Prices continue to drop, but this really is one of the lowest we have seen all year. With FREE shipping, this is a great deal for $347.00.
Full Size Keg Fridge – $347.00
No coupon needed for this deal.
Via Kegerators.com
Draft Beer
Price Drop: Full Size Keg Dispenser $379.05
Today Only – Get 25% off this full sized keg fridge plus no sales tax, FREE ground shipping and a FREE 1 year subscription to Brew Your Own magazine. Great deal for $379.05. Probably the lowest price you will see until after Christmas, so I would jump on this if you are gift shopping or getting ready for holiday parties.
Full Size Keg Dispenser – $379.05
Use coupon code 20OFFKEGOCT to get this discount.
Via Kegerators.com
The Perfect Gift For Retirement
If you’re heading to a retirement party in the near future, you may be at a loss for what to buy as a gift for the retiree. Often people that reach retirement age have most of what they want, or are very particular about what they like and don’t like.
So, if you don’t want to get a gift certificate to a local restaurant because you’re at a loss for something more personal, and if the person who is retiring is someone who enjoys drinking beer, why not consider getting them the rather unique gift of a full sized or portable keg dispenser?
Why a portable kegerator or beer cooler, you might ask? What is your retired friend going to do with that? Well, it’s simple. Many people who are retired love to spend their time traveling and going around doing all the things they might never have had the time to do while they were working the 9 – 5 grind. Once retired, they are free to pick themselves up to go wherever the wind may take them. If the person enjoys activities such as tailgating at sporting events, enjoying a picnic or fishing by the lake, or one of many other outdoor activities that can’t take place right in their own backyard, then they may enjoy having a portable kegerator or a portable beer cooler with them so they can take a bit of their favorite beverage along wherever they are headed.
What’s the difference between a portable kegerator and a portable beer cooler, and how would I know which one to buy? , you might ask. Well, of course, you first want to make sure the person likes beer before you buy them a gift like either one of them, or you’ll be wasting your money. But, if they do, then deciding between the two appliances is simple – it’s the difference between having draft beer or drinking beer from cans or bottles.
Portable kegerators provide the option of putting a small mini keg of beer inside which is kept cold and can be dispensed right from the tap, wherever you may be. This is a rather unique option that the person wouldn’t otherwise have. Portable beer coolers, on the other hand, are coolers that can be plugged into a car or truck to provide cooling space for cans or bottles of beer. They are similar to other types of coolers, except that if you are traveling somewhere far, you can actually keep the inside of the cooler cold for long periods of time because it is plugged into an energy source.
The nice thing about buying any type of portable beer dispenser for someone who is about to retire (assuming they like beer) is that it gives them the flexibility to take the beer with them wherever they want to go. If they like to travel or go camping, they can bring along some cold beer for the trip. If they like to spend the day on the beach or by a lake, there’s still cold beer to be had. If their preference is simply to go spend the afternoon visiting with other retired friends, they can bring along some beer to add to a relaxing afternoon or evening. No matter where the person may want to spend their time, they can bring along beer that will stay good and cold, so they can enjoy drinking it while savoring time with friends and favorite activities.
So, instead of getting stuck for a gift idea next time you know of someone having a retirement party, find out if they like drinking beer, and if so, consider the fun and flexibility that you can offer by giving them the gift of a portable kegerator or portable beer cooler. Even if these small appliances cost more than you’d like to spend, they are the perfect type of gift to split among a few friends or co-workers – and if you wind up with a few extra dollars in the pot, you can even throw in a bit of beer to get their retirement off on the right foot!
Crafting A Unique and Functional Beer Tower
Every home bar needs a kegerator. There are many approaches to obtaining a kegerator, but making it your own requires some imagination and a willingness to apply yourself to the modification of the inner workings of your home draft system. Designing a unique and functional draft beer tower modification can be as simple as gluing fabric or fur to the draft tower, or as complicated as creating a LED light-up Plexiglas tube. When my home brewing friends and speakeasy acquaintances ask me what they can to do spice up their home bar, my first answer usually has to do with modifying the draft tower on their home draft system. I tell them what I will tell you – the only limit is your imagination.
There are many out of the box options for replacing your draft tower. Some companies offer kits that can add taps to the tower you already have, and others offer a stylish chrome plated alternative to the thicker tower that is stock on most kegerators. There are also the towers that allow for multiple taps: Single column double, triple, or even quadruple faucets are available, “T” Style, Mushroom style, Column, Elbow, and even Ceramic Draft towers are available commercially.
