[HOT LIST] Your EID Holiday Shopping Guide

Two James Spirits. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.

There's one week until Christmas - time to start shopping!!! Allow me to make it easy on you: buy them booze. Why? Because everyone likes booze. (Except people who don't drink. Don't buy them booze. But everyone else likes booze.) Here's a few (several!) ideas for booze-themed gifts to give this holiday season.

Schramm's Made in Michigan basket.

#1 Buy them booze baskets
Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a basket full of booze. Schramm's Mead in Ferndale is offering two different gift baskets in $40 and $60 price points. The larger basket features all items made in Michigan. 8 Degrees Plato in Ferndale has customizable gift buckets (as in ice buckets), which you can choose to stock full of craft beer and any combination of artisan foods, beer stemware, beer-themed gift items like beer bottle cap jewelry made by a local artist, beer books, and more.

Merchant's Fine Wine in Dearborn is making customized gift baskets from their extensive assortment of imported and craft beers, as well as wine, coffee, tea, chocolates, cheese and sausage, and whatever else they carry (which I don't  really know because I never make it past the beer section…it's a big store!). The Wine Garden in St. Clair Shores also has customizable gift baskets which can include anything from their selection of craft beer (they pay extra close attention to the Belgians) as well as their large selection of wines, their custom-built cigar humidor, and their exceptional selection of whiskeys and bourbons (one of the best in the state - get your George Dickel bottles there right now, and nowhere else).

Specialty meads from Superior Lakes at the Wine Garden.

#2 Buy them straight-up booze
Alcohol is the perfect holiday gift for those you don't know what to buy. It says, "I don't really know what you like, but I know you like to drink." Michigan's craft booze scene - beer, mead, cider, spirits, even wine (yes, wine counts) - has been exploding in recent years, and, as is typically the case with fast-growing industries, this has been the biggest year yet. This holiday season, give the gift that says you're thoughtful, you support the local economy, and you also have taste.

While Founders and Bell's get all the accolades from the chest-thumpers on Beer Advocate and the media outlets that troll them for their listicles, the reality is New Holland's Dragon's Milk is probably the best bourbon barrel aged stout being made in our state. (SHHHHHHHHHH, DON'T TELL ANYONE.) But don't take my word for it. (No but really, do.)

Valentine Distilling in Ferndale now has two vodkas, a gin, and a whiskey on store shelves, but stop by the distillery itself to pick up some of their barrel-aged gin, an extra-special gift for spirits connoisseurs. Or give them a taste of Detroit history with a bottle from Two James Spirits, the first licensed distillery in the city of Detroit since before Prohibition. The bottles alone are pieces of art. Plus they come with booze in them.

Heed the mead with a little something special (as in, special release) from Schramm's, B. Nektar, Superior Lakes, or Kuhnhenn. Or brave the crowds at Kuhnhenn this weekend for their special Winter Solstice bottle release - all the big, burly beers and meaty meads their rapid fans wait all year for. It's kind of a big deal.

Craft Box + custom buckets from 8 Degrees.

#3 Buy them booze subscriptions
What's better than the gift of booze? The gift of booze 12 times. 8 Degrees Plato now offers a monthly "Craft Box" club membership. With a one-time membership fee of a whopping $5, members get access to a monthly Craft Box selection featuring craft beers, ciders, artisan foods, and beer-themed goodies. The boxes are $45 each month.

Great Lakes Coffee in Midtown now offers BWC (beer - wine - coffee) clubs. Sign up for a monthly subscription for beer ($25), wine ($40), coffee ($30), or all three ($85), all of the exceptional quality and quirky caliber you've come to expect from the folks at IFAD. Email andrew@greatlakescoffee.com to get signed up, or to sign someone else up.

#5 Buy them books about booze
First, buy the two books I was somewhat involved with: Ann Arbor Beer: A Hoppy History of Tree Town Brewing and Belle Isle to 8 Mile: An Insider's Guide to Detroit. Both are amazing. Because they in some way involve me.

