Christmas gift for husband

Was hoping for some advice. Looking to get my husband a brew related christmas gift. He has been brewing for a couple years now, all grain etc. Looking for a good magazine since he loves reading about new recipes and techniques, but didn’t know what magazine would be best, read someone considered BYO for the advanced brewer, but don’t know what is considered an ‘advanced’ brewer. Or was even looking at the Beer of the Month Craft Beer Club (prob would only do a quarterly, if that) Has anybody done this, is it worth the money? Any good beers come from it? He is not part of the AHA, so thought I could sign him up for it, then he would get the magazine subscription with it. But am not sure if it is worth joining the AHA just for a hobby brewer. Any suggestions?

The AHA is MADE for hobby brewers! When you join, you not only get a great magazine, but you get discounts to local pubs and on books put out by the AHA, and you help support the entire hobby of homebrewing. In addition, the AHA works in Washington to help keep taxes low on craft beer and to keep it available and affordable.

FWIW, i feel like joining AHA is only good for the magazine subscription. I guess one could say that the membership is good for discounts; however, for me the only one i can take advantage of is the 5% off of my purchases with NB. Even then i always forget to tell them about it. I like BYO magazine, but so far i’m not sure which is better, Zymurgy or BYO.

If it were for me, i would be dropping my hints on equipment i need, that is how I getting my wort chiller, freezer to be used as keezer, Johnson control unit, and some of the perlick faucets. (much more than one could expect, but this is because birthday is at the same time).

Mike

Get him BYO. No doubt. Certainly not an “advanced” magazine.
I consider it a staple for anyone who brews beer at home.

Skip the AHA membership.

Another magazine to consider is “All about Beer”. It’s not a brewing mag, but a beer aficionados magazine.

A great hardcover might be nice too. I recommend something by the late, great Beer Hunter, Michael Jackson.
or Garrett Oliver’s (Brooklyn Brewing) Oxford Companion to Beer, or The Craft of Stone Brewing.

An AHA membership is great because of the Zymurgy magazine subscription as well as other assorted discounts and programs (Discounted AHA national comp entry fees if he wants to compete, for instance). It’s also the foundation that will protect your husband’s right to homebrew at both the state and national level.

BYO is definitely not just for “advanced” brewers. I’ve been reading it since day 1.

I’ve subscribed to both for years now and BYO and Zymurgy always have something interesting and informative.

I have no first hand experience with the Beer of the Month Craft Beer Club, but I haven’t heard great things about it. If you want to do a subscription service, I’d stick with AHA or BYO. It’ll help him make better beer than anything that would show up from the beer club. :cheers:

Curious about your thinking on this.

being a pretty new brewer, I have a subscription to BYO and have received one so far, and I think its totally worth it. I also asked for an AHA membership for xmas, so we shall see if that happens
8)
curious why some say AHA is not worth it, that is concerning to me. I would like to know, so maybe I can change what I am asking for :shock:

Curious about your thinking on this.[/quote]

I would prefer she spend her money on the Michael Jackson book. It’s the best $ value in the business.

I never joined AHA, don’t mean to sully it’s appearance to others. Perhaps the brewer himself should make the decision himself to join that. thats my thinking.

Just to throw in my $0.02 on the AHA question:

After joining the AHA, I was soon filled with regret. In particular, I regretted not having joined the AHA sooner.

(edit: That said, I’m the kind of nut who will just sit and read issues in the online Zymurgy archive front to back for an entire evening.)

Just wanted to thank everyone for the feedback!! Keep it coming lol.

[quote=“bunderbunder”]Just to throw in my $0.02 on the AHA question:

After joining the AHA, I was soon filled with regret. In particular, I regretted not having joined the AHA sooner.

(edit: That said, I’m the kind of nut who will just sit and read issues in the online Zymurgy archive front to back for an entire evening.)[/quote]

Wow… that’s a great point I hadn’t thought of. If you get him the AHA membership, it’s not just a year of membership and magazines, but he’ll have access to the past issues online as well for free. That’s a fantastic deal.