These draft towers can be good starting points, especially if you are interested in having multiple types of beers available at the same time. Many of these designs can stand alone to make your draft beer set-up unique while maintaining function, especially if you do not have a well developed theme for your home bar.
If your home bar does have a well-developed theme, you will need to go one step further with your draft tower to ensure that it stands out. Having a rotating seasonal theme on your home bar adds some added interest. This is where experience with set design and things like Halloween decorations can come in handy. What follows are a few examples of some of my favorite unique draft beer tower modifications.
The Orcish Mead Hall
One great home bar theme that is very unique is the Orcish Mead Hall. This room was outfitted with a large variety of weapons on the wall – swords, clubs, axes, and shields. There were grisly battle standards adorned with fake severed limbs and the tables and stools were made of rough-hewn wood and stumps. Naturally, a stainless steel draft tower did not fit in with the theme of the bar. It was a simple modification to make it fit in, however.
The first thing was to make a bar top that obscured view of the kegerator’s main body. The top from an old dining room table was cut down and a U shaped notch hole was cut and fitted over the kegerator. The draft tower was removed and disassembled. A large Styrofoam rock, or “Fake Boulder” was carved to allow the draft tower to fit into it, giving the impression of a natural spring spewing beer, mead, etc. The tap handle was removed and a cow bone was fitted with the properly threaded bolt to be mounted onto the tap as the new handle. The end result was very Orcish indeed.
The Boxing Ring
The Boxing Ring is a speakeasy that had a lot of old boxing memorabilia lining the walls. The tables had reproductions of old boxing posters from the 1800s through 1950s, stories of various boxers, all laminated with resin to make a smooth and easy to clean table top. The person who built the bar was a real fan of using that plastic resin to encapsulate different objects for artistic purposes. So what did she do? She made a resin cast block with gold painted beer lines and golden painted boxing gloves encased inside. The block looked for all the world like a huge block of ice with boxing gloves and beer lines frozen into place. The area immediately surrounding the end of the block was molded hollow with enough room to attach the beer faucet, which was screwed into the epoxy resin.
The Workshop
The Workshop was a home bar that was built into a wood and metal working shop. It was utilitarian and had a unique function as well – the kegerator, when beer wasn’t being dispensed, looked for all the world like a rolling tool chest with other tool boxes stacked on top. It wasn’t until the top tool box was opened that the beer faucet was revealed! Perfect for keeping visiting clients and newbies in the dark about the consumption and location of alcoholic beverages in the work site.
The Rolling Crypt
The Rolling Crypt was a parade float that was pulled by a bicycle and resembled a crypt. This was no ordinary parade float, however. The rolling Crypt had four soda kegs hidden inside it, and a variety of black and green tentacles dangling from the rear crypt door. Inside one of these tentacles was a beer spigot dispensing the Dead Horse Ale from within. While this was not technically a draft beer tower modification, the same principles of construction could certainly be applied to a draft beer tower, especially if your home bar has a gothic motif. A tombstone draft beer tower would be fairly easy to present – just make sure to stock up on Halloween decorations in the fall. Also, stone fountain statues may be easily converted into beer fountains – or at least dispensers.
LED Plexiglass Draft Tower
This project works well in a technological or futuristic environment. The LED draft tower acts as a kind of new wave lava lamp, and can be programmed to strobe, gently cycle through different colors, or maintain one color. Your local electronics shop can help you with the circuitry, and the Plexiglass and all the tools needed to build the basis of this draft tower can be had at TAP Plastics or a similar retail plastics outlet.
I hope this article has given you all the ideas you need to come up with your own unique draft beer tower modifications. Remember, there is no shame in using hot glue!
Break Out The Kegerator, It's Bachelor Party Time!
Let’s face it – bachelor and bachelorette parties are a time to have fun, let loose a little and enjoy a last wild night before the wedding. There are many options of what to do during bachelor and bachelorette parties, but most options include drinking, in some shape or form.
One way to really get a bachelor or bachelorete party rolling is to break out the draft beer dispenser! Because of its small size, you can take it with you just about anywhere you go (assuming it is legal to do so!) That means you and your buddies will have cold tasty beer with you, available at a moment’s notice, to keep your spirits high throughout the night.
So, what’s the point of bringing a mini portable kegerator with you during a bachelor party? Well, the answer is simple – you can have access to beer wherever you are. Many guys opt to rent a limo for the evening to take them to their destination (or destinations) during the bachelor party so they can live it up, and drink it up, without having to worry about who’s driving or how they’re getting home.
If you’re driving around in a limo, then chances are that you want to have a few beers along the way – and what better way to do that than to bring along a mini kegerator with you so you can dispense the beer yourself as you head to your intended destination.
