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The 9 Best Homebrewing Gifts for the Holidays 2025
Brew better.
Photography courtesy of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
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‘Tis the season to brew something special! Whether your favorite homebrewer is just dipping their mash paddle for the first time or already speaks fluent fermentation, we’ve rounded up the ultimate list of gifts to keep their kettles bubbling all year long.
From high-tech gadgets that take the guesswork out of brewing to pro-level courses that turn casual hobbyists into certified beer scholars, these picks are designed to make any homebrewer’s holiday extra hoppy. You’ll find everything from conical fermenters and smart thermometers to legendary brewing boots and books packed with recipes and insider tips.
So skip the generic six-pack this year and surprise your beer-loving friend (or yourself—we won’t judge) with something that truly elevates their craft.
Here are Hop Culture’s eight favorite homebrewing gifts for the holidays—perfect for every kind of brewer, from the weekend experimenter to the future pro.
Hop Culture’s 9 Favorite Homebrewing Gifts for the Holidays
Cicerone BeerSavvy Course
Graphic courtesy of Derek Campos, Senior Graphic Designer, Next Glass
Give your budding brewer the gift of education. YouTube University is fantastic, but if your homebrewer is looking for a little extra leg up, consider the Cicerone BeerSavvy Course.
This online course teaches the fundamentals of brewing and serving beer, including beer flavor and evaluation, as well as the history of various beer styles. Passing the course gains you a globally recognized accreditation.
It’s a concentrated dose of videos, interactive activities, and quizzes to help you retain the information.
You have ninety days to work through the entire course. Cicerone® says it takes about five to eight hours to complete, so you can really go at your own pace, taking the online exam for the Certified Beer Server at the end whenever you’re ready.
Essentially, within less than a day, you’ll have the tools to earn a certification that says you’re a professional. Consider this the first step of many towards a potential dream of running your own brewery someday.
Best of all, Untappd has partnered with Cicerone® to give you $30 off on your journey toward becoming a certified beer expert through BeerSavvy® Online.
Ready to get started? Click here or below and use code UNTAPPD30 during checkout for your $30 off.
XTRATUF Legacy 15 Boot
Image courtesy of XTRATUF
In any profession, having the proper footwear is paramount, whether you’re a commercial fisherman in Alaska or a brewer in Germany.
XTRATUF understands the unique needs of working in the brewing industry, building boots specifically designed with a triple-dipping technique to create a seamless barrier that protects against the broadest range of acids, corrosives, and contaminants—all while keeping your feet dry.
Pair that with a soft, light design, cushioned insoles, and a slip-resistant Chevron outsole that provides excellent traction on slippery floors, and the XTRATUF Legacy 15” Boots are well worth the investment.
Professional brewers across the country trust this legendary brand, so you know they’re going to be just as top-notch for the brewer at home.
Editor’s Note: XTRATUF sent the Hop Culture team a pair of these boots for testing. We do not receive any commission from any sales here.
LUKR Tapster Toolkit
Photography courtesy of LUKR
If you’ve followed us over the past few years, you’ll know how obsessed we’ve become with Czech beer styles and culture. And we’re not the only ones. We dubbed 2023 “The Year of the Czech Lager,” and we think we nailed that, noticing breweries across the country tried their hand at brewing Czech beer styles—pilsner, pale lager, Czech dark lager. We even got to live our wildest dreams this year when we joined the Czech Ministry of Agriculture on a seven-day mission trip around Czechia.
One of the stops included LUKR, whose side-pull faucet has become something of a darling among American brewers.
This pouring device features a screen inside the tip that filters out larger bubbles, promoting the formation of smaller, finer ones. Combined with a ball valve (as opposed to a plunger valve), which allows for better control of the beer flow, it helps create this wet, dense foam.
We’re not entirely sure whether these have made their way into homebrewers’ setups yet, but we imagine they will soon.
With that in mind, this is probably more of a next-level gift, but for someone in your life who loves Czech beer or immediately goes giddy when they notice a side-pull faucet at their favorite taproom, LUKR’s Tapster Toolkit might just hit a home run.
The kit includes everything a professional tapster would use to keep their taps and draught system in top-notch condition. If your beer lover wants the perfect pour from their side-pull faucet every time, they need this essential kit.
Pinter
Photography courtesy of Pinter
Earning recognition as the TIME magazine “Invention of the Year” in 2020, Pinter is a revolutionary homebrewing machine.
Born from the brains of two clever, crafty engineers who, at eighteen, just wanted to make beer themselves instead of paying for it, Pinter has evolved into one of the most ingenious beer-making systems on the market.
“You can go to any shop and get a beer,” says Pinter Co-Founder Alex Dixon. “[Pinter] is a completely different way to consume—a different way to create.”
Pinter U.S. CEO Paul Benner sees the innovative home-brewing machine as sitting at the intersection of a few current trends in the States: craft beer, at-home entertainment, and DIY hobbies.
“It’s not just making beer,” he tells us when we meet up during the country’s largest industry conference. “It’s an amazing experience.”
“An elevated experience,” Dixon chips in, noting that less than ten percent of those who try Pinter for the first time have homebrewed before. “We’re literally creating this new segment that hasn’t existed.”
