Man Cave Bar Gift Ideas: 12 Gadgets That Earn Their Spot

The best man cave bar gifts do a job. A home bar has four of them: opening bottles, keeping them cold, serving them, and giving people something to do while they're there. This guide sorts 12 gadgets by those jobs, so you can look at his bar, see which job it handles badly, and fill the gap. Two picks come from our shop, the Beer Mortar and the CapBlast; the rest you can find anywhere.

Key Takeaways

• Pick by job: open, chill, serve or play. Look at what his bar is missing.
• Openers and glassware get used every week; neon signs and novelty glasses rarely do.
• A kegerator only makes sense for someone who hosts often.
• Games score in points, not drinks.
• Every gadget here works with sodas and alcohol-free beer too.

Start with what the bar is missing

Wikipedia defines a man cave as a retreat inside a home, such as a garage, spare bedroom, den or basement, set up the way its owner likes (Wikipedia: Man cave). That means no two look the same, so check his before you buy:

1. How does he open bottles? If the answer is "the edge of the counter" or "a lighter," that's your gift.
2. Where do the drinks stay cold? A shared kitchen fridge two floors away is a gap.
3. What does he pour into? Mismatched mugs say glassware. A full glass cabinet says skip it.
4. What do people do there? A TV covers watching. Something for the hands covers the rest.

If he's still building the bar, like the basement counter in the cover photo, our guide to a home bar on a budget lists the five things a bar actually needs. The gifts below build on that list.

Gadgets that open

1. A cap-launching opener

The opener is the most-used tool on any bar, so it's the best place to add some fun. The Beer Mortar sits on the cap, takes one palm strike, and sends the cap flying straight up while the bottle opens. Guests pass it around to have a go, and since it works on any glass bottle with a crown cap, sodas and alcohol-free beers get a turn too. Aim straight up into open space, never toward people, pets, faces or the TV, and keep it out of children's reach. Our guide to what a beer mortar is and how to use it walks through the motion.

2. A wall-mounted opener with a cap catcher

A fixed opener gives the bar a home base: bottles get opened in one spot, and the caps drop into a catcher instead of ending up under the couch. Mount it at elbow height on a stud or a solid board, away from the TV. Our novelty bottle openers page groups the fun versions, and our roundup of funny bottle openers for the home bar covers magnetic boards and wall signs in more detail.

3. A keyring lever for when the bar opener walks off

Bar openers wander. Someone takes one out to the grill, and it's never seen again. A slim lever on his keys is the backup that never leaves. The CapBlast is a stainless steel lever made for one-handed opening and small enough for a keyring. For what separates a good one from a bad one, see our guide to the best keychain bottle opener.

Gadgets that chill

4. A compact beverage fridge

If his drinks live in the kitchen fridge, a small fridge in the man cave is the gift he'll notice most often. Pick one with an adjustable thermostat. The Brewers Association uses 38°F as the standard for draught beer (Draught Beer Quality Manual), and darker or stronger beers show more flavor a little warmer. Our guide on how to store beer explains why bottles should stand upright and away from light.

Photo: MichaelDubreuil / Wikimedia Commons (public domain), cropped

5. A kegerator, only for a steady crowd

A kegerator is a fridge built or converted to hold a keg and dispense from it, using CO2 to keep the contents carbonated; Wikipedia gives an average freshness window of up to about 60 days (Wikipedia: Kegerator). That window is the test. It suits someone who hosts a regular group, not someone who drinks a beer or two on a Saturday, because a keg that sits half-full for months goes flat. The same page notes that some people use them for cold brew coffee or kombucha, which is a good fallback.

6. A metal ice tub

For game days, a galvanized tub or a large ice bucket holds more bottles than the fridge and keeps them where people are sitting. Add a scoop and a bar towel. Our guide on how to chill beer fast explains why ice, water and a handful of salt cool bottles faster than ice alone.

Gadgets that serve

7. Glassware for what he actually drinks

Look at what's in his fridge and buy for that. A tulip glass suits hoppy and Belgian-style beers, a nonic pint suits stouts and session ales, a tall pilsner glass suits pale lagers. Four good glasses get more use than a set of twelve. Our beer glass types guide matches each shape to the styles it serves best, and our page on how to pour a beer is worth printing for the gift box.

8. A bar towel, a bottle brush and a drying rack

The least exciting gift on this list, and one that gets used every time. A drying rack also stops clean glasses piling up next to the sink.

9. A cap jar or cap display

Every opened bottle leaves a cap. A clear jar on the bar collects them, and a shadow-box frame turns the best ones into wall decor. William Painter invented the crown cap in 1892 (Wikipedia: Crown cork); our article on beer bottle caps and why they still exist tells the story, which makes a good card to go with the frame.

Gadgets that play

Photo: André Karwath / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)

10. A tabletop shuffleboard

In table shuffleboard, players slide weighted pucks down a smooth wooden table into a scoring zone at the far end, and full tables usually run 9 to 22 feet long (Wikipedia: Table shuffleboard). Most man caves don't have that much room, so look at the shorter tabletop boards, or the Dutch version, sjoelen, whose typical board is about two meters long (around 6.5 feet) and sits on any table. Players score points; nobody has to drink.

11. A dartboard with a cabinet

A cabinet protects the wall and closes over the board when it's not in use. Hang it away from doorways and the path to the fridge, and play darts before the first beer of the evening rather than after. If kids visit the room, a soft-tip board is the safer pick.

12. A book of bar tricks

Small and easy to wrap: coin tricks, bottle-cap flicks and bets he can win without anyone drinking a penalty. Our guide to bar tricks and bets you can win has a few to start with, and the physics of a bottle cap trick shot explains why a flicked cap flies the way it does.

Which man cave bar gift fits his setup?

Man cave gifts to skip

• Beer brand neon signs. They're decor for someone else's business.
• Boot glasses, yard glasses and beer bongs. Built for drinking fast or drinking a lot.
• Drinking-game kits. NIAAA defines binge drinking as about five or more drinks for men, or four or more for women, in around two hours (NIAAA). A gift shouldn't steer anyone that way. The games above score in points.
• A wall of spirits he didn't choose. Bottles he doesn't drink sit there for years.

Alcohol gifts are for adults of legal drinking age: 21 in the US under the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, and 18 to buy alcohol in the UK (GOV.UK). If he's cutting back, every gadget on this list works just as well with alcohol-free beer, and NIAAA's Rethinking Drinking site has practical tips.

The bottom line

Good man cave bar gifts fill a gap in one of the four jobs: open, chill, serve, play. For a bar that opens bottles on the counter edge, the Beer Mortar brings an opener and a show in one, and the CapBlast covers the night the bar opener goes missing. For more ideas, browse our gifts for beer lovers page.