Jun 17 2008
Krups BeerTender, One-Trick Pony Keg
I admit I’m sort of fascinated by the new BeerTender tap system from Krups, which works with off-the-shelf Heineken DraughtKegs to give you a pub-style beer tap on your kitchen counter, coffee table, backyard patio, nightstand, or whatever other surface you care to drop it on. But as far as I’m aware, no brewer besides Heineken ships their beer in a DraughtKeg, making this $300 gadget pretty much useless to anyone who doesn’t want to spend their summer nights sipping the same old swill night after night. Even if you absolutely love Heineken beer, which I suppose is possible, I can’t imagine why you’d buy such an expensive accessory for just one brand of beer.
Check out the Dutch version of the site. Under bieren you can see the otehr beers available there (several varieties of Amstel, Murphy’s as wellas some obscure Dutch brands.)
I suppose you could order some beer internationally, but then you’d be stuck with 10 mini kegs of skunky old stale beer.
You’d be better off just buying one of these. http://www.beveragefactory.com/refrigerators/beer/tdd1.shtml
I love mine!
Yeah, I checked those out, though I don’t think beers that can’t be readily found in the U.S. count. But if a similar selection of DraughtKeg products was available here, or if standard 5L kegs worked with this system, I could see how something like this might be worth having.
Anyway, most of the reviews I’ve seen so far have been pretty dismal, so it’s probably as poorly made as the average Krups espresso maker. Check out Joel Johnson’s amusing video review on Boing Boing Gadgets, in which it is revealed that the BeerTender is not recommended for outdoor use. Lame.
I drink so seldom that I really have no use for a full-blown kegerator, but the idea of a 5-liter keg draught system that doesn’t spoil the beer in less than 24 hours is appealing. This obviously isn’t the one, though, and all of the others I’ve seen look even worse. For the time being, I’m content just sticking a 5-liter keg of non-Heineken beer in the fridge before company comes over.
“I drink so seldom that I really have no use for a full-blown kegerator”
You sure you want to brew an IPA with me then? !!Caution!! Homebrew may be habit forming!!!
Just kidding, we’d bottle it up and split the batch obviously.
-W
FYI…They have one of these http://images.craigslist.org/011508010203010408200807067b809266ef14f93ea7008206.jpg
On sale at Tuesday Morning next to Kohls for 50 bucks. This might be good since you enjoy 5 liter kegs of beer, but also enjoy variety.
-W
Nice post. I’ve had my Beertender for about two months now, and while I enjoy the convenience, it needs variety…badly. Also, replacement tubes are an annoying (and unexpected) extra.
Check out my review:
http://www.channingavenue.com/groups/channingavenue/weblog/0a3ff/My_Heineken_Beertender.html