Gift Guide: Christmas Brew

Posted on December 4, 2011 – 6:14 AM | by Admin
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Last Christmas, the only places to shop for the beer lover on your list were boring chain stores like BevMo. Luckily two excellent craft beer shops have opened recently in the Sacramento area: Pangaea Bottle Shop and the Davis Beer Shoppe.

The Davis Beer Shoppe is definitely worth a trip across the causeway.  It has the most diverse and well-rounded selection in the area, and owner Taylor Ramos has gift suggestions for both the beginning craft beer aficionado and the hard-to-wow beer nerd.  The more common items include a St. Bernardus gift pack, complete with one of each of their four brews and the correct glassware, and magnums of both the 2010 and 2011 Anchor Christmas ale (the formula for this beer changes every year so it’s fun to do vertical tastings.)

Have a sour beer fiend to buy for? The Davis Beer Shoppe has a full selection, including Panil Barriquee, an Italian sour red ale aged in cognac barrels, and Anchorage Brewing’s Bitter Monk, an IPA finished with Brettanomyces  (which gives it the sour character) and aged in French oak barrels.

Closer to home, Oak Park’s Pangaea Bottle Shop stocks a plethora of Christmas beers, including Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza, a Belgian-style strong ale (brewed with Brett, as are all Jolly Pumpkin beers) and Fantome de Noel, from the mysterious Belgian cult brewery Fantome.

And for the lady on your list (who of course may also appreciate any of the previously mentioned beers), Pangaea stocks numerous beers from Japan’s Hitachino Nest Brewery, as well as some simply adorable glassware featuring the brewery’s cartoon owl logo.

Between these two shops, almost all your shopping can be done. Oh yeah, except for the kids. -BG

Pangaea Bottle Shop, 2743 Franklin Blvd., (916) 454 4942

The Davis Beer Shoppe, 211 G Street, Davis, (530) 756 5212

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