The Subscriptions We Love
While it may not be a cure-all, the plethora of subscription services that are available today are helping to make the subtle nuisances of everyday life just a little bit easier to manage. From craft whiskey to curated collections of goods, there are several subscription services that we truly enjoy and thought that some of you might enjoy them as well. Here’s a rundown of the subscription service providers whose packages we are most looking forward to arriving at our doorstep this year.
Whether you have a bar that constantly needs to be restocked or you simply love to be introduced to rare craft-spirits, Caskers is the subscription service for you. Each day, Caskers’ team features a new craft-spirit on their website and introduces readers to the people who make them while explaining why they’re so extraordinary. The daily features are free to sign up for, but you can take the experience one step further by subscribing to the Caskers Select Club. A quarterly subscription grants recipients three craft spirits delivered to their doorsteps with tasting notes for each and a handful of extra perks. For last year’s holiday gift, we gave our co-founders (Paul and Paul) Caskers Select Club subscriptions and they’ve already received their first bottles of rye whiskey. (We’re still looking forward to the Pauls sharing a shot or two with us at our next staff meeting.) With all this talk about drinks, it’s only natural that we move onto food. Back in the summer, we shared how The Mantry (The Modern Man’s Pantry) had caught our eyes and satisfied our appetites. Combined with our love of music, there’s another food service we’ve come to enjoy – Turntable Kitchen. Each month, Turntable Kitchen subscribers receive premium-dried ingredients and seasonally themed recipes paired with a limited edition 7-inch vinyl single and a curated digital mixtape. All subscribers have to do is pick up a few additional fresh ingredients, set aside some time to cook and enjoy the music over dinner. We’re always on the lookout for up-and-coming brands producing the best gadgets-and-gear available. There's one subscription service in particular that helps us with just that. Svbscription (yes, with a “v”) is a service that we first discovered by way of Monocle’s The Entrepreneurs radio show. Svbscription delivers a luxury collection of products that have been curated around a single theme once per quarter. The current parcel, titled “Maker”, was created to celebrate vision, talent and execution and features everything from a sculpture to a recipe book to a luxury pen. With Svbscription, recipients can always rely on their thoughtful and thorough execution. Rounding out our subscriptions we have Harry’s. For those of us who shave frequently, routinely re-stocking razors can be a major inconvenience, but Harry’s hopes to make it less of a hassle. The 10-month old startup is taking on Gillette and Shick (who combined own 85% of the shaving market) with their direct-to-consumer boutique experience. With Harry’s Auto-Refill service, subscribers receive 8 blades and 2 creams every other month. Harry’s recently secured some investment funding and with a portion of the proceeds, purchased a 93-year old German razor factory. Job well done. We’re looking forward to be hearing more from the company in no time.
The first month of 2014 is quickly coming to an end and we hope your year has been off to a great start. What are the subscriptions that are on your radar to help keep your year running smoothly?