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I’ve spent many years imbedded in the bar industry and have been using my home kitchen both as a bar to make drinks for friends but also as a cocktail R&D lab, so I’ve been exposed to a wide range of tools, books, servingware, and other accoutrements — and have good judgment when it comes to the right kind of items to gift versus more workaday tools like jiggers and muddlers that people can just buy for themselves. I try to find gifts that reveal something about my love and understanding of the recipient and is something they didn’t know they needed.
For this list, I included some of my favorite items to give and also checked in with a handful of bar- and beverage-industry colleagues to uncover some more wonderful gift ideas. I have found that making cocktails at home opens up a world of gift giving, and bar carts can always use the enhancement of a thoughtful present.
Under $25
The look and feel of this strainer is quite luxe, and its Japanese provenance brings a piece of that country’s revered cocktail culture into your recipient’s home.
Cocktail card sets seem to be all the rage these days, and Sam Bail, founder of Third Place Bar, a nonalcoholic pop-up, loves this set for the way it easily converts standard cocktails to nonalcoholic ones using simple swaps.
If it’s tacky to include your own book in a gift guide, then I’m guilty. My most recent cocktail book is a semi-absurdist romp through the decade where I spent my adolescence. With a foreword by teen idol turned kitchen dynamo Tiffani Thiessen, the recipes in this book are as fun as they are accessible.
Shannon Mustipher is a legendary figure in the bar world, known for her loving advocacy on behalf of rum and tropical drinks. I love these mugs she designed with Cocktail Kingdom. I find that a lot of traditional “tiki” vessels have a tinge of Orientalism, and these fortunately avoid that.
Under $100
This cutting board is a joy to use and one of our picks for the very best cutting boards. It’s made from food-grade plastic and is completely dishwasher safe. Plus, once you use a cutting board with a handle, you’ll wonder why it’s so rare to see.
It might be a surprise to some, but a good scale helps a lot when it comes to making drinks, especially when putting together infusions or other relatively technical tasks. Bar industry fixture Iain Griffiths loves this nostalgic pink scale.
A cocktail smoking kit came into my life a few years ago, and I’m surprised by how often I use it. Chantal Tseng, a Washington, D.C.–based bartender and sommelier, thinks the right amount of smoke can be transformative. “The trick is to confine it so that chaos doesn’t take over too much,” she says.
Happier Hospitality’s beverage creative director, Natasha David, gushes about the elegant decadence of these pearl toothpicks from Gohar World — perfect for perching an olive over a martini.
Malfatti means “badly made” in Italian and originally referred to a pasta-dumpling dish, but here the philosophy extends to glassware made in upstate New York and recommended by Julia Bainbridge, author of the excellent nonalcoholic tome Good Drinks.
Under $150
These handblown glasses are a collaboration between Sophie Lou Jacobsen and nonalcoholic-drink brand Ghia. David uses them to “elevate any drink.”
Ever since I wrote about this shaking set for my roundup on the best cocktail shakers, I have been coveting them (hint, hint).
I have used the same Shun knife pretty much every day for the past ten years, and I can’t think of a more thoughtful gift than a smaller knife intended for the bar cart.
Over $250
If you really want to lavish someone with something unusual, and you know they like the anise-fennel taste of absinthe, then look no further than this traditional absinthe set recommended by Tseng to bring “a touch of magic” to this mysterious beverage.
The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
