Sixpack Sez

Nov. 23, 2007 | Give the gift of beer stuff, but all Betz are off

AS CHRISTMAS gifts go, friends of beer drinkers have a long way to go to match the one that Philadelphia beer baron John F. Betz gave to his 25-year-old grandson 100 years ago.

A fully equipped brewery.

In 1907, Betz made a gift of his Germania Brewery on North Broad Street, where the Liacouras Center now stands. According to news reports, it included a five-story brewhouse, malt house, stable and "all that makes a first-class establishment for the manufacture of beer."

Assessed value: $155,000.

Today, that barely pays for the bottling line.

Thankfully for those looking for gifts for a beer lover, there are cheaper alternatives.

Garb

"We Survived the Prohibition" T-shirt from McGillin's Old Ale House (1310 Drury St., Center City). Yes, the city's oldest continuously operating tavern somehow made it through Temperance - and the city's smoking ban - without closing. $15, www.mcgillins.com.

Still worried about Carry Nation? Victory has "Resist Prohibition" garb at www.victorybeerstore.com, from $10.

Limited Edition Rockmount Hop Shirt from Beerheads.com. The Denver Western-wear shop has produced a classic cowboy shirt decorated with hop vines for $80.

Belt buckle bottle opener from Dogfish Head Brewing. There's nothing worse than a full bottle of 60 Minute IPA and nothing to open it with. Here's the solution for $26, at www.dogfish.com.

Reading material

"The Best of Beer & Food: Pairing & Cooking with Craft Beer," by Lucy Saunders (Brewers Publications, $22.95). Besides a bunch of delicious recipes, this book takes a look at the new wave in beer cuisine at restaurants across the country. Deserves to be on the bookshelf of anyone who loves food or beer.

"Guinness: The 250-Year Quest for the Perfect Pint," by Bill Yenne (Wiley, $24.95). An unrequited love letter to "the world's greatest beer." I can name a dozen other stouts I'd rather drink, but Guinness is an epic tale.

No attention span? Grab a subscription to one of the many mags devoted to beer, including: Draft, All About Beer, Beer Advocate, Imbibe and Malt Advocate.

Home bar

Merchant du Vin, the Seattle specialty-beer importer, has some excellent setups, with packages of signs, coasters, towels and glassware from the likes of Samuel Smith's, Ayinger and Lindemans for $34.95 at store.merchantduvin.com.

Tap handles liven up the old Beermeister, and many breweries sell them for under 20 bucks. Wolaver's Organic Ales are available at www.wolavers.com. Flying Fish has 'em at www.flyingfish.com.

Vintage beer always makes a great gift, and I don't mean cans of Rolling Rock with a 2005 expiration date. BeerBooks.com offers an extensive selection of art-deco posters and antique photographs starting at $14.95 at www.beerbooks.com.

Design your own logo and get a set of steins at Pubglasses.com for $15 each. If you don't want them to mark up the coffee table, order up some leather coasters laser-engraved with your own face at Branders.com. A set of 25 (minimum) is $266.50.

Serious German beer-stein collectors say Wurfel & Muller makes some of the best. Look for reproductions of 16th-century designs in its prized, "Limitat" editions at Mybeersteins.com for $165 and up.

Beer

Of course you can't go wrong with actual refreshment. I'll be writing about Christmas beers for your gift list in the next couple of weeks. But here are a few other special consumables that would look good in the stocking:

The Otter Creek World Tour package. A gift box containing three of the Vermont Brewery's special brews based on recipes from around the world. Price varies.

A beer-club membership. Despite unresolved legal issues, beer clubs have begun sending boxes to Pennsylvania. The very best is Michael Jackson's Rare Beer Club ($37.50 per month plus shipping, rarebeerclub.beveragebistro.com). It continues to send off monthly packages of tasty, exotic, 750 ml bottles even after the renowned beer writer's death.

As for that ultra-expensive Sam Adams Utopias I wrote about several weeks ago, you can pretty much forget about finding it this season in the Philly area. Every bottle has been spoken for. You might see it on eBay, though, for a very overpriced $200.

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A final note to those who insist on BIG gifts: That brewery Betz gave to his grandson lasted about as long as the cheap plastic toy Santa brought you when you were a kid. The baron's heir ran it into the ground in less than three years.