Aside from those, also pick up the newly-released Detroit's Historic Eastern Market, written by Eastern Market's vice president of business development Randall Fogelman and writer Lisa Rush. This book is part of the Images of America series from Arcadia Publishing.

Also newly-released is Michigan's Best Beer Guide, a comprehensive guide to all of Michigan's breweries and brewpubs. (But with how fast this industry is growing, it won't be comprehensive for long.)

#6 Buy them furniture made out of booze barrels
DEAR FRIENDS, THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD BUY FOR ME, IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING. New Holland (I LOVE YOU GUYS) has started re-purposing their used barrels into crafty furniture pieces - with a special emphasis on Dragon's Milk, MICHIGAN'S BEST BBA STOUT BUT DON'T TELL ANYONE BECAUSE THEN IT WILL BE RUINED. The BarrelWorks Project shop is now live.

#7 Buy them booze clothing and accessories
Got a man who likes his ties as much as he likes his whiskey? BAM - whiskey ties. Detroit tie lab and international sensation Cyberoptix has whiskey and beer-themed ties. Order them online or pick up the whiskey tie at the Emerald, an independently-owned store inside the Park Shelton in Midtown. Hugh in Midtown has all sorts of crystal beerware, cocktail accoutrements, and vintage ice buckets, but I'm particularly partial to the tiki mugs, because tiki mugs.

#8 Buy them booze-infused foods and mixers
Speaking of Hugh, they are the first retail outlet to carry Wolf Moon, a local partnership with McClure's Pickles producing artisan cocktail mixers. Just add booze! (For that, see #2.) Read more about Wolf Moon here. And speaking of McClure's, it's still the best damn Bloody Mary mix on the market, the end. Always good for gifts with a nice bottle of vodka. (Or gin! Tequila even, like Blue Nectar, another Michigan-made product.) And speaking of mixers! Order a hand-crafted seasonal syrup (or six) from Voigt's Soda House, available for pick-up in store or delivery (for orders over $50). For sodas. But really for cocktails.

You still have time to order some beer mustard, beer soap, and hop candy from Founders. Plus, Rock City Eatery will be selling bourbon/butterscotch/pecan and sweet potato whiskey pies (and two other flavors not boozey) on December 23 and 24, first-come first-serve. (He sold out within minutes on Thanksgiving so, you know. Can only make so many pies in that oven and spend so many hours not sleeping.)

[HOT LIST] Pursuit of Pappy 2013

If you're a craft beer nerd, you are more than familiar with the concept of white whales: Pliny the Younger, Dark Lord, KBS, CBS, Heady Topper, Black Tuesday, and so many more all have cultish followings with people willing to pay ten times retail or more just to get their hands on a bottle. The beers are made in limited quantities and with limited allocations, sometimes never even distributed out of their own state, sometimes never even distributed outside of their own brewery. (Yeah, all you Dark Lord Day nuts, I'm looking at you.)

Spirits are a different story. There may come a day that a west coast distillery will grow to have a serious cult following all over the country and people will pay several times over what it's worth on eBay to get their hands on a bottle if it's not distributed in their state. But the fact is, we're just not there yet with American craft spirits.

Except when it comes to Pappy Van Winkle.

(We're going to be taking a long walk for a short drink of water here so just sit tight, this will all come together soon enough.)

Old Rip Van Winkle was a pre-Prohibition brand that was resurrected by the Van Winkle family in the 1970s. The Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve is the rarest of the rare, bottled in 15-, 20-, and 23-year-aged releases. It has been contract distilled by the Sazerac Company at the Buffalo Trace Distillery since 1991, but because of the low production and extremely long aging process - much longer than what any other distillery is willing to sit on - it is the rarest bourbon in the world. While some distillers get a little persnickety over which distillers can accurately be considered "craft" and which are merely glorified finishing houses - buying all of the booze pre-made by the tank only to finish it with their own flavors and age it themselves, putting their own labels on it and calling it "craft" - no one seems to split hairs over Pappy.

