{"id":543,"date":"2024-12-16T23:18:18","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T23:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/?p=543"},"modified":"2024-12-16T23:18:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T23:18:18","slug":"2024-food-and-drink-gift-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/16\/2024-food-and-drink-gift-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 food and drink gift guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s been a while since I’ve done a holiday gift guide, but maybe you (like me!) are a bit behind on gift-buying this year and could use a few suggestions. Here are a few food and drink items I’ve been enjoying lately, and that you or your loved ones might like receiving too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bull in China Stirred Cocktail Set<\/a><\/em> — If you’re shopping for a budding home bartender, you can’t go wrong with gear from Bull in China. This set has everything they need to start mixing serious stirred cocktails in style: mixing glass, bar spoon, Hawthorne strainer, and a precise bell-shaped jigger. These are the same tools I personally use at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Straightaway Cocktails 12 Nights of Cocktails<\/a><\/em> — For those more inclined to let someone else do the mixing, Straightaway’s set of 12 holiday canned cocktails is a fun choice. A solid variety of spirit-forward or citrusy cocktails to open up for a different surprise each night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lagg Corriecravie Edition Scotch<\/a><\/em> — Lagg is the new second distillery from Isle of Arran Distillers, this one focused on peated whisky. Though still young, I really like the assertive peatiness of their standard Kilmory edition. For holiday gifting, however, the Corriecravie is the way to go. Finished in oloroso sherry casks and bottled at 55% abv, it’s a rich delight that’s perfect for chilly winter nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilderton Citrus Aperitivo<\/a><\/em> — Wilderton’s bitter red aperitivo has long been one of my favorite non-alcoholic spirits and they just added a lighter citrus bottling to their line-up too. It’s fantastic on ice with soda water. As complex as any cocktail, it’s perfect for non-drinkers or for anyone looking to drink less alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Agrestis Phony Negroni<\/a><\/em> — Relatedly, I love the “Phony Negroni” series from St. Agrestis. Fizzy bottled Negroni variations ranging from classic to smoky or coffee-flavored, I love having a few of these on hand in the fridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aeropress XL Coffee Maker<\/a><\/em> — I imagine that the product team at Aeropress had a meeting at which someone pitched the idea, “What if Aeropress, but bigger?” If you’ve already brewed on the standard Aeropress, you know exactly what to expect here. Finally, a convenient way to make Aeropress coffee for two!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black and White Roasters Esteban Zamora Cinnamon Anaerobic Coffee<\/a><\/em> — You’ve probably never had coffee like this before. I certainly hadn’t. The Costa Rican coffee is fermented with ground cinnamon during processing, and that cinnamon aroma carries through the roast and into the cup. It’s unique, delicious, and totally seasonally appropriate. (Should you make an Irish coffee with it? Absolutely.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Outin Nano Portable Espresso Machine<\/a><\/em> — My usual advice when people ask me how to brew coffee at home is to stick to manual brewers and leave espresso to the pros, but I received a review model of this handheld espresso machine this summer and I’ve been having fun with it. With the larger portafilter option<\/a> (which is what I’ve been using), it makes much better espresso than I expected; bright, flavorful, and with respectable crema. It’s battery-powered and small enough to bring along for travel or camping, though with a couple caveats: as with any espresso machine, it’s very grind-sensitive, so you need to a good grinder to go with it. You’ll also need to bring a small spoon or tool along to clean out the portafilter after brewing. But I expect that anyone who likes to tinker and can’t do without espresso on the road would enjoy having one of these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mala Market Sichuan Pepper<\/a><\/em> — Quality Sichuan pepper is a total gamechanger for Sichuan cooking. This is nothing like the stuff you get at a typical Asian grocery, which is often full of hard seeds or even occasional thorns. These have hardly any seeds and incredible citrusy, floral aroma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

50 Hertz Tingly Peanuts<\/a> or Brittle<\/a><\/em> — For ready-made Sichuan pepper snacks, I love both the peanuts and toffee nib brittle from 50 Hertz. Get ready to tingle!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pullman Loaf Pan<\/a><\/em> — A Pullman loaf pan was never on my radar as an item I would need, but after borrowing one from a friend I had to get one for myself. There’s just something satisfying about baking a perfectly rectangle-shaped loaf of bread, which is enabled by the locking lid. I’ve been using mine consistently for making dense Iceland rugbraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ooni Koda 2 Max Pizza Oven<\/a><\/em> — The price admittedly makes this one a bit of a stretch, but if you really<\/em> like someone who’s into pizza and has the space for it, the new Ooni oven is a dream to cook with. It’s got a much bigger deck than other models, allowing for more even heating and huge pies. I wrote a more detailed review for Inside Hook<\/a>, but suffice to say it’s hard to go back to any other oven after spending the summer cooking with it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Raising the Bar<\/a><\/em> — I’d be remiss if I didn’t plug my own book, Raising the Bar<\/em>, written with my friend Brett Adams. We designed this to be an extremely practical guide for getting started with home bartending, stocking your bar one bottle at a time and detailing the new cocktails you can make when adding each bottle to your collection. It would pair great with the Bull in China cocktail kit (hint, hint).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a holiday gift guide, but maybe you (like me!) are a bit behind on gift-buying this year and could use a few suggestions. Here are a few food and drink items I’ve been enjoying lately, and that you or your loved ones might like receiving too! Bull in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":552,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions\/552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacobgrier.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}