These are folks who may have wanted to try homebrewing but found the barrier to entry too high with traditional kits.
Benner, who opened a homebrew shop in Ohio in 2012 before co-founding Platform Beer Co., notes that the beginner side of homebrewing hasn’t changed much since the 1990s. “There’s been almost no innovation,” he says. “And the problem is that it’s still expensive, takes up a lot of time, and the product usually isn’t good right out of the gate.”
Pinter flips that entire experience on its head.
“It’s inexpensive, it doesn’t take time or space,” he shares. “And we pride ourselves on a quality product every time—whether it’s your first time or your hundredth.”
Dixon and his co-founder, Ralph Broadbent, have thoughtfully redesigned every step of the process to make homebrewing as easy as possible. You just pick from over twenty beer styles—what they call Fresh Presses, a blend of malt extracts, hop oils, and other adjuncts—ranging from IPAs and pales to stouts, English bitters, and brown ales. Add water and yeast, wait a bit, and you’ve got a mini keg in your fridge that’s ready to dispense.
Just tap the handle and enjoy fresh, fresh beer.
Homebrewers can make up to twelve pints in just seven days.
“When it comes to beer, fresh is best,” said Broadbent. “Freshness is fundamental to beer’s flavor, but over seventy-five percent of people are unaware of that fact. Drinking with the Pinter delivers beer at the optimal point for drinking: right after it finishes conditioning, it is at its freshest, and the flavor is at its peak. This is beer as fresh as it can possibly be.”
Current recipes include an Iron Maiden British beer, Appalachian Mountain tropical IPA, Sycamore Brewing wheat beer, Yeastie Boys Bigmouth Remixed session IPA, Fourpure Citra IPA, British Bitter, Lager, Session IPA, Double IPA, West Coast IPA, Stout, Hefeweizen, and Cloudy Apple Cider, to name a few.
If you want to make and serve the freshest beer possible at home, now is the time to get your Pinter, whether it’s for a friend…or just for you. We won’t tell!
Craft Brewing May Not Be For You
Photography courtesy of Celina Carros, Marketing Manager, Remnant Brewing
Remnant Brewing Head Brewer Charlie Cummings knows what it’s like to work in the beer industry—all of its ups, downs, highs, and lows. Cummings takes over thirty years of experience and pours everything into the packed pages of his new book, Craft Brewing May Not Be For You.
Journey with Cummings as he gives you an honest behind-the-scenes look at learning the ropes of working in a brewery, writing recipes, handling brewery closures, and more.
“It’s an inside story of the obsession, controlled chaos, and hilarity of brewing beer for a living,” Cummings wrote to Hop Culture in an email.
Any homebrewer thinking about going pro needs to read this book. As both a canary in the coal mine and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Cumming’s new tome shows you the bare truths of what it’s like to work in beer.
Brew Your Own ‘Big Book of Homebrewing,’ Updated Edition
Image courtesy of Brew Your Own
Image courtesy of Brew Your Own
You might recognize Brew Your Own magazine as the “how-to homebrew” magazine that has been bringing budding brewers tips and tricks on nailing their next recipe for the last thirty years.
It makes sense that the experts would create their own best-of book, detailing the ins and outs of brewing twenty-five recipes from craft brewers around the country.
In the new edition, you can expect tips from editors and commercial brewers and new recipes for everything from the most popular IPAs to what Brew Your Own calls “clones of hard-to-find regional cult beers.”
Step-by-step photography and detailed guides ensure both novice and advanced homebrewers can nerd out within these pages.
This big book has it all.
FastFerment Plastic Conical Fermenter
Image courtesy of FastFerment
The economical solution for conical fermentation at home, the FastFerment Plastic Conical Fermenter lets homebrewers complete primary and secondary fermentation in one vessel.
No need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a conical fermenter. The cone shape of FastFerment’s design allows yeast and sediment to settle, which you can easily remove by closing the bottom valve and taking out the collection ball. To continue secondary fermentation, clean the collection ball and add it back to the cone.
Simple as that.
Homebrewing is all about maximizing space, efficiency, and time on a small scale. FastFerment has all those nailed and more.
Aqua Range Smart Thermometer
Image courtesy of Aqua Range
Brewing is a precision sport, if you will. You need to know the temperature when you’re mashing in or boiling the wort for your hop additions.
The Aqua Range Smart Thermometer lets you keep an eye on temperatures with precision from -40°F to 450°F (-40°C to 230°C), with ±1°F accuracy at 150°F.
But the coolest feature here is that you can set up custom temperature alerts right on your iOS devices. The easy-to-use app lets you set time or temperature alerts with just a tap.
Bonus: You can also use this when cooking!
Modern Lager Beer
Image courtesy of the Brewers Association
Lagers are back, baby! If you’re ready to take your homebrewing expertise to the next level with lagers, we highly recommend this insightful book from the Brewers Association’s Brewers Publications®.
Delving deep into the history of lager experimentation, Modern Lager Beer draws historical insights to help homebrewers understand how to attempt bottom-fermented beers at home.
Balanced with insights from popular modern brewers, this lager-loving tome preps you with practical methods along with inspiration to experiment on your own to make everything from a peak pilsner to a mighty Munich dunkel.