I average 20-25 batches a year. I’m blessed with the fact that I have an NB 20 minutes (my wife says cursed) from my home. I’ve paid for my membership two or three fold on just ingrediants using the AHA discount.

If he is an all grain brewer then a thermapen is an invaluable tool. Unless he has one already. It is something that I could never pull the trigger on for myself (until the price went down on an open box sale) but would have loved to get as a gift.

http://thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/

A little on the higher end at 90 bucks but is something he will love and use every brewday.

Another option, if you want to get him an actual piece of equipment, is a gift certificate to a shop. That way you won’t have to guess what he wants or know exactly what he already has.

[quote=“Ekffazr”]being a pretty new brewer, I have a subscription to BYO and have received one so far, and I think its totally worth it. I also asked for an AHA membership for xmas, so we shall see if that happens
8)
curious why some say AHA is not worth it, that is concerning to me. I would like to know, so maybe I can change what I am asking for :shock: [/quote]
For me, beyond the issues and the discount to NB, which is 5% of your purchase, nothing around where i live offers any AHA discounts. Maybe i’m a bit more disappointed because when i signed up for it everything mentioned all the discounts i would receive, which has not been the case. I kinda felt oversold.

[quote=“mppatriots”][quote=“Ekffazr”]being a pretty new brewer, I have a subscription to BYO and have received one so far, and I think its totally worth it. I also asked for an AHA membership for xmas, so we shall see if that happens
8)
curious why some say AHA is not worth it, that is concerning to me. I would like to know, so maybe I can change what I am asking for :shock: [/quote]
For me, beyond the issues and the discount to NB, which is 5% of your purchase, nothing around where i live offers any AHA discounts. Maybe i’m a bit more disappointed because when i signed up for it everything mentioned all the discounts i would receive, which has not been the case. I kinda felt oversold.[/quote]

I agree that the discounts aren’t worth a ton to me in that they probably don’t make it pay for itself. I do, however, get discounts at local brew pubs… so it’s not completely useless. I enjoy the magazine, message boards, and national comp stuff. The most important thing to me is the political support for the hobby. I think it’s important to have a voice at a political level because anyone who doesn’t like the idea of homebrewing certainly will. In the past few years, I’ve seen the AHA heavily involved in efforts to legalize homebrewing in a few different states as well as other issues like transportation of homebrew for meetings in competitions. The way I see it, joining the AHA is just protecting my rights. I see the magazine, discounts, AHA national comp, brewery rallies, etc… as nice extras.

I ride motorcycles and I support the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) as well. It is a similar organization and has been important to help support my rights as a rider. I guess this made it a no-brainer to join the AHA when I saw what it was about. I understand others may disagree, but that’s how I see it.

No advice, but I think it’s awesome that someones wife would come on here to find out what would be a great gift for her husband! Good on you! We need more ‘significant others’ like you roaming around here.

(hint hint nudge nudge to my wife!)

The AHA is not a coupon book. It’s an association of hobbyists protecting your interests. The discounts and magazine is simply a nice bonus.

To the original poster, unless he has specified a specific piece of equipment, I would put together a basket with a few books, maybe an issue of BYO, some nice beer glasses and a gift certificate. Throw in an all grain kit too maybe. Nothing too specific equipment wise.

[quote=“breslinp”]The AHA is not a coupon book. It’s an association of hobbyists protecting your interests. The discounts and magazine is simply a nice bonus.
[/quote]

+1

[quote=“SolomonsCommune”]No advice, but I think it’s awesome that someones wife would come on here to find out what would be a great gift for her husband! Good on you! We need more ‘significant others’ like you roaming around here.

(hint hint nudge nudge to my wife!)[/quote]
My wife did the same for me last year. Meant a lot to me.