A fiftieth is the birthday where slow projects finally make sense as a gift. Most men at fifty have a bit more time than they did at thirty five, a kitchen they know their way around and, crucially, the patience to leave something alone for a week or two, which is exactly what the best home makes require.
So skip the joke card and the framed photograph. Give him something with a waiting period built in: a bacon that cures in the fridge, a rum that sits with its spices for three days, a wine that takes the best part of three months and rewards him in the spring. Here are three kits at three different speeds, and what to buy alongside each so he can begin straight away.
Why do slow projects suit a fiftieth?
Because the pleasure is in the interval, not the instant. Anything you can buy ready made is available on the day, whereas something he has waited for has a quality no shop can sell him. Checking the fridge, tasting with the pipette, watching an airlock bubble: that is the actual gift, and it lasts far longer than the unwrapping.
There is a practical case too. A project that mostly runs unattended fits around a working life much better than one demanding a whole free day. The active time in all three of these kits is measured in minutes and the rest is just calendar. He starts it on a Sunday afternoon and then gets on with everything else while it quietly improves.
What is the one week project?
Bacon, and it is the make that impresses people most for the least effort. Our Bacon Making Kit is a dry cure in the traditional style, rather than the wet cure and added water of most supermarket bacon, which is why home cured rashers firm up and crisp in the pan instead of leaking liquid and shrinking. It is about a week from rubbing the cure in to the first rasher.
The kit flavours the belly three ways: pancetta, fennel and juniper, and chilli and garlic. The cure is a measured traditional mix of salt and sugar with sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate, which protects the meat while it cures and is the easiest and safest way to do this at home. There is no smoker involved. Add a piece of pork belly from the butcher to the gift, or a pork loin joint if he would rather make back bacon, and remind him to cook it through as he would any bacon.
What is the three month project?
Country wine, which is the most patient thing we sell and the one a fiftieth suits best. The Hedgerow Wine Making Kit makes a gallon per batch, about four and a half litres or six bottles, from whatever fruit he likes: blackberry, elderberry, apple, plum, rhubarb and more, with a recipe table covering the lot. It is ready to drink in eight to twelve weeks, and country wines often improve if he can leave them longer.
In the box are the things that are hard to buy in small quantities: wine yeast, yeast nutrient, pectolase, finings, citric acid, a stabiliser tablet and steriliser. He adds the fruit, sugar and water, plus his own bucket, demijohn, airlock and bottles. The rhythm is four stages: a vigorous first fermentation on the crushed fruit for about three days, straining off the fruit, a longer second fermentation under an airlock, then bottling and maturing. It contains sulphur dioxide and sulphites, and it is for personal use at home by adults aged 18 and over. Add a 5L bucket with a lid and a demijohn with an airlock, and the gift is ready to use.
What is the weekend project?
Spiced rum, for the birthday itself. The Spiced Rum Making Kit makes two bottles in two styles, a Captain's Blend of classic pirate spice and a Jamaican Ginger, and the whole thing takes under a week per batch: about seventy two hours infusing, then two to three days settling before a final filter and bottling.
It is the one to give if he needs something to pour at the party rather than something to wait for. He adds a bottle of inexpensive dark rum per batch, and it must be a plain dark rum rather than one that is already spiced, since the spicing is the kit's job. He tastes through the infusion with the pipette and filters when it suits him, longer for bolder, earlier for gentler. Bottled and sealed out of direct sunlight, the finished rum is best drunk within a year.
What should you add to each one?
These kits carry the difficult half, not the fresh half, so the extras are worth buying at the same time.
- Bacon: a piece of pork belly, or a 500g pork loin joint for back bacon.
- Wine: a 5L food-grade bucket with a lid, a demijohn with an airlock, a siphon and some screw-top bottles.
- Spiced rum: a bottle of plain, inexpensive dark rum per batch.
Every ingredient is listed on the pack. If you have an allergy question, email hello@sandyleaffarm.com before ordering.
How do you get it to him for the day?
If he is not within driving distance, you can enter his address as the delivery address at checkout and the kit goes straight to him. Orders placed before 2pm Monday to Friday are dispatched the same day, and Royal Mail standard delivery usually takes two to three working days, which is worth knowing when the date has crept up on you.
50th birthday gift FAQs
What is a good 50th birthday present for a man who has everything?
Something with a waiting period. A bacon cure, a spiced rum or a batch of country wine gives him weeks of small satisfactions rather than one moment of unwrapping.
How long does each of these take?
The rum is under a week per batch, the bacon about a week from cure to first rasher, and the wine eight to twelve weeks from start to glass.
Does he need special equipment?
Only for the wine, which needs a bucket, a demijohn with an airlock, a siphon and bottles. The bacon needs a fridge and the rum needs nothing beyond a bottle of dark rum.
Do the drinks kits contain alcohol?
No. None of our kits contain alcohol. The rum kit infuses spices into rum he buys himself, and the wine kit ferments his own fruit and sugar, both for adults aged 18 and over.
Which one should I choose if the birthday is next week?
The spiced rum, because he can have two bottles made and settled within the week. The wine is the one to give if you want a present that arrives again in the spring.
Still weighing it up? Have a look at our gift kits and choose by how long he likes to wait.