"Why not just make more of it?" For the same reason every new distillery starts by producing vodka (it's the fastest turnover from still to bottle and the fastest way to start bringing in money) and why you don't see quality whiskeys coming out of craft distilleries that just opened in the last two years - age. Anything other than white whiskey (whiskey that hasn't spent any time aging in barrels; it's basically moonshine and almost always terrible so please stop making this trendy) has to sit in barrels for at least a year, and even then you're rushing it. 18 months is the minimum for most, and two years is more preferable still. But beyond two years isn't practical for most companies. Why? Not only is storage often an issue (and it is, because those barrels need to sit somewhere), but this also means that these distilleries - so many of them still pretty new and operating on shoestring budgets - are sitting on hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars worth of product, just for those two years.

Now multiply that by about 10, and you'll see the Van Winkles' predicament. Also, what is trendy now might not still be trendy 15, 20, or 23 years from now - aging bourbon for this long is a long-term commitment and a long-term gamble, and company president Julian Van Winkle III doesn't want to sit on millions of dollars worth of bourbon he can't sell 20 years from now. Can you blame him?

And this brings us to the Pappy Panic of 2013. You see, Louisville Magazine wrote a pretty great story on the brand earlier this year, and that story got picked up by the Wall Street Journal, which then got picked up by every lifestyle aggregator blog in the country, and now everyone wants Pappy. And everyone already wanted Pappy, but now it's EVERYONE. Pappy Panic was further perpetuated by a massive theft of $26,000+ worth of product from the company reported earlier this year, and reached what one can only hope to be its nadir (but probably not) with the announcement of a Pappy Van Winkle clothing line. Which, much like the Ferrari clothing line, will probably be worn almost exclusively by people who have never so much as seen or touched a bottle in their lives and never will.

SIDEBAR: This will also lead to people who have had it claiming that it's good, but it's not THAT good. (I've already heard it myself.) In short, both media and people are awful.

So! For all you shameless white whale chasers out there, and also those of you who really truly and sincerely love bourbon (please let it be more latter than former), here are a few places around town where you can find it right now. Know of somewhere that I missed? Leave it in the Facebook comments.

The Oakland, Ferndale
Yep, they have it, at least as of Friday night. And I would guess they always have a stash of it somewhere if you know how and who to ask. But I'm just guessing here.

Palate, Milford
They had five bottles as of Friday.

The Raven's Club, Ann Arbor
On Monday the Raven's Club is hosting a Pappy Van Winkle tasting with Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery President Julian Van Winkle III. They'll be tasting five bourbons from Julian's own personal collection, paired with dishes from Ann Arbor and Detroit area chefs. For bourbon fans, this is pretty much the place to be - alas, it's already sold out, but maybe stop by and see if anyone will let you lick one of their glasses when they're done.

The Wine Garden, St. Clair Shores
Want to buy a whole bottle of it and not just drink a little of it at the bar? As the number four account for Buffalo Trace in the entire state of Michigan, the Wine Garden is one of only a few stores in the state that will receive an allotment (they are expecting six bottles). In order to be as fair as possible, they are going to raffle off the bottles at a party in-store on December 19. Stop in the store any time this month and buy a bottle of bourbon to be entered into the drawing. There will be only three winners and you MUST be present for the drawing to win. "Wait, only three winners? You said they were getting six bottles! What about the other three?" This store has customers that spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year on bourbon, and those special customers will get first dibs. Why? Because sometimes a store wants to reward their loyal customers and not just cater to the Ahab assholes helicoptering in for their first and last time ever in the store to get a rare bottle of bourbon they read about on the Internet, that's why.