A mini kegerator is sized to fit one of those small 5-liter mini kegs of beer. This size is probably perfect for you and your buddies for the night (or if not, you can bring a few) and provides the same great tasting, draft beer that you would get at the bar you’re headed to, for a lot less money. This means that you can have a few beers along the way and save some cash when you hit your destination, since individual beers at bars and clubs will cost way more than the price of the beer in your mini kegerator. If you’re headed somewhere rather far away, such as a casino, it also means that you can get the party started before you get to where you’re going.
If someone attending the bachelor party doesn’t already have a mini kegerator to bring along to the party, buying one for the groom-to-be can be a great gift. You can buy a mini kegerator for around $100 – $300 and fill it with a 5 liter mini keg for the bachelor party. The guys at the party can even each chip in a few bucks and make it a group gift that the groom will surely appreciate. The guest of honor will have a great gift to start his new married life with – and you will have a reason to head over and visit! Mini kegerators are a great addition to any home bar, and because they are portable, they can be taken to parties, can be used out by the pool or on the deck, or can be the centerpiece at tailgating parties.
Girls can get the same benefits from using a mini kegerator at the bachelorette party as guys can. Just as during the bachelor party, girls can take a mini kegerator with them in the limo while heading out for a night on the town so they can enjoy some great tasting beer along the way. Some mini kegerators even dispense wine. The nice thing about having a mini kegerator is that wherever the bachelorette party may go, there is some free-flowing fun along for the ride.
So, when planning your next bachelor or bachelorette party for a friend, think about bringing along a mini kegerator to add to the fun – and to lower the cost of buying drinks at the bar. It’ll be an addition to the party that all participants should truly appreciate!
Mini Kegerators and Beer Tubes Make Great Birthday Gifts
Birthdays. They come around year after year and are always met with celebration – and gifts. The good news is that birthdays deserve to be celebrated. After all, each new birthday means that another year has successfully been completed and the birthday recipient is embarking on a fresh new year in their life. The bad news, however, is that after awhile, people run out of birthday gift ideas for friends and family members, and rather than birthday gift giving being something enjoyable, it can turn into a chore.
If you’re looking for an interesting gift idea for the people in your life, how about getting them a mini draft beer dispenser or a beer tube? Of course, it would make sense that you would only get this type of gift for those who enjoy drinking beer, but for those that do, mini kegerators can be a great and fun gift that will be met with lots of “ooohs” and “aaahs”.
A mini kegerator is a very small refrigerator that houses a 5 liter size mini keg of beer. The refrigerated portion keeps the beer cold and tasting fresh, and there is a beer tap on the exterior of the appliance that dispenses the beer, much in the same way you would have a draught beer dispensed at a bar. These small appliances are reasonably priced (in the neighborhood of $100 – $300 or so) and are an attractive addition to any home bar, family room, game room or even kitchen counter. Most mini kegerator models come in a sleek stainless steel design and resemble the looks of an upscale coffee maker or espresso machine.
The great thing about buying a mini kegerator as a birthday gift is that unless your friend or family member is a huge beer enthusiast that is always seeking out the newest gadgets, the chances are probably pretty good that they don’t already own a mini kegerator of their own. So, rather than them trying to look appreciative even though the gift you bought them is something they already have or aren’t really interested in, the gift of a mini kegerator is sure to please. If you combine the purchase with a 5 liter mini keg, not only does the kegerator serve as a gift, but it can be part of the birthday celebration as well!
For those that are looking for a birthday gift that is even more unique, a beer tube may fit the bill. Beer tubes are fun and interesting looking “tubes” that can be filled with beer and have a themed or decorative bottom with a small tap on them. They are a great conversation piece on a bar or in a family room and can be filled with up to 100 ounces of beer (or around eight 12oz glasses) to be shared with friends or imbibed alone. Beer tubes come in a selection of popular themes, such as baseball or bowling for sports enthusiasts, or in more subtle designs made of wood or stainless steel. These quirky beer dispensers add a festive mood to any get-together and are truly a conversation starter.
So, the next time you are at a loss for what to get as a birthday gift for friends and family, assuming they enjoy drinking beer, consider buying a mini kegerator or a beer tube for a birthday gift they won’t soon forget.
Reunions Are Ripe For Kegerators
There’s nothing like a reunion. Whether you are attending a family reunion, where you get together with members of your extended family that you don’t often see, or a school reunion, where you can meet up again with old school friends that you have lost touch with, a reunion is a once in a lifetime chance to reconnect, reminisce and rejoice.
