Cocktails have seen a major resurgence in recent years, with mixology captivating at-home entertainers and professional bartenders alike. This boom means no shortage of barware, spirits, and cocktail paraphernalia to gift the drink-slinging hobbyist in your life. With the right gifts, you can equip any mixologist, novice or expert, with the tools to craft a mean old fashioned, icy martini or tropical tiki drink from the comforts of home.
1) Funny Cocktail Tote Bags
A humorously-printed tote bag makes both a practical and conversation-starting gift for the cocktail enthusiast. These oversized, durable bags feature cheeky phrases like “It’s wine o’clock somewhere” or “This bag contains my cocktail stuff.”
Use them to transport barware, bottles, and mixers to parties or just to stash gear at home. The removable inner insulated liner helps keep ingredients chilled. Totes range wildly in style and price, but quality constructed ones fall firmly in the budget-friendly category.
2) Variety of Designs
Shoppers can choose from a seemingly infinite number of hilarious prints and sayings to match the recipient’s tastes. From sarcastic to sassy to straight-up silly, the options run the gamut. The bags serve double duty at carrying supplies and broadcasting personal cocktail opinions to the world.
3) Insulated Cocktail Tumblers
Durable stainless steel cocktail tumblers make another ideal gift for under $25. These insulated glasses maintain ice and chill for hours, keeping cocktails icy cold even on hot summer days. They prevent condensation rings on furniture, too – a bonus! Personalize a set with custom engraving for a thoughtful touch. Brands like Timeless Artifacts and Brümate specialize in quality stainless tumblers at affordable prices.
4) Popular Tumbler Brands
Brümate offers an array of size options from 12oz slim cans to giant 23oz party cups.
Timeless Artifacts features classic straight-walled tumbler designs in matte and polished steel. Both reputable companies provide insulation that outperforms standard plastic and glass drinkware.
5) Whiskey Decanters
For liquor aficionados, consider a stately whiskey decanter in the $25-$50 range. Decanters elegantly display spirits and tend to feature ergonomic handles and slanted spouts for clean pouring.
Cut glass and crystal versions refract light for a dazzling display. Beyond aesthetics, decanting whisky allows the liquor to aerate and open up its subtle flavours. Stoppers prevent oxidation while poured samples wait for tasting. Decanters also make fine gifts for personalizing with engraved names, dates, and messages.
6) Selecting the Right Decanter
Pay special attention to size, shape, material, and stopper style when picking out a decanter. A wide, round-bottomed vessel shows off colouring, while a narrow neck limits air exposure after initial aeration.
And, glass vessel transparency provides clarity, while coloured glass blocks light that can damage liquor. So, consider fine crystal, hand-blown glass, or speckled ceramic versions. Stopper options range from simple corks to faceted glass globes.
7) Cocktail Kit Gift Sets
Take the guesswork out of shopping for multiple bar tools with an all-in-one cocktail kit gift set. These contain every implement the home mixologist could need to shake, stir, and strain professional quality drinks: shakers, jiggers, muddlers, bar spoons, strainers, shot glasses, ice cube trays, recipe books – you name it.
Budget-priced kits focus on core essentials, while higher-end sets incorporate more speciality items. They work beautifully for amateurs seeking to expand their skills and pros looking to replace worn gear.
8) Most Popular Cocktail Kits
Cocktail kits often target popular mixed drinks like martinis, margaritas, and old-fashioned. An old-fashioned set provides bitters, syrups, citrus peeler, mixing glass, and cherry garnish specifically for building the namesake whiskey drink. A margarita kit contains a shaker, lime wedge press, salt rimmer, and recipe book tailored just for tequila drinks. Even without themed components, however, standard barware sets equip drink-makers to produce hundreds of cocktail options.
9) Old Fashioned Cocktail Kits
If you want to WOW an old-fashioned purist, invest in a premium cocktail kit exclusively stocked for their signature sip. At the $50 to $100 level, you’ll discover gorgeous cut glassware, top-shelf bitters and simple syrups, exotic citrus peelers for flavorful garnish, and often cherries soaked in liquor matched to the set’s focus – like bourbon or rye whiskey.
With luxury small-batch ingredients and tools that feel sturdy and substantial in hand, recipients can emulate the experience of sipping a finely crafted old-fashioned at a swanky craft cocktail bar right at home.
10) Additional Kit Features
Higher-end old-fashioned sets go the extra mile by incorporating chilling features for serving the drink at optimal temperature. Some have thick-bottomed glasses designed specifically to hold ice spheres or stones. Others include chilling rods, stones, or cubes to get the drink cold without watering it down. A few kits even feature clever vessels for storing citrus peels long without drying out.