UPDATED: Townhouse in Birmingham has some, Red Wagon in Troy is selling it for $500/bottle, mL Spirits in Birmingham has some (including the 23-year), Merchant's Fine Wine in Dearborn has it but there is already a two-year waiting list, and One-Eyed Betty's has a serious stash of it as well as their own single-barrel batch of Buffalo Trace.

[HOT LIST] Thanksgiving events

In the interest of all things in one place (not to mention hayZeusFUK Thanksgiving is in two weeks), here is a list of various tasting events and such to get you started on your holiday planning, as well as some events happening on Thanksgiving Day and other stuff happening in the next two weeks just for funsies. From wine tastings with pairing suggestions to cheese tastings because, hi, cheese, these are some great pre-Thanksgiving tastings (and one post- because, hi, cheese) to help you plan your holiday dinners. Or to just carry on like normal and go to fun tastings and brunches because they're fun and it's just this thing that you do. Also, everyone loves a parade. And shopping. And whatever. Here is a list of whatever. There will be another as the day of the Fat Man and Little Boy approaches. (It's okay to reference nuclear warheads in jest when speaking of Santa and the baby Jesus???)  #holidays2012

Friday, November 9
Art for the Holidays at the Detroit Artists Market, 5-9 p.m.
What it sounds like. You know what's better than an impersonal gift card or trying to guess another person's pant size and personal taste? Art. Just go buy art. $10-20.

Saturday, November 10 (and every Saturday through the end of the year)
Weekly Wine Tastings at Toasted Oak Grill + Market, $10.
Like what you tried? Buy it at the market. Might as well pick up a house-made charcuterie or Michigan cheese platter while you're there, or maybe some of Chef Steve's famous bacon caramel (that's a pretty unique gift, eh?).
Nov. 10 - "Birds and booze" (Thanksgiving-friendly wines served with brie and country terrine)
Nov. 17 - Holiday tasting (15 wines hand-selected for holiday pairings, gift-giving and value, plus meats, cheeses and house-made accoutrements from the market)

Tuesday, November 13
Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co. "Sparkling wine will get any party going, ja*," 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Sample several dry sparkling natural wines and be speechified by two of my favorite wine guys, Antoine Przekop and James Cadariu. Snacks. $40.

*"ja" added for emphasis.

Thursday, November 15
The Wine Garden's Nouveau Day 2012, 5-8 p.m.
The third Thursday of November is traditionally known as "Nouveau Day," when French producers rush to get their Beaujolais nouveaus released. There won't actually be any Beaujolais nouveau at this tasting, but there WILL be plenty of other lovely French wines as well as roast turkey so you can see for yourself how it all pairs. Free.

Hugh Grand Opening, 8-11 p.m.
Detroit's Original Pop-Up(TM) is celebrating the grand opening of its permanent location in Midtown. With refreshments, naturally. Check it out for masculine housewares and gift items from proper beer glasses to vintage Playboys. Also: refreshments. Free.

Friday, November 16
MotorCity Wine November Wine Tasting, 6-8:30 p.m.
18 different wines to try before you buy, paired with cheese, charcuterie and antipasti. $25.

Paper Ink + Earth Launch Party, 5-8 p.m.
A pop-up within a pop-up. Comment l'avant-garde! Snacks and wine and shopping. Free.

Thursday, November 22

Thanksgiving Brunch at Atlas Global Bistro, 8 a.m. - parade ends
Watch the parade from their windows while drinking Bloodys and eating bacon. $40 adults, $20 kids 10 and under, $15 extra for bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys.

Thanksgiving Brunch at the Majestic Cafe, 7 a.m. - noon
Breakfast buffet and prime parade seating. I've done this a few times and while the food pretty much sucks, it's still a fun experience. $20 adults, $15 kids.

Wednesday, November 28
Go Wisconsin! at Zingerman's Roadhouse, 7-10 p.m.
A Wisconsin cheese tasting paired with Death's Door cocktails. Because, hi, cheese. $50.