Reunions are much anticipated events and often take lots of care and planning – and they often are accompanied by a good deal of food and drink as well, as everyone takes the time to catch up with one another. So, with that in mind, it’s easy to see why reunions are the perfect occasion for using draft beer dispensers.
Unless the reunion that’s been organized is for a bunch of school-aged friends, most reunions are rather large events that are well planned in the food and beverage department. Alcoholic beverages are typically a part of the festivities, and in some cases only beer and wine, or only beer are served to cut down on expenses.
Since everyone loves to have a few drinks while catching up with old friends or family members that have travelled from near and far, having a keg and keg dispenser on hand can be the most efficient and cost effective option for serving beer at a reunion.
Kegerators can be rented if you don’t already own one and are basically the refrigerated compartment that houses a keg or half keg of beer. You may wonder why you would need the kegerator and can’t just get away with the keg, and the answer is simple – kegs of beer need to be kept cold or the beer tastes lousy and starts to go bad.
Back in your younger days, you may have been okay with just throwing a keg into a bucket full of ice and hoping that it would stay somewhat cold before the keg was emptied, but you can remember how lousy most of that beer tasted. If you’re serving beer to a crowd of anything other than college aged frat boys, chances are that you at least want to make sure the beer tastes good – and that means you’ll need to keep it good and cold. A kegerator will do that for you – and will also make an eyesore of a keg look more attractive if it’s being left out in clear view for people to help themselves.
So, if planning a reunion is on your list of things to do in the near future, make sure that someone is taking care of ensuring there’s a kegerator for the beer. If no one owns a keg refrigerator, or the place you are holding the reunion does not supply one, you can easily rent a kegerator for the night or weekend to use at your event.
By having a kegerator on hand, you can focus on catching up with old friends and finding out what they’ve been doing since you’ve seen them last, rather than reminiscing about what it was like the last time you were drinking warm, lousy beer together.
Graduation Parties Are More Fun with a Kegerator
Years of hard work culminate in graduation from school. Surely, that is a time to celebrate. Graduation parties celebrate not only how far the graduate has come, but the excitement of the new life that lies ahead. Many a graduation is marked by a graduation party – whether a small intimate party just for a few family members or a big blow-out bash that includes members from the graduate’s class. And when there’s a party, especially one like a graduation party, beer is usually in plentiful abundance.
So, if you’re planning a graduation party for someone special, consider renting a home draft fridge for the event. Kegerators are the perfect appliance to keep a keg of beer cold all day long and make it easy to neatly dispense beer from the tap. This means that if you are having an open house party all afternoon in the heat of May, June or July (like many graduation parties are), the beer will stay cold even as the later guests arrive.
Of course, if the graduation party you are throwing is to celebrate a high school graduation, you should use your best judgment about having a kegerator filled with a keg of beer at the party, since most of the guests might be underage. If that is the case, you do not want to invite trouble by having a bunch of high school kids find out that the party with the keg is at your house.
No, that would not be cool. But, if you are throwing a college graduation party or a graduation party to mark the completion of grad school, law school, med school or the like, then by all means go ahead and break out the kegerator. In those instances, you can be sure that having a keg of beer at the party will be a welcome addition to the recent grads.
Another use for a kegerator at a graduation party is as a graduation gift. No, you probably wouldn’t buy a recent grad a full size kegerator that houses a whole keg of beer (that would be better left for the fraternity they might have just left!). But, mini kegerators and portable kegerators make for great gifts that are a bit different than the norm and probably won’t be repeated by someone else.
Mini kegerators are small appliances, usually made of stainless steel and pretty nice looking, that house a mini keg of beer (only 5 liters). They are the perfect size for the new graduate that is just heading out on their own in a new (small!) apartment, but that wants to be able to entertain friends or to just relax after their new job with a frosty, cold one.
For those that are often on the go, portable kegerators, which are also small, allow the new grad to take the party on the road with them (not literally!), so if they are heading back to their old stomping ground for a tailgating party (link) or to visit some frat buddies, the beer can be on hand. Of course, you should just first make sure that the recipient of your graduation gift is over 21 years of age before presenting them with the gift of a mini or portable kegerator for graduation. And you should make sure that the graduate will appreciate such a gift, rather than getting a new briefcase, pen set or ipad.
Graduation parties can be the perfect social occasion for setting up the kegerator, assuming the party’s guests are of age. They also make for easy clean up after the party, since there are not loads of cans and bottles to have to pick up and recycle. Speaking of recycling, tapping into a keg rather than cases of beer, is an environmentally responsible way to celebrate the big milestone and each half keg of beer can save as much as five pounds of waste from the aluminum or glass used for beer cans and bottles.
