SLO CAL Crafted: Certified Gift Guide

SLO CAL is boasting with fun and adventurous experiences all over the area. Give the gift of a SLO CAL experience that your loved one will remember forever. Along the SLO CAL coast, Esteem Surf offers all the surf gear you could need to have a session at SLO CAL’s famous Pismo Beach. For the foodies in your life, gift them a tasting experience like no other. Over in Morro Bay, Morro Bay Oyster Co offers guests to come to their storefront on the weekends to purchase and shuck their own oysters. They offer a picnic area to bring a lunch and enjoy freshly caught Pacific Gold oysters right along the bay.

For those looking for guided tastings, Eat, Drink, and Be Merry offers a variety of educational food tours to strike your friends’ fancy. Taste and learn about favorites like wine, beer, spirits, cheese and even olive oil. If you have friends or kids interested in animals and crafting, Giving Tree Family Farm in Santa Margarita offers many different hands-on experiences such as cheesemaking workshops, goat milk soap workshops, farm tours and more!

For the friends or family who don't take enough time for themselves, or for those who live for self-care, treat them to some delightful body and skincare products that provide the spa experience right at home. Items like botanical scented candles, goats milk soaps and haircare can be found at Fablerune in Los Osos. For the adventurous friends who appreciate natural products, gift them lip balms, deodorants, bug repellants and hand sanitizers from 805 Botanicals in Atascadero. Also in Atascadero, Life Elements offers nature-based CBD infused products like bath bombs, body oils and lotions that can help relieve stress and pain while providing a relaxing self-care experience. 

High-quality cookware and ingredients are sought after by the amateur (and professional) chefs in your life. At Spice of Life, find spice sets and herb blends for friends to add to their favorite dishes. For cooking and garnishing, check out some olive oil distilleries located all throughout SLO CAL. In Paso Robles find local favorites like Pasolivo and Kiler Ridge Olive Farm. In Templeton, Templeton Olive Oil offers a variety of flavors. In Atascadero, find The Groves on 41 and Chaparral Gardens for delicious additions to any meal or appetizer. To cook your favorite local ingredients in, check out Kehoe Carbon Cookware in Los Osos for an array of various-sized skillets, pans and utensils handmade by a local blacksmith.

Give a taste of SLO CAL with some delicious artisanal snacks and treats. For friends who love savory snacks, check out The Mercantile at Cattaneo Brothers for all things jerky and more. At Alle Pia Salami in Atascadero, find handcrafted salami, sausage and Italian specialties like Pancetta Tesa and Guanciale. The Pistachio Factory in Templeton offers various savory products like pistachio butters and pastes for friends to add to their favorite snack recipes.

Don’t forget the cheese! Over at Stepladder Creamery in Cambria, find delicious cows, sheep and goat’s milk cheeses to pair with any charcuterie or accouterments. For the sweet tooths on your list, get some decadent chocolate from Mama Ganache located in San Luis Obispo. With all these products, create a tasty artisanal grazing board to bring to your upcoming holiday gatherings.

Gift your loved one the perfect luxury piece or set from a local SLO CAL jeweler. Baxter Moerman in San Luis Obispo creates handmade fine jewelry with ethically sourced gemstones and recycled metals. From diamond rings to magnificent necklaces, these pieces will create the perfect gift for that special someone in your life. Another lux SLO CAL jeweler is SweetBella Jewelry. Here you can find small-batch gem-forward jewelry. By using sustainable, ethical elements like rustic recycled metals and conflict-free stones, they create handmade sought-after pieces for any jewelry lover.

You can never go wrong gifting a good bottle of wine during the holidays. Especially with SLO CAL’s wine trail, there are many wineries and tasting rooms to stop in and stock up on for holiday gifts. Over at Chateau Margene, stop in to pick up luxurious Bordeaux-inspired red wines. With a tasting room in Morro Bay and an estate vineyard and winery in Creston, there are two opportunities to pick up quality wine for the wine connoisseurs in your life. Off 46 West in Paso Robles, you can find J Dusi, a family-owned and operated winery specializing in Zinfindel varietals. Continuing down 46 West, find Pasoport Wine and Pendray’s Distillery who specialize in handcrafted wines, ports and spirits. Pick up a bottle of wine or a spirit for your friends to make drinks at home. For the chardonnay lovers in the family, Stephen Ross Cellars in San Luis Obispo specializes in whites and pinot noir varietals. 

For your beer-loving friends, pick up a pack of local beers or purchase a beer club membership from one of the many breweries or cideries in the area. California Coast Beer offers canned beers and branded merchandise to gift. The tasting room, which was once an auto shop, is located in downtown Paso Robles. Membership to their beer club which offers complimentary merchandise, discounted tabs and first access to all brewery events. Over in San Luis Obispo at Central Coast Brewing, find an array of hand-crafted one-of-a-kind ales and lagers. Packaged in cans with fun and captivating designs, pick up a 4-pack or a full case for friends to enjoy back home. 

For the cider lovers, stop by SLO Cider Co to pick up a case of their canned ciders. Popular flavors like tropical, rosé and watermelon cider will please any friends looking for a crisp refreshment. Don’t worry, we didn’t forget the hard kombucha. Whalebird Kombucha in San Luis Obispo is a SLO CAL staple offering an array of fruity, earthy and floral flavors to pair with the fizzy goodness.

For the perfect gift items to stuff stockings, head over to Harmony Glassworks in the small town of Harmony to find hand-blown glass gifts from ornaments to nail files and wind chimes. For those interested in dainty jewelry, head over to Seaside Treasures in Cayucos to find handmade jewelry like rings, necklaces and earrings made from sea glass and pottery found around SLO CAL. For the planners in your life, help prep them for the new year with calendars, planners and stationery from Wilde House Paper's website.

Give a touch of SLO CAL with aesthetic prints and apparel from Amandalee Designs that incorporate modern and clean artistic prints of popular destinations in the area. Gift cards are always a great stocking stuffer for friends to pick their own gifts.  Find gift cards to local eateries and sweet shops like Leo Leo Gelato in Paso Robles, The Dough Connection in Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo, and Negranti Creamery in Paso Robles, Atascadero, and Tin City for friends to stop by on their next trip to SLO CAL.

For those who enjoy a stiff drink on the rocks or curating their own cocktails at home, SLO CAL boasts a distillery trail to find your favorite local spirits. Calwise Spirits in Paso Robles creates handmade spirits from rums to gins and liqueurs that are distilled with bold flavors. Through their looks, tastes and smells, their spirits work to embody the feel of the central coast for consumers to enjoy at home.

At Central Coast Distillery, a boutique distillery in Atascadero, you can find award-winning single-batch spirits made with quality natural and botanical ingredients. For cocktail mixers to add to your spirits, Root Elixirs creates pre-made mixers to create just the right cocktail. From flavors like strawberry lavender and grapefruit jalapeño, all you need to add is a spirit and you have a homemade crafted cocktail. Yes Cocktail Co. in Paso Robles also offers cocktail mixers to simplify the time in the kitchen while creating bar-worthy cocktails at home.