Eleven Meaningful Craft Beer Gifts for Your Holiday Season
As with every holiday season, we all have a choice in how we spend our hard-earned money. The choices we make in these gifts and products are people and organizations we support in a world waging war on social injustice, climate change, and socio-economic injustices. At BIFE, while we believe our decisions become paramount as conscious buyers, we also celebrate the opportunity to support some fantastic folks in craft beer doing extraordinary things.
Our intention with this list was always to choose brands and products representing an intersection of causes, beliefs, and activism to where your purchasing directly empowers them to continue the fantastic work in their fields. After all, we live in a climate where we support people with our political dollars, so let’s advocate for those who believe Beer is for Everyone.
Without further ado, here are 11 meaningful craft beer gifts to consider for your friends and loved ones this holiday season.
Presented in no particular order:
The Hoppiest Shop
Support Women in Beer Tee ($38)
Do you support women in beer? Of course, you do, and BIFE does too. The Hoppiest Shop is a woman-owned and operated beer-centric merch store which has grown into a full-fledged community of “pink-loving” women. The Hoppiest Shop is here to inform, entertain, and inspire action in the beer industry through content and experiences. They are unapologetic in their beliefs and values, supporting and empowering women, BIPOC, LGBTQIAA+, to take up space in the beer world.
Log onto their shop to check out their “Supper Women in Beer ” t-shirt, Bad B!tch Beer Club Motel Keychain, and a full array of women-centric beer stickers like their “Sassy Ladies” sticker. Ethical, bold, creative, and supportive, the Hoppiest Shop is like no other force in the beer industry, using creativity and conviction to support these fantastic groups in our communities.
Read more about The Hoppiest Shop and its owner-artist, Sabrina Grimes, in our Brewing Change with Art article. The Hoppiest Shop has also been a collaborator and supporter of Beer is for Everyone through our Create Ethical Breweries collaboration.
Check out their fantastic merchandise and ways to get involved right here! We suggest the “Support Women in Beer” T-Shirt for a friend or loved one this Holiday season.
Minocqua Brewing
AOC – IPA ($13.99 for 4-pack)
Minocqua Brewing Company is located in Minocqua, Wisconsin, and started making #ProgressiveBeer after their brew hub closed following what they say was because “Donald Trump played politics with Covid-19 and Mitch McConnel let restaurants twist in the wind.” When you hear their story, you might understand more of where they’re coming from. Minocqua Brewing hung up a Biden sign in the reddest part of Wisconsin in defiance of their Republican County Board’s threat to fine them.
With such a prideful victory, they won the battle and continued to focus on brewing #progresivebeer for people who care about lifting those less fortunate. Their mission is to make politics as clean as the lakes and streams “Up North.” With Bernie Sanders-themed beers, Kamala Harris-themed beers, and beers like the Fair Maps IPA, which educate people on the unfair gerrymandering rigging political elections, Minocqua is genuinely one of the most dedicated, politically extravagant brewing companies in the country.
We salute you here at BIFE for your dedication to pushing back against the forces of bigotry and backwardness from the Trumpism sickness inside the Republican Party.
You can read more about their story and how to purchase these educational beers here! We suggest a 4-pack of Bernie Brew or the delicious AOC – IPA for your favorite democratic socialist loved one. Fulfillment via Bevv to 47 states!
Beer is for Everyone
Drink Beer, Love All, Combat Sexism Unisex T-Shirt ($29)
Shameless plug, we know. But as a non-profit on a mission to make the craft beer industry stand for justice and to continually fight racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism, we ask you to consider some of our BIFE merchandise for your gifting this holiday season.
Our Drink Beer, Love All, Combat Sexism Unisex T-Shirt is available in nine sizes (XS-5XL) and not one, not three, not five, but nine color options, from black and dark grey heather to true royal and navy. Our description is simple: Beer is for Everyone stands for justice. We hope to continually Fight Racism, Combat Sexism, End Homophobia, and Terminate Ableism.
Beer is for Everyone strives to be inclusive with their sizing and material while also being conscious of the impact on the environment. By transitioning to a print-on-demand process, each and every product is made to order to ensure there is no excess waste.
Support Beer is for Everyone by purchasing our vast array of merchandise, including our The Future of Beer is Female Rainbow Unisex T-Shirt.
Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us
E-Book ($39)
For too long, wine and spirits have held a fallacious status as the metropolitan’s drink of choice when curling up with a good book. However, with books like Beer and Society: How We Make Beer and Beer Makes Us by Eli Revelle Yano Wilson and Asa B. Stone, this holiday season gifts someone this palpable exploration into an elevated beer narrative.
This book proves how beer is far more than a beverage – taking readers on a journey through the intersectional roads of beer as a cultural product and a tool for self-identity by connecting the points of sociological and psychological perspectives in the face of collective values, power structures, and persistent inequities.
The authors also hold impressive backgrounds, with Eli Revelle Yano Wilson, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico and a Certified Cicerone in the Los Angeles beer industry. Meanwhile, Asa B. Stone is an Assistant Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of New Mexico and an Advanced Cicerone who leads workshops on beer and social justice worldwide.
The Rowman & Littlefield website states, “Beer and Society explores beer as an embodiment of who we are and a force to energize social change.”
The Bountiful Bag
Black is Bountiful / Bountiful Weekender #3 ($99)
We spoke earlier about how we can support those people, organizations, and products we believe in with every purchase this holiday season. Perhaps more importantly, we have a choice of who we refuse to support, as consumerism and materialism promote the newest and biggest products that fill our landfills, cause further damage to our environment, and give us more of the things that should matter less. That is precisely why the Bountiful Bag, “It’s not just a bag, it’s a choice.” It’s a conscious choice to commit to sustainability through upcycling beer industry trash into treasure.
The Bountiful Bag rescues hard-to-recycle plastics and fabrics from the beer industry (among other sectors) to create sturdy and functional lifestyle products that, as they write on their website, “Don’t just look good, but make you FEEL good.” Some of the materials they rescue are grain bags disposed of after producing craft beer, banners, stage walls, and tents from concerts and festivals to fabric and end-rolls threw out by the fashion industry. These materials have led them to make many fashionable bags of all sizes, from backpacks and tote bags to beach bags and handbags to even a Christmas stocking Pride-themed bag.
Each of their bags represents a cause or is partnered with a charity or organization to help raise funds. Indeed, if this is not enough to encourage you to buy one of these Bountiful Bags, this fantastic company is POC- and sister-owned.
Find out more about The Bountiful Bag and their socially-conscious shop for this holiday season.
Dyke Beer
Dyke Beer Chicha Ale – 4.5% ABV ($5.50 for a single can)
As we wrote in our introduction to our Holiday Gift Giving Guide, our intention with this list was to choose brands that represent an intersectionality of causes, beliefs, and activism to where your purchasing directly empowers them to continue the fantastic work in their fields.
Naturally, Dyke Beer was founded by two Dykes [sic] who adopted a typically derogatory word and flipped it on its head to be owned and empowered by the queer community. Loretta Andro Chung and Sarah Hallonquist are the brains and grassroots activists behind Dyke Beer, hosting events throughout NYC like their Dyke Cookout and Self Defense Classes and creating a product that celebrates and honors all LGBTQIAA+.
With every purchase of Dyke Beer, you’re helping to provide the Dyke and queer community with safe and fun spaces and events, promoting solidarity, community, and education. While Dyke Beer stands for these issues and more, they also believe in crafting an extraordinarily delicious and high-quality beer but ultimately want their Dyke friends to know, “You exist, and you are important.”
If you’re interested in purchasing their beer, you’ll be stoked to learn they ship to 48 states via TapRm. They also have some merchandise for you to show your support with Dyke gear.
Women of the Bevolution
Speak Up: Support Women in Brewing Classic Tie-Dye T-Shirt ($36.50)
What is Women of the Bevolution? We’re glad you asked. The Women of the Bevolution is the powerhouse organization behind the Bevolution Brave Voices Fund, an emergency relief fund to support further the brave voices who have shared their stories. The fund helps provide women, femmes, and non-binary individuals who work in the craft beer industry resources to help them leave toxic work environments and move forward with proper support and care. In addition, their founder, Ash Eliot, was foundational figure in the Brave Noise movement.
As a platform dedicated to empowering women and non-binary beverage industry professionals to speak up and providing them with the resources to do so, every gift purchase goes directly to their fund—purchases made by you. With a host of t-shirts and pullover hoodies in their shop, we recommend the Women of the Bevolution “Speak Up: Support Women in Brewing” Hoodie. This is more than a gift that keeps on giving; but is a gift that keeps on healing.
Beer. Diversity.
