right brewery merch or beer gift basket. We’ve had our timing messed up my slow shipping, or waiting to have the beer gift personalized.
I’ll take you through the important questions to ask when you’re buying a beer gift so you get the best gift, that’s right for the person you’re buying it for, while still getting it in time for the special occasion.
Here are the sections we’ll cover:
Who are you buying the beer gift for?
What are the best beer gifts?
Where should you buy the beer gifts?
When should buy the beer gifts?
Should you personalize the beer gift for the person or occasion?
Who are you buying the beer gift for?
You’re probably buying a beer gift for someone that’s close to you. A lot of people buy craft beer gifts for their brother, boyfriend, father, or husband. From my observation there are plenty of people buying gifts for their sister, co-workers, wife, boss or just close personal friends.
The biggest common trait is that the person either enjoys beer or has a connection with a beer or brewery. If you know about, or can find out what it is, then you’re good to go!
What’s useful to know
Do some digging! Do they have a favorite beer or brewery? The more information the better, they might have certain craft beers that they love as well as macro brews that they drink on a regular basis.
Is there personal connection between you that includes beer?
Is there a beer that you used to drink together after work or back in college? Those connections can make the gift really meaningful.
Do they have a personal connection to a particular beer or brewery?
Because of how involved breweries are with our communities there are a lot of ways that a person can be connected to a beer or a brewery. Your friend might have a beer they always drink during the 4th of July with their family, there might be a brewery that was the center of their home town or there might be a connection with their favorite baseball team.
Should you go for a small gift or do you want to get a big beer gift?
Not everyone has space or a place to hang a six foot long vintage beer sign, on top of that how would you get it to them? Depending on who you’re getting the gift for you want to make sure they have enough room for the beer gift you’re getting them, that they have a way to display the gift, and that you’ll be able to get it to them.
What’s your budget?
It’s important that you’re spending enough on the beer gift you’re getting for that special person in your life, while not making them feel guilty. The good thing about beer gifts is that you can get very nice personalized gifts for $20 and you can also get them one of a kind custom beer gifts that go for hundreds of dollars.
What are the best beer gifts?
Beer
We already covered that they like beer right? So get them some beer!
Just keep in mind that it may be difficult to ship but this is a particularly good gift for craft beer lovers. For example you could get them four hard to find beers from Treehouse along with a glass from the brewery!
Beer gift baskets
Imagine the look on their face when they realize that it’s not a gift basket of fruit but a gift basket of beer! You can put together a bunch of items from different breweries or get a pre-made gift basket. It also covers your bases with multiple items all at once.
Beer tap handles
Most breweries have a tap handle for their beer and many have a variety of tap handles that they’ve made for different beers, or just variations that they’ve designed over time.
With tap handles there are a couple of ways you can go: Get a tap handle from a brewery, have a custom tap handle made as a gift, or get an item that’s made from a tap handle ( umbrella, bottle opener, shifter ).
Coozie and coasters!
Who doesn’t want another coozie or coaster? They’re small, can be used for any beverage so it doesn’t have to beer a beer gift, and there are a lot of ways they can be customized.
Where should you buy the beer gifts?
Directly from a brewery, online or through their tap room gift shop
Breweries sell a lot of items that make great gifts for beer lovers. For craft beer gifts this will depend on the brewery and some brewers offer more merch than others. This is the best place to get craft beer, proper glassware, tap handles, and custom hats, bottle openers or umbrellas for the brewery.
From an independent crafter
Independent crafters are the best place to buy personalized items. Many crafters will do custom tap handles, beer maps, coasters, and other items. How their beer gifts are made will depend on the materials, if they’re working with wood, metal, stone or plastic. Some of the custom gifts will be entirely made by hand while others will be laser cut or made with a CNC router.
Etsy
Many crafters will offer their products on Etsy. This is a great place to discover products and get an idea of what unique beer gifts you can get. Some crafters prefer handling their orders through Etsy while you’ll find others that have their most updated products directly on their site or local shop.
Amazon
If you’re in a hurry or want to get a mass produced beer gift you can always go to Amazon. There are a few crafters that will sell their items on Amazon but right now they’re a better option for simple gifts.
When should buy the beer gifts?
Where are you getting the gift?
If you’re buying a beer gift from a brewery or directly through a crafter make sure you allow enough travel and shopping time. Many of the more popular breweries will have lines of up to two hours to get their beer.
When you’re ordering online, particularly from a crafter, make sure you check to see how long it takes them to make the beer gift and what shipping options they offer.
How long will it take to make?
If you’re getting a custom made product check to see what the production time is and if there’s any wait. For example a custom tap handle maker might be able to make you a tap handle in two days but they may also have a three week wait before they’re able to start working on your order.
How fast is shipping?
With shipping make sure you check the speed of the shipping options as well as how quickly the gift will ship out. If you order with priority shipping from a crafter it may take about a week for the beer gift to arrive if they ship out the order every two days. Likewise some items from Amazon may be on back order or shipped from international locations. That means that a back ordered item shipped from abroad could take a month to arrive.
How long does personalization take?
Most personalization options can be done in a couple of days but just like custom made gifts there may be a wait for your order to be processes. You’ll also want to look for special announcements during busy seasons like winter holidays like Christmas. Some gift makers will stop doing personalized beer gifts up to a month before a major holiday.
Should you personalize the beer gift for the person or occasion?
What are the options?
Common options are engraving, monograms, as well as custom designs (logos, colors, etc). These will vary depending on the type of gift that you’re getting.
How will you have it personalized?
Do you want to have a note? A special code or saying? You can also have the gift personalized to the occasion particularly if it’s around a holiday. If you’re planning on having text check to see what the restrictions are on characters and for logos and colors check to see what the color palate is and what the maximum dimensions of the design are.
How long does it take to have the gift personalized
This depends on how long the personalization process takes, if there are any confirmation steps, and the order backlog. If there are any confirmation steps required like reviewing a proof allow extra time for the business hours of the company or crafter that you’re working with.