What are the best gifts for bourbon lovers; what stuff do enthusiasts of the whiskey want?
We are doing some research. For Part 1 we have:
W WHISKOFF WHISKEY ROCKS GLASSES GIFT SET -- HEAVY BASE CRYSTAL GLASSES WITH CHILLING STONES
Price $44.95 (as of this writing)
This nifty, well-priced set has a whomping 2,300+ reviews on Amazon, with an average 4.8 out of 5 stars. That's pretty incredible; it is the top-reviewed bourbon gift item on Amazon.
The highlights
It's an ALL-IN-ONE gift set with:
- Two ribbed whiskey rocks glasses (10oz / 300ml), with the substantial heavy base that feels good when you grab it
As you may know, Frank Sinatra was a whiskey drinker, in particular Jack Daniels, which legend says Jackie Gleason introduced him to when Ole Blue Eyes needed a stiff drink. Sinatra thereafter always called it J.D. or Daniels.
The book, Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin', described how the Chairman like his glasses:
"The glass, by the way, could not be a tall highball glass or large glass. 'He didn't want a bucket,' says Tony O. Only a traditional squat old-fashioned, or rocks glass, would do. Whenever he encountered any especially well-designed ones, always with leaded bases, he would order his men to buy him a dozen. A good glass pleased him greatly."
(It must be stated that this gift set is LEAD FREE, baby! 🥃)
We think Frank would have ordered a ton of these baby, ring-a-ding-ding!
- 8 granite whiskey/whisky stones
Sinatra liked three or four ice cubes. No more. Once at the Four Seasons in Boston according to the book, he was given an "ice ladened Daniels... He reached into the glass and began plunking cubes onto the bar.
The bartender asked, "Is there a problem, Mr. Sinatra?"
'No, but with all this ice, I figure we're supposed to go skating here or something. That's not my sport.' He left himself four."
Sinatra didn't live to see the stones -- a granite cube that chills the pour without ice diluting it. The polished stones are of course washable and reusable.
The gift set includes tongs and two slate table coasters, handsome, in a premium wooden box. Nice indeed.
Reviews
You can read the 2,300+ reviews on Amazon, but here's one of the top positive reviews. We like how Chad thanked himself:
- "Nice Set! Clear Glass, Bubble Free. Perfect Pour!
The glass is clear and bubble free. The weight (is) nice and hefty. The stones are pretty great and keep drink delution from happening. The box is a little on the cheap side, but doable. I keep my cleaned glass in the box tucked in my cabinet and stones in the freezer.
All in all, I like this set. Great value for the money. Whether it's for you or a friend, anyone who loves their whiskey will love this glass set."
SInce CB tees is bourbon, another 5-star review:
- Must have for bourbon drinkers
- Another 5-star review, an excerpt:
"The glasses are nice. I wanted a squared glass with heavy bottom and good grip, and also have a decent thickness to the glass up through to the rim. I really didn't want a paper thin glass... The glasses are perfect. Exactly what I was going for."
We looked at the 1-star reviews. Most seem to be about damaged items, and strangely, quite a few written in other languages.
- UPDATE: One of our fellow bourbon stewards acquired the set. His report:
"Very nice. You get a lot of quality for a very good price. I have a couple of the Nolan tumblers. Those are about $60.00 each. These are not those but you're getting good glasses for less that $20.00 each, plus other good stuff. The stones do not chill as much as ice does, but you probably know that if you have used them. Plus you get a cool wooden box to impress your inebriated friends with! 🥃❤"
A video look:
The story of the company that makes this gift set is interesting. The story goes back to 1918 when their great grandfather was a quarry worker.
They write: "He always preferred cool whiskey but never used ice cubes, only stones from his mine that he and his friends used when they were younger. Whiskey or bourbon wasn’t their everyday choice but more like a nice way to get rest from continuing exhausting labor.
"One of his beloved sons, after all the stories his father told him, noticed his father's habit and decided to make a present for him. He went back to the old mine, found the perfect rocks, shaped them and gave to his father."
(Published by ColonelBourbontshirts.com. Some blog posts may include affliate links.)