Once you get to a certain age, a bottle of wine or alcohol becomes a go-to gift, whether as a housewarming, a congratulations or something else. A couple years ago, High West released a limited edition whiskey called A Midwinter Night’s Dram,  after the popular Shakespeare comedy. I bought a bottle for Jeff as a Christmas/Hanukkah present, and when we were finished drinking it, we couldn’t bring ourselves to get rid of the bottle. The High West bottles are rather tall, so this one still sits on the shelf with our other liquor. However, we’ve found fun ways to re-purpose things like this throughout our apartment. So I thought I would share some!

Mini Oak Barrel

This is actually our newest alcohol-inspired piece. It’s a small authentic oak barrel, probably about 10 inches tall, from the antique store in mentioned in my post about Frederick earlier this week. These kinds of barrels are used in whiskey distilling, and the spigot on top and small hole on the other side of the barrel tell me that some kind of alcohol was in here at one point. I also love that some of the gold bands (like the third from the top) are sagging a bit from their original placement—someone put this barrel to good use. Its charming size makes it a perfect addition to our office bookcase.

Beer Bottle Bookend

Two shelves down from the oak barrel (the basket shelf is in between) is the only one on this bookshelf actually filled with books. I’ve always considered bookends to be a fun way to add some character to a shelf, but I don’t actually have any standard ones. And I’ll give credit where credit is due: it was Jeff’s idea to use this pint-size bottle of Allagash Tripel Ale as a bookend. The label is interesting and adds some color, and the height fits perfectly on the shelf. A note: Be careful if you try this with a regular size beer bottle. It won’t be as heavy and likely won’t hold up as many books.

Moscow Mule Ice Bucket

I fell in love with this ice bucket when I saw it at TJ Maxx (though there are similar ones all over the internet), then my brother got it for me this past Hanukkah! When it’s not being used as an ice bucket, it sits on the very top of the office bookcase. I love the way the light reflects off of it, and I think it makes a lovely decorative piece.

Working Barrel Till

I’ll be the first to admit that this barrel is not nearly as authentic as the one above—in fact, it’s from Target! But unlike the antique one, this one boasts a working spout. While it’s small, I’m pretty sure it would hold an entire bottle of wine (or close to it) if we were entertaining. So far we’ve been using it to hold various spirits—it’s fun to use the phrase “get some whiskey from the till.” It sits on top of our liquor cabinet.

Manischewitz Bottle Cheeseboard

I LOVE Manischewitz. I think it is sweet and amazing and delicious. I would drink it every week. So I love paying homage to it with this flattened bottle, which could act as a cheeseboard but is currently hanging on the wall in our dining room. I got this one at an outdoor market in Boston, but a lot of artists make cheeseboards and other things, like candles, out of wine and liquor bottles these days. I bet if you attend an art festival in your area, you’ll see some!

Boozy Metal Signs

In our apartment, there’s a small wall separating the fridge/kitchen from the office/living room area, creating a small corner space in which we decided to put our liquor cabinet. We already had these two signs, so I thought a cool way to signal that this area wasn’t part of the office would be to hang them on the two walls above the liquor cabinet, effectively making this the “liquor corner.” I enjoy a Blue Moon and always loved their commercials in which it looks like they are painting their beer. Believe it or not, we got this sign at an estate sale in Hoboken for just 5 bucks! The High West sign, meanwhile, came from the store at their distillery in Park City. I love it because it shows the saloon with the ski trail coming down behind it, which is actually what it looks like in real life. They don’t sell this one anymore, but they have other tin signs in their store.

And that about wraps up this tour of our booze-inspired home decor!