There’s something special about a home bar. At its best, a home bar is a reflection of the owner, from the spirits displayed to the well-used bar tools. This Father’s Day, show your dad you know he appreciates the finer things in life and add something to that bar cart that he’ll want to put front and center. Whether your dad is the type who prefers a lawn beer or an after-work cocktail (or both), you’ll find a gift here that’s a fit (and maybe even help him find his new favorite drink).
Starward Nova Australian Single Malt
Scotland no longer has a stranglehold on single malt whiskeys. Some of the most awarded and insider-cherished single malts are coming out of the Australian distillery Starward, and the Nova is a bottle that ends too fast. It’s aged in Shiraz, Cabernet, and Pinot Noir red wine barrels from the Yarra Valley and Barossa Valley and is truly a whiskey that speaks to where it’s made (in this case, Melbourne). The bright red berry and fruit flavors are balanced and lasting. If your dad is already well on his way to exploring the world of single malts he’ll appreciate the thoughtfulness of thinking outside the usual picks, and if he’s yet to branch out this is the start of an exciting whiskey journey.
$55
Tequila Ocho Plata
It’s a special time to be a tequila fan these days. The spirit has exploded in popularity in recent years, and producers are creating bottles that are for so much more than shots and Margaritas. Tequila Ocho makes its agave spirits similar to how fine wine producers make their liquid: with a focus on a vintage year and a specific farm around its home base in Arandas, Mexico. Regardless of the expression you end up choosing, the bottle is limited by nature (both figuratively and literally, as nature is what dictates how the agaves grow from the soil conditions to the microclimate). Ocho’s unaged tequila delivers a taste of place that aficionados will appreciate, though you don’t have to be a tequila expert to know when something tastes good.
$50
Bespoke Post Monthly Membership
[Partner] Bespoke Post is the ultimate monthly membership club delivering rad boxes filled with top-shelf goods from under-the-radar brands and small businesses. Brace yourself for a world of coolness with outdoor gear, barware, home goods, fashion, and even live oysters. Take a preference quiz when you sign up and get a personalized experience. Each box is worth at least $70 but only costs $49 for members. Best part? You get a preview before it ships! Keep, swap, or skip the month at no charge.
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Indacloud Delta-9 THC Gummies
[Partner] Indacloud’s strongest, best tasting, most popular cannabis gummies are perfect to treat any dad to a mini vacation. Wash away daily stress, sleep like a king, eat like a viking, and smile like you’re a kid again as every single gummy is equivalent to 4 hours in paradise. Enjoy a choice of 7 incredible flavors at unbeatable prices.
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Compass Box The Malt Whisky Collection
Is your dad a whiskey fan but you don’t want to limit yourself to gifting a single bottle? Compass Box makes an affordable choose-your-own adventure style approach. The Malt Whisky Collection includes the award-winning Scotches The Peat Monster, The Spice Tree, and The Story of the Spaniard. It’s a showcase of some of the variety that can be found in Scotch whisky, and once dad finds a favorite on Father’s Day, you can follow the gift up with a full bottle of his pick.
$20
Royal Salute 21 Year Old Scotch
Single malt Scotch whiskies may get the lion’s share of attention and love in whisky circles, but blends are the driving force of Scotland’s whisky industry. It takes an incredible amount of skill to blend the right flavors together in a harmonious way, and picking what goes into each batch is something few people can do (and even fewer can do extremely well). The Royal Salute makes a blend you won’t often see by leaning on spirits that are a minimum of 21 years old. The brand has quite a history: It started in 1953 as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. The classic still rings true today with all the right flavor notes, and the bottle itself is a looker that stands out on a bar cart.
$200
Personally Selected Single Barrel Old Elk Bourbon
Personalize your Father’s Day spirit with Old Elk’s single barrel program. There aren’t many chances for whiskey drinkers to have a direct hand in picking what they’re drinking. Old Elk allows for sampling at home or at the distillery in Fort Collins, Colorado, and once the barrel is picked, the bottles come with a custom label that lays out all of the production details (as well as a logo, phrase, crest, or symbol in the case of picking the signature mashbill). Each single barrel is different, making this a one-of-a-kind gift of time and place.
Prices vary by barrel
The Bartender's Manifesto: How to Think, Drink, and Create Cocktails Like a Pro
This book by Toby Maloney (of Chicago’s The Violet Hour) and author and spirits journalist Emma Janzen is a James Beard Award nominee from a James Beard Award winning duo. The book will elevate dad’s cocktails and provide some recipe inspiration far beyond the standard and easy to make Negronis, Manhattans, and Martinis. Most importantly, it’s a guide to how to make good drinks not just a list of recipes. Consider it just as much a gift for yourself, at least if you think you can convince dad to whip up some original and classic recipes after he’s thumbed through the book.
$19
Wild Brews: The craft of home brewing, from sour and fruit beers to farmhouse ales
For fans of fermented, rather than distilled, drinks, this James Beard Award nominated book explains how to home brew using wild fermentation techniques. It’s a throwback to lean on the wild yeasts around us, but a trendy one. Author Jaega Wise, who leads London’s Wild Card Brewery, is an expert who can effectively explain brewing science while delivering recipes to experiment making fruit, sour, and farmhouse beers at home. The book will improve any home brewer’s repertoire, or kickstart the interest in a new fulfilling (and delicious) hobby.
