Holiday Gift Ideas for the Budding Mixologist
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008Give the gift of great cocktails! Here are some bar necessities under $20 that make perfect gifts for the beginning bartenders in your life. (And I’m just getting started! Keep checking back for more gift ideas.)
For about $13, “The Mr. Boston” Platinum Edition is a great gift for budding mixologists and cocktail aficionados. Mr. Boston recipes have never steered me wrong, and the platinum edition has over 1,500 recipes as well as tips and advice from the pros.
This 7-piece bar set has the tools every bar should have, packaged together in an ice bucket. It’s a good-looking and practical gift for any home bartender.
Fresh citrus juice is essential in many great cocktails. Fresh juice just tastes much much better! This squeezer is by far the easiest and least-messy one I’ve ever used.
It’s not a bar if you can’t make a martini. Vermouth isĀ a bar staple, and it does matter what kind you get. I like Vya extra dry vermouth. It’s made with whole dried herbs (rather than artificial flavoring or oils) … and it’s a difference you can taste.







19th Century bartender Jerry Thomas is known as the father of the American cocktail and most just called him “Professor”. With stints in New York, London, San Francisco and other cities about the globe, he spread cocktail culture the world over. 
As we close the bar on 2007, I felt it appropriate to take a look back. Sure everyone does these lists, but it is fun to look at the year that was. I I figure, hey! why not?
Bartending & entertaining guides make great gifts. Here’s a few we really like.