The Portable Beer Keg You'll Make Great Use Of (You Know Why)
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Draft beers from the bar ain’t what they used to be. Because, in 2020, absolute slog of a year that it’s been, bars aren’t pulling draft beers. They’re asking you to pop open beer can tabs, if they’re serving any beer at all. They’re being safe. They're just trying to stay open. One teeny percentage of the price to pay for our fellow humans being dangerously idiotic is the loss of beer on draft.
Teeny, but noticeable. The loss of beer in its crispest, most conversation-complementing form straight-up sucks. But this is a fixable problem, at least on the home front. Actually, now that you mention it, on the safely-on-the-go front, too. That fix comes in the form of a GrowlerWerks portable keg, which uses CO2 capsules to preserve beer and dispense it fresh. This is certainly something to toast with, and to.
It, quite simply, works.
If you've ever been behind a bar—or nearby a bar when the bartender bellows for the barback's help—you know what it takes to hook a keg up to a tap. Strength, primarily. A lot of huffing and puffing and lower-back-endangering; those kegs are huge. And time. You can attest to that if you've ever ordered the happy hour draft and been asked to wait for just a minute. (Cut to 20 minutes later.) So you'd be forgiven for seeing the name "uKeg" and thinking, Whew, that sounds like a lot of work. Thing is, it isn't. You have the uKeg. You have your beer. You put a carbon dioxide cartridge (snag ten for an extra $12) in the keg's cap, you put the beer in the keg, you screw on the cap, you turn the dial to the correct carbonation level, and you dispense.
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It's made to last—and make beer last, too.
Now, where do you get that beer? We'll hazard a guess that of all your pandemic hobbies, homebrewing isn't one of them. So our suggestion is to take the uKeg Go to a craft brewery (support local businesses!) and top off. From there, the dispenser is built to keep that beer crisp, cold, sudsy—the level of satisfying that'll make you do that embarrassing ahhhhhh thing when you take a sip. Besides the CO2, that freshness comes from the double-walled stainless steel insulation and the airtight cap that GrowlerWerks makes its kegs with. And the freshness will last for weeks.
It's a lifestyle for now and after.
Frankly, thanks to the way the world is right now, there's no better time to have a keg at home. Put this thing on your kitchen counter—it certainly won't mess with the décor aesthetic, only enhance it—and turn to it for a glass of beer after work. Or, fill it with something equally able to hit the spot, like kombucha or hard cider. Then, when you get urge to wander outdoors, grab its handle and take it along, from campsite to barbecue to tailgate to meditative solo hike through the woods. We're all stockpiling for winter right now, loading up on fleecy blankets, punishingly difficult puzzles, and snacks we shouldn't be eating. Now, you've got the uKeg Go on that hibernation list, too.
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Photography and prop styling by Allie Holloway
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