Holiday Gift Guide: Stocking Stuffers
A Roundup of Bar & Restaurant Merch: Hats, Totes, Tees, Candles, Calendars...
On LAST CALL we’ve got you covered with Holiday Gift Guides for Holiday Advent Calendars, Food & Provisions, Drinks & Spirits, Books & Cookbooks, and The Spirit of Italy. Today’s Holiday Gift Guide, the final guide in a weeklong series, is devoted to Stocking Stuffers with a focus on merchandise from some of our favorite bars and restaurants. This is a super-sized dispatch and will likely be truncated in your email, so be sure to click the “View Entire Message” link to expand. And when in doubt, I can’t of anyone who wouldn’t love to receive a gift card for their favorite restaurant or bar.
We’ll be back tomorrow with our third-annual Thanksgiving Eve Holiday Special!
Today’s LAST CALL Holiday Gift Guide is available to all readers thanks to the generous support of Forthave Spirits.
Through a mutual love of experimenting with macerations, infusions, and aromatized, botanical-driven spirits, Aaron Sing Fox and Daniel de la Nuez, the founders of Brooklyn’s Forthave Spirits, have been producing an acclaimed portfolio of botanical-driven spirits and liqueurs since 2016.
Just in time for the holiday season, they’ve released RED, their signature bitter citrus aperitivo, in a 375ml half bottle for the first time. Made with infusions of more than 13 botanicals—including Seville orange peel, gentian root, chamomile, and rhubarb root—the garnet hue is achieved via naturally using botanical extracts including hibiscus and black carrots. The highly aromatic RED comes on slightly dry with a perfectly balanced level of bitterness and is excellent on the rocks with a twist or in a cocktail (it plays especially well with agave-based spirits).
In addition to RED, Forthave Spirits welcomes the new vintage of BLACK (also in a 375ml half bottle), the limited annual release of their modern take on the European tradition of nocino, made using hand-picked, foraged young, unripe black walnuts in the Hudson Valley during the summer of 2023. Each batch of BLACK begins with a nine-month maceration in stainless steel tanks that are then sweetened with raw cane sugar and rested in demijohns for another nine months as the aromatic blend reaches a perfect balance. This release is limited to 200 cases. With a pronounced green walnut presence, it’s an ideal digestivo served chilled, or over a couple of ice cubes.
Both of these new releases from Forthave Spirits are the perfect size for gifting this holiday season, just be sure to keep a bottle for yourself to enjoy.
Forthave RED (Astor Wines & Spirits)
Forthave BLACK (Astor Wines & Spirits)
Holiday Gift Guide: Stocking Stuffers
Bernie’s Restaurant 2025 Calendar
The hottest restaurant merch of Holiday 2024 just might be the Bernie’s “Collector’s Edition” 2025 Calendar. I had a sneak peek a couple weeks ago when I stopped by for some baked clams and a Manhattan, and each month features striking photos of the food (Vinegar Chicken, the Burger) and the wonderful staff who work there that bring this always buzzing Greenpoint hot spot to life. It’s still available to pre-order to have shipped or pick up at Bernie’s. If you pre-order or purchase a Bernie’s Calendar, join the fun on Monday, December 9th from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., celebrate the calendar release party with snacks, surprises, and maybe even some prizes, and have an ice-cold Martini on the house.
$36.00 (Bernie’s; Pick Up at Bernie’s or Shipping Options Available)
The Walrus and the Carpenter Tote Bag
I’ve been rocking my OG The Walrus and The Carpenter canvas tote daily going on four years now. It’s hefty, super durable, and has a great capacity to haul groceries, bottles of amaro, and much more. Though it’s holding up, it has a little leopard-spotting patina of spills and stains so when they recently dropped an updated second edition of the butter-yellow tote, featuring an illustration of the Seattle restaurant’s namesake characters by Jeffry Mitchell, I was sold.
$25.00 (Sea Creatures)
Diner Tote Bag
Throw it back to the burgeoning early aughts Brooklyn restaurant scene with this iconic Diner tote.
$25.00 (Marlow Shop)
Faccia Brutto Spirits Tote Bag
You know those cool Faccia Brutto tote bags you see all over Brooklyn? Why not pick up one for yourself or for the favorite amaro lover on your holiday gift list? Available in burgundy, hunter green, navy blue, and black.
$24.00 (Faccia Brutto Spirits)
Radio Bakery Cap
Brave the long lines and rep your favorite Greenpoint, Brooklyn, bakery with a durable Radio Bakery cap, embroidered with “Radio” on the front and “Bakery” in the back.
