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Holiday Gift Guide: Beep Bop Boop It’s the Boozy Gadget Guide

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Technology can improve lives, make your day more efficient, or throw you down a hole filled with cartwheel fails. So! Let’s begin our annual holiday gift guides with a few boozy gadgets.

 

Holiday Gift Guide - Beep Bop Boop Gadget Gift Guide // stirandstrain.comTechnology brings us DUI savers and where Han Solo keeps his secret stash (well, maybe someday). A jackets that keep your beer cold and cocktail shakers that light up bold. You can pour yourself a perfectly layered shot, or impress your friends with a clear ice block. Glasses that freeze themselves? Yes! You can get them. Now sit back, spritz a little lemon in your glass, pour yourself a sparkly cocktail and catch up on Youtube videos of cats in pajamas or dogs that play pianos. Thanks technology!

1. Wintersmiths Clear Ice Chest 2. The Drinking Jacket 3. Light Up Shaker 4. Citrus Sprayer 5.Cocktail Layering Tool 6. Han Solo Flask 7. Whiskey FREEZE Cooling Cups 8. Bonne O Sparkling Beverage System 9. Floome Smartphone Breathalyzer

Halloween 2015 Spooky Gift Guide

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Creaking door noises. Ghoulish wails. Someone breaking your favorite antique champagne coupe! THE HORROR!!!

Halloween 2015 Cocktail Gift Guide // stirandstrain.com

Halloween is a holiday that transitions nicely from childhood to your drinking years. But don’t think that means you need to be serious. Are you a mad scientist this year? Perfect, there’s some glassware for that. Going more the cannibal route? Then giant skull punch bowl it is! If you’re done with the silly stuff, then make sure your booze is wearing a little black dress, and then decide whether to risk the nice glasses for serving or just some fancy paper cups instead. Me, I’ll be serving up some blood… blood oranges that is. Happy Haunting folks!

1. Skull Punch Bowl 2. Black & Gold Ice Bucket 3. Luc Belaire Rare Brut Gold 4. Shrub & Co. Blood Orange Cardamom Cocktail Shrub Syrup 5. Orange Moroccan Glasses 6. Gold Star Party Cups 7. Stainless Steel Straws 8. Laboratory Cocktail Set

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Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2015

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…Because nothing says I love you more than beating a brightly colored donkey until booze falls out of it.

Valentines Day Gift Guide 2015 // stirandstrain.com

Are you having that oh crap moment where you just remembered you need to buy some meaningless gift for someone by Saturday? Well, if you miss the date, make up for it with something so amazing they’ll totally forget they might dump you come Tuesday. A sexy bottle of Absinthe perhaps? What about a slightly sexualized cocktail shaker? And if you get to smooching, coat your lips in some Old Fashioned-flavored lip balm. If all else fails, gather up your friends and spend your hard earned cash on a gilded mid-century ice bucket. You deserve it.

1. Plum Cocktail Shaker 2. Mod Ice Bucket 3. Nipyata Donkey 4. Absinthe 5. Whiskey After-Shave 6. Tiki and Old Fashioned Lip Balms 7. Antique Coupes

For more gift guides than you could possibly need, click here.

Holiday Gift Guide: Hop to It (the beer lovers guide)

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I may not be the biggest lover of beer, but boy do I have a lot of friends who absolutely obsess over it. You might too. So this list is for YOU!

Beer Lovers Gift Guide 2014 // stirandstrain.com

The accoutrements are important: the right glass, the right koozie (or is it cozy? or coozy? or.. whatever), the right growler, that coaster that tells people to stay the hell away cause that is YOUR glass. If you’re looking for a gift that keeps on giving, a subscription is always nice. And for that person who is never happy with what you give them, well, then they can make their own damn beer.

1. Hangovers Beer Tap Coat Rack 2. Beer Chiller 3. Beer Growler 4. Beer Savers 5. I Like Fun Beer Koozie 6. Mine and Yours Coaster Set 7. Beer Advocate Magazine 8. 3 Sheets Tilted Glass 9. Summer Citrus Blonde Ale Beer Making Kit

 

Check out all the past gift guides here!

Holiday Gift Guide: What I Want, Too

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While I seem to be spending all my time lately helping you figure out what YOU should be getting this holiday season, I only see it as fair that I share what I want too.

What I Want for Christmas // stirandstrain.com

Give me a little pop of color for when I’m by the pool; I don’t mind acrylic if it means all day cocktailing and never leaving my giant lime wheel float. But when I want to get fancy, I’ll need that stack of champagne coupes and, albeit it predictably so, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. Also, a place to perch myself please, with some shiny bar tools nearby and some personalized drink stirrers so I know which drink is mine. And if Santa’s feeling extra generous, that Cartier Punch Bowl set looks might fine.

