After a long day of Black Friday shopping, it’s easy to get discouraged over those who remain on your shopping list.  Fortunately, Crapmonkey is here to help you get the perfect gift for beer lovers on your list.  These gift selections span price points ranging from stocking stuffers to deal closers.  Cheers!

Books, Magazines, Newspapers (Under $20): Beer publications are always fun for beer lovers and Crapmonkey has a few favorites to suggest:
Books:

• The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food
• Ultimate Beer
• Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide
• Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass

Magazines and Newspapers:

• Brewing News (Subscribe to your regional paper or to all 7 available regions).
• BeerAdvocate Magazine
• All About Beer Magazine

American Beer – The Movie (Under $20): In June of 2002, five friends left New York City by minivan and set out across the United States to visit 38 breweries in 40 days.  This low budget film is a fun, light hearted look at the American brewing industry.

Bottle Openers:

• The Ring Thing ($8): A ring that doubles as a bottle opener.
• The Beer Clip ($15): A Money Clip (customized with initials) that doubles as a bottle opener.
• USB Flash Drives ($19): that double as bottle openers
• Wobble Bobble ($7): A Wobble Bottle Opener

The Beer Pager ($30): Do you have problems with loosing your beer at parties?  This drink cozy keeps your beer cool and can also be paged via a remote control after you’ve forgotten where you set it down.

USB Beverage Cooler ($27): This handy USB powered coaster keeps your beer cool while you blog.

The SwirlyGig Gift Set ($22): The SwirlyGig is a must-have product for any beer loving musician, performer, or podcaster.  The swirlygig attaches to mic stands, drum kits, and many other things to provide an instant place to set your drink.  This gift set comes with a SwirlyGig, a pint glass, a temporary tattoo and a guitar pick.  Very cool and original.

A Black & Tan Turtle ($10): A Black and Tan is a tasty layered drink that is fun to serve at parties.  Make sure your black and Tans come out right by enlisting the help of the Turtle.  Pour the stout over the turtles back to ensure a perfect top layer of stout.

Beer Tap Handle Display Stand ($16): If your beer lover has a kegarator, chances are they also have a drawer full of tap handles.  This stand allows your beer lover to proudly display their favorites (or, include a tap handle from their local brewery to get the collection started).

The Beer Belt ($17): Don’t be caught without a beer nearby.  This belt holds a six pack of bottles at your waist.  If you want to feel more like a beer sporting rambo, you might try the beerdolier – which straps beer cans across your chest.

Beer Games (Under $25): Brew-opoly, a beer lovers spin on Monopoly, and BrewMaster, the Craft Beer Game, are good choices in the board game department.

Beer Tasting and Hops Appreciation Kit ($40): Learn to be a beer snob!

Memberships to Beer Organizations: Many states have local organizations that are dedicated to the pursuit of good beer.  WABL is one that you can find in Washington State that boasts some great membership events and sign-up swag.  Especially useful is their monthly Newsletter.  Don’t have a local organization that you know about?  Henry, a real beer lover, has done a great job compiling a list on his blog.

Beer: This is a bit of an obvious choice, but beer is a great gift for beer lovers.  That said, despite what you’ve seen on television, you’ll want to do better than picking up a six pack of Bud.   Here are some suggestions:

• YouGotBeer.com: Not very sentimental, but this site makes it easy to send someone a beer.
• Growlers: Go to a local brewery and pick up a growler or two of your recipient’s favorite styles.  Not sure where to find a brewery?  Beertown.org has an excellent brewery locator tool.
• Party Pig (Under $80): This is two gifts in one – purchase a “Party Pig” and have it filled up by a local brewery.  The Party Pig is like a large growler designed to sit in the fridge and be used again and again.
• Beer Gift Basket: Go to a local beer store and create a gift basket out of whatever beers strike your fancy.  If you aren’t confident in your choices, beer store clerks usually love to jump in and help.  If you’re in the Seattle area – here are some great stores to check out from Federal Way to Northgate: 99 Bottles, Full Throttle Bottles, Bottleworks, Big Star Beer Market, Malt & Vine. If you’re not feeling that inspired, you can turn-key the beer gift giving with a pre-made beer gift basket from beergifts.com.
• Beer of the Month Club ($21 to $65 per month): These clubs ship unique beers to your door on a monthly bases and can usually be purchased for terms of 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.

The Keg-A-Que ($80 to $400): Perfect for the tailgating beer enthusiast on your list – these unique BBQ’s look like they were crafted from real kegs.

Home Brewing Kit: Nothing gives you an appreciation for beer like brewing your own.  Home brewing is fun and can be done in the kitchen.  Most brew stores create starter kits that are quite affordable.  Note: you usually need a stainless steel pot (at least 5 gallons) in addition to what comes in the kit.

Beer Experiences ($20 to $200): There are lots of ways to have fun in the beer culture.  Certainly, picking up tickets to an upcoming local brewfest is both entertaining and unique.   Check out the festival calendar at BeerAdvocate to see if there are any coming up in your area.  Additionally, some cities are lucky enough to have breweries that put you in the brewers seat.  In the Seattle area, Gallaghers Where-U-Brew provides an awesome experience of brewing your own beer with skilled brewmasters and professional equipment.  This type of experience makes for a very fun outing and works well as a gift certificate.

Breathalyzer ($80 to $200): Given all of these gift options, it’s likely your gift recipient may find they’ve had one too many.  Make sure they know when to call a cab with these portable breathalyzers.  (Warning: Know your recipient well – some may take offense to this gift depending on how your intentions are interpreted).

CrapMonkey Logo Merchandise: Let your beer lover know where you got these excellent gift ideas with some CrapMonkey swag.

Hopefully this list serves you well.  Is there something I forgot?  Feel free to add your additions or opinions into the comments!