$18
Cocktail Codex: Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions
Fancy cocktails can seem out of reach. But really every cocktail starts with one of six formats and evolves from there. That’s according to Cocktail Codex authors Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, and David Kaplan–and they would know, as they’re the ones behind iconic cocktail bar Death & Co. This book teaches the core cocktails that favorite drinks are based on, and then broadens it out into a wider understanding so the reader can start creating their own while mastering the classics. While it will quickly find a place on dad’s bar cart, it’s more than just a showpiece and will be thumbed through many times after Father’s Day.
$23
W&P Design Crystal Cocktail Ice Tray
You can forgive anyone who treats their cocktail ice as an afterthought. When the ice is carefully considered, however, people can tell. Give the gift of good ice this Father’s Day and help take all of those drinks he learns to make to the next level. This mold creates ice that looks good and performs well (even the best looking ice is a flop if it over-dilutes a drink, after all).
$25
Viski 55mm Professional Ice Ball Maker
To be clear, this is not a Father’s Day gift for everyone. It will, however, make any dad deep into the cocktail world extremely happy. This Viski ice ball maker creates perfect little spheres (one at a time) from solid ice chunks using gravity and aluminum. Perfect professional ice balls are one of those things that the experienced home drinks maker wants but isn’t likely to shill out the cash for himself. And that’s one way to win the gifting award.
$250
Whiskey Peaks Mountain Decanter + Half Dome Set of 2 Whiskey Glasses
Vintage decanters are lovely set pieces. There’s also a good chance they contain lead that will leach into any liquid kept in the glass for too long. Get your dad something that looks just as good but is also usable. Huckberry’s handblown whiskey decanter uses premium lead-free glass and can hold 34 ounces of whatever spirit your dad prefers. This set comes with two Half Dome Mountain Whiskey Glasses as well, perfect for sharing some time together over a healthy pour at the end of the day.
$95
Nucleated Teku 3.0 Stemmed Beer Glass
There’s a case to be made that the best beer glass is the one that you have on hand. Well, that’s especially the case if these are the beer glasses on hand. The Nucleated Teku 3.0 is a far finer serving vessel for all styles of beer than that old novelty pint glass. The nucleation comes from five grooves in the bottle of the glass that keep the bubbles going, so it never loses the head and keeps pushing all those aromas up top. IPA fans can get the most out of all of those hops with this glass, and stout drinkers will appreciate the enhanced ability to pull out roasty cacao notes. Hell, it even makes Budweiser taste better. Whatever type of beer drinker your dad is, this glass will make that beer better.
$20
Firestone Walker Brewmaster's Collective
Firestone Walker is one of the original craft breweries that put American beer on a higher level. Today, it’s still a leading brewery and releases a steady stream of award-winning beer. Brewmaster’s Collective members get to taste some of the most artisanal small-batch offerings that they likely wouldn’t be able to get otherwise, and it’s a connection to the brewery that gives an inside look for any dad who appreciates the finest beers, from barrel-aged, to vintage, to experimental. Give him all the details on Father’s Day to get the FOMO going, and know that putting him on the waitlist for 2024 will make his year.
$499
The Original Craft Beer Club
So maybe sticking to the finest beers from a single craft brewery is a little too much dedication. That doesn’t mean you can’t give a beer gift that keeps on giving. The Original Craft Beer Club assembles well-curated beer boxes that are shipped out on a regular schedule with 12 or 24 beers, depending on the subscription you choose. With how regional the craft beer scene is, it’s near impossible to taste the most interesting brews that are kept in a tight distribution ring. These boxes allow for a broader taste of what’s going on around the country.
$49+
Breckenridge Distillery’s Dad’s Stash
Breckenridge Distillery created a bourbon that’s by dads, for dads this Father’s Day. Called Dad’s Stash, the 86-proof bourbon has a complex flavor profile for sipping neat or mixing into a bourbon-centric cocktail like an Old Fashioned. To make the blend, Breckenridge Distillery brought 20 Flaviar members to its high altitude distillery for a battle of the blends between one team led by founder and CEO Bryan Nolt and another led by head distiller Hans Stafsholt. Nolt’s team won the taste test, and bottles of the custom dad blend are available on Flaviar. It’ll look great on any home bar cart (though high chances it won’t stay there for long).
$44
The Young Wine Decanter
Decanting wine feels like one of those next-level practices reserved for the most expensive and oldest fine wines. While that’s true in some cases, it’s not a hard and fast rule that only old wine needs to be decanted. This decanter is designed to open up young wines with just the right amount of aeration to let the flavors and aromas shine. It’s created by wine industry leaders Richard Brendon and Jancis Robinson, so you know it checks all the boxes.
$195
Mid-Century Bar Cart
With so many great gifts to put onto a bar cart, the actual bar cart itself can sometimes be overlooked. But it’s the crucial piece to any great home bar. Upgrade your dad’s display this Father’s Day with a mid-century modern bar cart that can roll to wherever the party is on antique brass-finished casters that match the rails. The acorn-finish wood blends seamlessly into a variety of house styles, so it rarely looks out of place. This is one gift that will be used for years and make all the other gifts here look better.
$400
Terroir-Driven American Whiskey From Laws Whiskey House
Denver-based Laws Whiskey House is making some of the most interesting bourbons, ryes, and wheated whiskeys in the United States. The team sources heritage grains from nearby family farms (in some cases, grains that were revived in parts of Colorado with the help of Laws) for flavors that you won’t get from the spirits that use mass produced commodity grains. It’s a grain-to-glass whiskey company that makes things the right way. For Father’s Day, pick the bottle that best matches your dad’s preferences–the four grain bourbon is a classic, though the San Luis Valley ryes, straight malt, and straight wheat are all top notch.
$80+