Beer. Diversity. Enamel Pins (CA $7)
Diversity is a word that gets thrown around everywhere in today’s branding, work environments, and social deliverables. While yes, the craft beer industry isn’t any different, this amazing brand and its founder, Ren Navarro, has made beer and diversity their mission, cultivating the diversification in beer and beyond. As if making Beer. Diversity. their name needed to be more to convince you of their ethos, Beer. Diversity. offers itself to breweries and businesses to “Work with Ren,” from public speaking to consulting. Ren can help your beer business make diversity part of your culture.
The in-person consulting services foster conversation and understanding around everything from staff training, liaising with sales reps, and order handling to assisting with creating a diversity and inclusion policy. While based in Canada, the virtual consulting sessions offer clients consultations in creating documentation and diversity inclusion policies, as well as delivering a Canadian Brewery Inclusion Toolkit. Breweries Wineries, Distilleries, Public Spaces, and Colleges have all booked Ren and Beer. Diversity., to host diversity and inclusion talks and invite you or your business to make diversity a staple of your beer culture.
With all this being said, Ren and Beer. Diversity. can touch more people worldwide with your purchase of some of their excellent merchandise. Support Beer. Diversity. and Ren’s efforts to diversify the craft beer industry by purchasing an enamel pin to give your loved one the gift of diversity and beer.
A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse: A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs by Tara Nurin
Paperback ($19.99)
As you’ve hopefully read from our past articles surrounding women and beer, it was women, not men, who’ve brewed beer throughout most of human history. So it’s about time we dismiss the stereotype of the bearded brewer.
A Woman’s Place is in the Brewhouse: A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs is a deep dive into the rich antiquity of women in brewing, exploring the legacy that spans hundreds and thousands of years and through the earliest days of Mesopotamian civilization, the reign of Cleopatra, and the witch trials of modern Europe to Colonial America.
While the history is both inspiring and demeaning, what we gain from this book is a profound understanding of profit capitalism, politics, religion, and other intersections that influenced women’s forceful exodus from and and, thankfully, a return to the brewhouse.
Today, there are more women-owned and women-run breweries than ever in modern American history, where women serve as founders, CEO, and head brewers. But this book reminds us of where this fantastic work began and how hard these people fought for equal treatment and recognition in the beer industry, proving once again that women have always been leaders in the brewing world. The perfect gift for your book-loving, beer-loving friend, we invite you to share the magic of history and knowledge with your loved ones this season.
Hop Topic World
Black Hops Tee ($27)
One of the guiding principles of BIFE is to amplify and highlight those remarkable narratives in the craft beer industry. It’s precisely why we’re excited to share with you Hop Topic World. Founded by three men of color, Hop Topic World shares similar guiding principles: That life is too short to drink bad beer, and free thought is a vehicle for positive evolution.
By building a platform connecting their local community to a global culture, the mission of Hop Topic World is to manifest synergy in the beer culture by informing beer lovers through news and events. “What’s Hoppening” is their blog where they share personal stories from the craft beer community and their free brew finder tool and events page to help connect an online community to an offline movement.
This movement fosters authentic inclusion in the craft beer community through storytelling and original narratives. Their merch shop has everything from apparel and glassware to beer accessories and headgear. We recommend checking out their cleverly designed t-shirts, which are periodically on sale for as low as $13.50.
Hoppy Wondershop
Hop Cone Earrings ($20)
One of our favorite things to highlight at BIFE is the small craft beer businesses that make our industry more colorful, authentic, and connected. Hoppy Wondershop is a testament to the small business movement supplying beer lovers with one-of-a-kind merchandise and art.
So what is Hoppy Wondershop? As it reads on their Instagram, Hoppy Wondershop is an artist, lover, and creator of all things hoppy and creepy. While the artist, at the time of this article, has seasonal gifts for the holidays all over their Etsy page, you can find one-of-a-kind earrings and pins, making incredible gift ideas for this holiday season and beyond. With incredibly affordable prices for original art, we cannot stress enough how Hoppy Wondershop is an excellent consideration for your holiday gift-giving this year and beyond, especially if you’re shopping for a one-of-a-kind beer gift.
As you can see, where you source your gift is nearly as important as who you’re giving it to. So this holiday season, we all have the opportunity to make our gifts mean something more. These are not things; these are not just cans of beer or t-shirts; these gifts are people, causes, non-profits, and organizations that are dedicated to crafting a better beer industry for all. One might say, for EVERYONE.