Okay, so here’s the deal – I went on-line, and had my wife go on-line to find the funky and unusual holiday gifts for the beer lover in your life. I do not necessarily own the products. I have not reviewed the products. I am not endorsing them. To repeat – not reviewing or endorsing these items. I am merely doing this to provide all of you with some clever, silly, or inspired ideas for your gift giving this year.

Now, should any of you purchase any of these items and want to give it a thumbs up or thumbs down, I welcome all feedback. Just do me the favor of explaining what was good and what was bad about the product. An “it sucks,” just won’t cut it.

So, onto the ideas:

The Hopside Down beer glass from Fred and Friends.
While not cheap, generally starting at $20.00, this clever little item is hand blown, and makes for an interesting visual while downing your favorite craft beer. Each “mug” is individually packaged in a gift box.

This item can be found at Amazon.com, or more specifically, at http://www.amazon.com/Fred-and-Friends-Hopside-Down/dp/B001W35FFY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1260463848&sr=1-1

Or, if on-line retail isn’t your thing, and you’re wondering where you can go locally to get your hands on this unusual piece of “stemware”, then check out the company’s Web site for a list of local retailers – http://www.worldwidefred.com/hopsidedown.htm

This might not be the beer mug for everybody, but there are going to be a lot of craft beer drinkers who are going to appreciate the design behind this drinking vessel.

Etsy is always a fun and daring Web destination for gifts. Estrelle’s Shop on Etsy fits that bill to a T. They make custom beer holsters there. Beautifully hand-crafted leather (pictured left), this is a gift both expensive ($135.00 plus an additional $35.00 or more for hand-tooled initials or catchphrases on the holsters), and odd.

Sure, it may be good for your beer-drinking boyfriend in Boulder, but your beer-guzzling buddy in The Bronx? Less so, methinks.

Currently, there are three in stock over at

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13023829

So if you want to order one for that loved one who had that freakish affinity for Urban Cowboy, better to order earlier rather than later. Custom jobbies take a minimum of three weeks, and can take up to five. Get over there now and get that credit card out if you’re sure this is the way you want to go.

Is your resident beer lover of the literary variety? Likes to quote Joyce, Flann O’Brien and Doctor Seuss? Homer Simpson and Homer from The Iliad? Then maybe B is for Beer is the ideal gift for you.

B is for Beer is a children’s book for both children and adults from Tom Robbins, the author of Still Life of a Woodpecker, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. The book can be purchased at Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/B-Beer-Tom-Robbins/dp/0061687278/notcot-20 or right down the street at your local Borders or Barnes & Noble book stores.

The Amazon summary;

Once upon a time (right about now) there was a planet (how about this one?) whose inhabitants consumed thirty-six billion gallons of beer each year (it’s a fact, you can Google it). Among those affected, each in his or her own way, by all the bubbles, burps, and foam, was a smart, wide-eyed, adventurous kindergartner named Gracie; her distracted mommy; her insensitive dad; her non-conformist uncle; and a magical, butt-kicking intruder from a world within our world.

Suggested retail price for the hardcover edition is $17.95, but it can be found for less.

Spent year after year buying hydrometers, brew kits, fermenting buckets, and beer recipe books for the homebrewer in your life? Tapped out (pardon the pun) on ideas? The brewer kegging his or her own beer? Then check out tapboards.com.

This company, whose product can be purchased right now at kegerator.com for $39.95 (normally $49.95) per handle, has put chalkboards on their tap heads. Kill the keg? Simple, clean the hoses, hook the sucker up to the next full keg you have lying around, erase the style, and write the new style on the pull with the included chalk.

The final item that I want to cover today is one of those things that seems really cool, until you realize that they are currently manufacturing the item to only be compatible with Heineken 5L mini-kegs. Made by Krups, this mini kegerator can be found for $169.99 at places like J & R’s Web site – http://www.jr.com/krups/pe/KRU_B95/

I suppose if your beer lover’s particular kink is Heineken, then this might be the gift for them. Temperature controlled, keg volume indicator, and even a display that lets you know that the beer has chilled sufficiently to drink are all cool features – but that proprietary contract between Heineken and Krups is a pain in the ass. If you’re significant other is a craft beer drinker, don’t buy this – you will be buying an expensive and pretty toy that will never get any use.