11) Whiskey Glass Sets
Sophisticated glassware and decanter sets make timeless gifts for the whiskey lover who seems to have it all. These showcase top-shelf whiskey, bourbon, scotch, and other fine-aged spirits in style. Premier hand-blown crystal glassware often forms part of the set – think angular faceted designs, luxurious feel snifters, and intricately cut tumblers.
Matching glass decanters give recipients a dazzling way to display prized liquor collections that still allow admiring those warm, complex colouring for aficionados who favour sipping rare spirits, glasses, and decanters make an über-luxurious gift.
12) Types of Whiskey Glasses
When selecting glasses for a whiskey set, common distinctive shapes include rock glasses featuring thick, squat bases; rounded bowls tapering into slimmer mouths for nosing and sipping; and short glasses ranging from heavy-bottomed to delicate crystal. While embossed patterns and angular cuts add visual interest, continuity across a set still allows the liquor to shine as the star attraction.
13) Popular Brands of Whiskey Glasses
Prestigious whiskey glass purveyors include Nachtmann, Riedel, Waterford, and Glencairn. Nachtmann focuses on innovative glass engineering, and Riedel on optimum flavour and aroma delivery. Waterford and Glencairn blend traditional Irish and Scottish aesthetics with bold, contemporary cuts. While price tags run high for these luxury names, critics praise their ability to amplify and elevate fine whiskey profiles.
14) Old Fashioned Whiskey Glasses
As a beloved fixture in cocktail culture, the old-fashioned glass stands apart from standard whiskey tumblers. Its shorter yet stouter silhouette – like a truncated rocks glass – accommodates both liquors and mixed drinks like old fashioned. The stocky base accommodates plenty of ice. The wider mouth fittingly showcases the depth of colour and invites lingering over its aromatic pleasures. The low profile ensures citrus oils mix throughout while the heavy bottom resists breakage
15) Decanters
Even in simplicity, finely crafted decanters radiate allure on bar carts and countertops. The liquid encased becomes a design feature itself – amber bourbons and whiskies shine brilliantly through hand-blown crystal while darker spirits mirror the vessel intricacies. Smooth curved silhouettes give certain decanters the look of the sculpture.
Geometric cuts or faceted stopper globes supply added visual intrigue and refract incoming light atmospherically. For bars leaning avant-garde, blown glass vessels in stemless shapes make modern art statements.
16) Unique Designs
Decanter variations seem endless, especially in the realm of personalization. Select styles mimic a globe terrain with etchings of longitudes and continents: some recreate ships, vehicles, animals, and even human forms through inventive glasswork. Opt for vintage profiles that recall earlier eras alongside contemporary collections if cultivating fascinating focal points. Add custom-etched messages or monograms to make decanters meaningful mementoes.
17) Premium Bartending Kits
For intermediate to advanced home mixologists looking to upgrade tools, premium bartender’s kits bring commercial-grade implements into home bars. Standout features include durable stainless steel components that feel solidly made to withstand years of use.
Many integrate pro touches like double jiggers for efficiency, extra fine strainers, and specialized citrus juicers. A common hallmark comes in the form of weighted shaking tins that chill quickly and mix thoroughly sans hand fatigue. Such speciality kits target those pursuing mixology as a serious hobby rather than a casual novelty.
18) Bar Tools
A comprehensive selection of bar tools empowers the mixologist to tackle an endless array of cocktail challenges. Essentials establish fundamentals, while speciality implements expand the creative range. Gift amateur and expert bartenders with the missing manual equipment unique to their skill levels to enable richer drink repertoires.
19) Cocktail Books: Essential Cocktail Guides
The foundation of expertise for any aspiring mixologist begins with a studied understanding of essential cocktail recipes. Standard starter books offer a canon covering 100-500 historically pivotal mixed drinks – both the classics everyone expects plus prohibition-era throwbacks enjoying a modern cult revival.
Typically arranged by spirit or cocktail styles, they detail the precise building steps from proper glassware to garnish alongside contextual anecdotes about various drinks’ folkloric origins. The scale focuses on breadth over depth, equipping home bartenders with foundational competence to riff their variations rather than limit to dogma.
Wrapping up!
Gifting cocktail culture demands an array of considerations – price, individual interests, skill levels, and functionality. Yet through a thoughtful approach, selecting standout barware and liquor accessories tailored to the recipient, donors can equip at-home mixologists for pursuing next-level drink experimentation.
Stock them with fundamental tools, stylish upgrades, and obscure manuals for unlocking additional layers of complexity. Just mind alcohol content guidelines, budgets, and liver functionality when dreaming up wishlists. But for devoted cocktail craftsmen, the perfect barware gift unlocks entire universes awaiting exploration.