1. Lime Wheel Float 2. Personalized Drink Stirrers 3. Coupe Stack Glasses 4. Veuve Clicquot 5. Acrylic Goblets 6. Flamingo Cocktail Napkins 7. Rattan Chair 8. Copper Shaker 9. Antique Cartier Punch Bowl Set

 

Check out all the past gift guides here!

Holiday Gift Guide: You High Roller You…

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So you’re a high roller. A baller. Actually, I don’t really understand what any of that means. But if you just won in big in Vegas and have gobs of cash to spend decorating your home bar, let me help. Also, did you know I make drinks for hire? Let’s chat.

Holiday Gift Guide: The High Roller // stirandstrain.com

You can buy yourself a brand new pair of lungs; lucky you. Let’s put that ash out on a Hermes ashtray then while you are sipping on the ridiculously expensive Dalmore 62 you just grabbed from your crystal desktop bar. Unless of course your butler just pushed in your 70’s vintage bar cart with some bubbly ready to pop. And when you’re ready to head out the door and mix up some drinks for friends…well, you have that well crafted bar bag ready at hand.

1. Waterford Crystal Tabletop Bar 2. Armand de Brignac Brut Champagne 3. Tiffany Cocktail Glasses 4. Hermes Ashtray 5. Dalmore 62 6. Bartender Bag 7. Bar Cart

 

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Holiday Gift Guide: It’s a Jungle Out There

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When nature calls…be sure you have a drink in hand.

It's a Jungle Out There Holiday Gift Guide 2014 // stirandstrain.com

Life is hard. Especially when you have a monkey on your back (er…shoulder). But with a solid recipe book, a glass to drink from and a zebra striped shaker, you can face the wild world with confidence, albeit 3 sheets to the wind.

1. Flamingo Glass 2. Sippin’ Safari 3. Fish Napkins 4. Snake Coasters 5. Zebra Cocktail Shaker 6. Elephant Bottle Opener 7. Monkey Shoulder Blended Scotch

Holiday Gift Guide: The Boozy Book Club

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Curling up by the fire, cocktail in one hand, a great book in the other, is one fantastic way to spend a lazy weekend afternoon. And this year, we’re in luck with the amazing plethora of cocktail books that have hit the shelves. Ready to crack one open? Let’s dive in with this week’s Gift Guide!

Holiday Gift Guide: Boozy Book Club // stirandstrain.com

 

From single spirits to honing your craft to the actual science behind that drink, there is a cocktail book out there for everyone this year. Thanks 2014. And if your bartender is still shaking your Manhattan, well, there’s a book for that too.

Top Row: Sherry / Death & Co / Shrubs

Middle Row: Proof / The Bar Book / The Old-Fashioned

Bottom Row: Liquid Intelligence / Spirit of Gin / The 12 Bottle Bar

 

Check out all the past gift guides here!

Holiday Gift Guide: Have Booze Will Travel

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It’s that time of year! The time for gift guides! And this year we’re kicking off the holiday season with the best ways to transport your booze, your booze tools and whatever else you need to take your bar on the road.

Have Booze Will Travel Holiday Gift Guide 2014 // stirandstrain.com

On a plane, or a train, or maybe even a lazy river, you never know where you’ll be when the need to make a cocktail strikes. Keep some nips on you at all times, and throw some extra in your bar case. On a plane? Well, don’t leave it to the crew to make you a drink, you know how you like your Old Fashioned.  Don’t chance breaking some bottles while riding the subway- just pour your booze into a bag. Or if you must be fancy, pour a bit into your keychain shot glass. And when you do find yourself on a lazy river, there’s a cooler for that.

1. Carry On Cocktail Kit 2. Vapur Incognito Flask 3. Bartender Bag 4. Keychain Shot Glass 5. Nips 6. Floating Cooler 7. Copper Cocktail Cups

Check out all the past gift guides here!

Patriotic Bar Cart Gift Guide

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For all of my non-US readers, if you’ll allow me a moment to indulge in a little red, white, and blue bar cart accessorizing I’d super appreciate it. And while together it’s a Patriotic Bar Cart fiesta, taken piece by piece they could work in your home too.

Patriotic Bar Cart Gift Guide // stirandstrain.com

 

In a little less than a week, my neighborhood will be filled with illegal fireworks, barking dogs and the inescapable wafting aromas of food being grilled. It will also be filled with drinking galore. For those of you outside the city of Los Angeles, I’m sure you picture every day here like this (sometimes I’d agree with you), but next Friday in particular the country bands together to show our love of hotdogs and beer (and maybe something to do with history but you can turn on C-Span for that). For those of you hosting a party, here’s a little guide to up your bar cart game for the 4th. Buckets of crushed ice, colorful drink accouterments, and some fine liquor selections. Now go get some sparklers and confetti poppers!

1. Ice Crusher 2. Tumbler 3. Campari 4. Clase Azul Reposado Tequila 5. Bombay Sapphire East 6. Blue Straws 7. Hayworth Bar Cart 8. Red Foil Picks