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Drinks Food & Drink

Give and sip: gift ideas for booze geeks

1. Japanese barware

Function meets the most beautiful forms in these silver, brass and gold-plated bar tools straight from Japan, the country that perfected barware – along with a million other things. When buying for the bartender of your dreams or the cocktail nut in your fam, keep in mind that these voluptuous jiggers, sturdy three-piece shakers, elegant mixing glasses and perfectly weighted bar spoons look just as gorgeous on display as they do behind the bar. Note: those who generously gift bar tools will inevitably be gifted cocktails in return. 

$20-$350 at BYOB (972 Queen West, 647-727-3600, cocktailemporium.ca)


2. Color Me Drunk 

Adult colouring books, championed as excellent stress relievers, are all the rage right now. Guess what else aids relaxation? Drinking. Bring the two together and you’ve got Color Me Drunk, perhaps the greatest compilation of colouring activities ever created. Happy sloppy scrawling.

$16 at Room 2046 (1252 Yonge, 647-348-2046, room2046.com)

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3. Wearable liquor

A stylish gift for the always adorned (and occasionally lush) lady friend, these porcelain bracelet flasks designed by Brooklyn’s Object & Totem hold a shot of emergency whisky or the beginnings of a classy – or trashy, I don’t judge – night out. $48 at Room 2046 (1252 Yonge, 647-348-2046, room2046.com). Those with a beefier holiday budget should check out Cynthia Rowley’s 3 oz stainless steel bangle flask ($225 USD online at cynthiarowley.com). 

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4. Aging tastefully 

Bartenders and DIY cocktail enthusiasts will dig the chance to set up their very own barrel-aged cocktail program for work or play. Made from American white oak bound with black or silver steel hoops, this wee barrel’s interior is toasted to a medium char that adds extra weight and flavour to straight cocktails like Manhattans, boulevardiers, old-fashioneds and Negronis. 

$65 for 1-litre capacity cask at thecraftybartender.com. Also available in 2, 3 and 5L sizes. 


5. Sip on Spanish wines

This Wine Gurus Spain Gift Set, a curated selection of five Spanish wines, explores the most prominent regions and varietals of the world’s third-biggest wine-producing country. Including both reds and whites like La Marimorena Albariño DO Rias Baixas and The Invisible Man Tempranillo DO Rioja, this delicious gesture will help cultivate a loved one’s budding interest in wine. 

$99.95, at Vintages, 423681

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6. Get brewing

Have any beer fanatics in the family? It’s the end of 2015, so of course you do. Slap a bow on a Brooklyn Brewshop Beer Making Kit and they’ll love you forever. Besides all of the equipment necessary for brewing a 1-gallon batch, it comes with malt, hops, yeast and an easy-to-execute -recipe so they can make their own Brooklyn favourites like Sorachi Ace and Warrior Double IPA at home. 

$55 at Toronto Brewing Homebrew Supply (3701 Chesswood #115, 416-901-3900, torontobrewing.ca)

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7. SodaStream Power

Add some sparkle to a lucky pal’s life with the latest version of SodaStream, a sleek little number that carbonates Toronto’s finest tap water with the minor exertion of a pinky-tip. That means no more running out to the corner store for last-minute soda water when the occasion calls for a Tom Collins or a fizz. It’s far more environmentally friendly than stockpiling plastic bottles of bubbly and will come in handy during the inevitable post-holiday hangover. Includes one CO2 canister good for up to 60 litres of sparkling water. 

$179.99 at Canadian Tire (839 Yonge 416-925-9592, and others, canadiantire.ca)

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8.  Drink all over Toronto

Coasters are generally underwhelming disposables, but this marble set by VersaTile is so pretty that it’d be almost criminal to slosh all over it. When you fit the eight pieces together like a puzzle, they form a map of Toronto circa 1901 a piece of art that just happens to protect surfaces. 

$64 for a set of 8 at Hopson Grace (1120 Yonge, 416-926-1120, hopsongrace.com)

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9. Beer as art

Deck the halls with these rad graphic beer label posters designed for Bellwoods Brewery by Toronto’s own Doublenaut. Perfect for the proud 416er or buds south of the border, there are plenty of masterfully designed eye-popping prints to choose from. 

$25-$35 unframed at Bellwoods Brewery (124 Ossington, 416-535-4586, bellwoodsbrewery.com) and via doublenaut.com.

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10. Cocktail kits: just add booze

Surprise your favourite tippler with the means for more stylish imbibing with BYOB’s house-assembled classic cocktail kits. Stuffed with (almost) everything needed to mix a killer old-fashioned, Manhattan or Moscow mule. Our pick is the classy Manhattan-in-a-box, complete with crystal mixing glass, jigger, bar spoon, julep strainer, Woodford Reserve aromatic bitters and Jack Rudy bourbon cherries. Just add booze – a nice bottle of bourbon or rye will do just fine. 

$50-$135 at BYOB (972 Queen West, 647-727-3600, cocktailemporium.ca)

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