$30.00 (Radio Bakery)
Odeon Hat
“You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning wearing an Odeon hat. But here you are…”
$35.00 (The Odeon)
Montague Diner Cap
Brooklyn Heights’ Montague Diner has the classics covered with a Turkey Club, three different Burgers, and a variety of Elaine Bennes-approved Big Salads. But how many diners feature Steak Frites or baller “for the table” platters such as A Pile of Fries and a Bottle of Champagne, Mozzarella Sticks & Orange Wine, or The Giant Grilled Cheese & A Bottle of Chilled Red? And they also have a laid-back dad cap available in forest green or cardinal red you can pick up to rep your favorite diner.
$25.00 (Montague Diner)
Frankel’s Hat
Come for the bagels and killer pastrami sandwich, leave with a signature Frankel’s Delicatessen cap.
$25.00 (Frankel’s)
Hometown Bar-B-Que Trucker Hat
With some of the best barbecue in Brooklyn, let alone the country, it’s pretty easy to rep Red Hook’s Hometown Bar-B-Que with pride. I used to gift my nephew Jack a Hometown Bar-B-Que Trucker Hat ($30.00) each Christmas because he loved it so much the wear-and-tear of daily use required a new hat to break in annually. Available in blue and black.
$30.00 (Hometown Bar-B-Que)
Red Hook Tavern Beanie
Keeping things local in Red Hook, this Red Hook Tavern beanie will fortify your stamina and protect you from the blustery Brooklyn Waterfront winds rolling up Van Brunt Street while you queue up on the waitlist to get insdie.
$25.00 (Red Hook Tavern)
Dive Bar Shirt Club
The Dive Bar Shirt Club lives up to its name offering a monthly subscription service where you can receive an authentic and unique T-shirt from a different dive bar, both familiar and some of the best bars you’ve never hear of, each month.
$24/Month (Dive Bar Shirt Club)
Sea Creatures Fleece Crewneck Sweatshirt
Award-winning Seattle chef Renee Erickson’s Sea Creatures restaurant group always nails it with their merch—from hats, totes, and t-shirts, including this navy Bella + Canvas Fleece Crewneck Sweatshirt that put you in a nautical mood even if you’re landlocked.
$55.00 (Sea Creatures)
LEO Long Sleeve T-Shirt
There’s so many reasons to love the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, restaurant Leo. The Caesar Salad, the Clam Pie, that Potato Slice, the Hanger Steak au Poivre, the incredible Soft Serve combos... And now you can take home this comfy long sleeve t-shirt in the perfect shade of Leo blue.
$35.00 (Leo)
Sunny’s Bar Hoodie
It makes perfect sense that Sunny’s, the beloved, no-nonsense historic dive bar on the edge of Red Hook, Brooklyn, would have the most understated, practical, and functional hoodie.
$45.00 (Sunny’s Bar)
Wawa Holiday Snow Globe
You’ll be dreaming of a White Christmas along with visions of hoagies dancing in your head when you shake up this Wawa Holiday Snow Globe.
$19.99 (Wawa)
Three Dots and a Dash Snowman Mug
Three Dots and a Dash, the acclaimed Chicago bar that serves as a tropical speakeasy/sanctuary for Windy City citizens and visitors alike always offers an eclectic lineup of creative merch. Among the options, you’ll find countless bespoke tiki-inspired mugs and glassware for your consideration, along with hoodies, hats, pins, and t-shirts. This limited-edition collectible Snowman Tiki Mug may look a little creepy, but he’s all about having a chill time this holiday season.
$80.00 (Three Dots and a Dash)
Dante Negroni Candle
Since smelling like Campari is my natural scent and I already spend too many hours each week posting up at my favorite corner stool at Dante, do I really need the at-home luxury of a Dante Negroni Candle? No, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting one so it can smell like aperitivo hour in my apartment all winter long.
$40.00 (Dante West Village)
The Four Horsemen Glou Bear Fleece Blanket
Emblazoned with the natural wine-loving “Glou Bear,” the unofficial mascot of Brooklyn’s The Four Horsemen, this cozy fleece blanket is the perfect companion perfect for wintertime hangs on your sofa for movie nights fueled by pizza and wine.
$20.00 (The Four Horsemen)
Our thanks to Forthave Spirits for underwriting today’s Holiday Gift Guide.
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