Happy Kegversary! A Kegerator to Express Love
Your anniversary is approaching – a day representing years of blissful happiness. Whether you’re married just one year, ten years or are coming up on an impressive number such as 40 or 50 years, the day is typically marked by some type of gift or gesture that represents a declaration of your love.
The problem for many people, however, is finding a suitable anniversary gift that will truly be appreciated and enjoyed. For women, it’s a bit easier than for men, since a gift of jewelry or flowers will usually do the trick. But what to buy for the man in your life? If he likes beer, think about buying him the ultimate guy gift for your anniversary.
A kegerator as an anniversary gift? Really? Sure, why not. If your guy loves beer, or simply enjoys to spend time relaxing at home over a drink with you or a few of his buddies, then a kegerator may be the perfect gift to express your love. It is a gift that recognizes the things that make him happy in life (beer), makes him realize that you appreciate all he does and indicates that you think he deserves a little time to kick back and relax, plus it’s a pretty cool gift that he he’ll enjoy.
Kegerators make the perfect anniversary gift for those who are married to beer lovers, because they are the type of gift that your guy probably wouldn’t buy for himself (because he’d think you’d get mad at him!) but that he’ll really appreciate having.
So, if you decide that you’re married to the type of guy that would love a beer refrigerator as an anniversary gift, then your next step is determining what to buy. The first decision you’ll have to make is what kind of kegerator would he like and how much you want to spend. You can get a mini kegerator for as little as $100, give or take a few bucks, or you can spend quite a bit more if you’re instead looking for an under the counter kegerator to fit into your home bar.
Home kegerators can vary in size and finish (such as stainless steel, black, etc.), so you’ll have a number of options to choose from. If your guy prefers bottled or canned beer to the draft beer that is dispensed from a kegerator, you may want to opt instead to buy him a beer refrigerator. A beer fridge is just like a wine cooler or wine fridge in that it is a mini refrigerated unit that is set up to easily store beer bottles or cans.
Buying your honey a kegerator or beer refrigerator for your anniversary may not seem like the most romantic of gestures, but you can rest assured that if your guy enjoys beer, he’ll enjoy your gift much more than many of the other “gifts for men” that are often marketed by businesses and stores.
A gift of a kegerator lets your man know how much you appreciate him and how much you support his interests. It lets him know that you value his relaxation, want to enjoy quality time spent with him on a quiet night over a cool drink, or that you’re okay with letting him sit back with his buddies over a Sunday football game or a late night of poker while having a few cold, frosty brews. What could express your love better than that?
Poker Night Is A Great Time To Tap The Kegerator
For many guys across the nation, poker night is a night to get together with a bunch of buddies to shoot the breeze, drink some beer, maybe smoke some cigars, and of course, to play poker. For those that have a home kegerator, poker night with the guys can be the perfect excuse to tap the kegerator and toss back a few beers while relaxing and having a few laughs.
Home kegerators provide the great tasting draft beer taste that you can otherwise only get at an actual bar. They keep the beer cold and fresh and dispense the beer through a tap, just as the bartender would at your favorite watering hole. The great thing about scheduling poker night at the house of whoever owns the home kegerator is that it can make you feel like you’re actually playing the game at your local casino, or in the back room of your local bar. This can make “guys night” feel that much more authentic and can add to the ambiance surrounding your favorite card game.
In addition to the draft beer you’ll all enjoy from the home kegerator, poker night wouldn’t be complete without some good food. Pizza is often a favorite of poker night, but depending on how much effort you want to put into the food at your get together, you may also want to opt for a barbecue, where you can make Guinness sliders, hot dogs, ribs or steak. Of course, you can also order in wings, Chinese food or some other favorite ethnic food. Or, everyone can simply bring a snack or two and you can make do with whatever winds up on the table. For the most part, everyone will be more interested in the great tasting beer than what kind of food is on the menu, so planning the menu doesn’t need to be too big a deal.
If your poker night games include a bunch more guys than would play in any one game at a time, you’ll probably notice that the extras that aren’t in the game will have no problem sitting out if they can hang out around the kegerator and have a beer or two when they’re not playing. It’ll give friends time to shoot the breeze, tell a few jokes or catch up on each other’s lives. If there’s also a dart board or a pool table nearby, that’s another good diversion for those that are not playing cards and will surely be a welcome addition to poker night festivities.
Of course, poker night doesn’t only have to be a guys-only night out and can be an equally fun night when there is mixed company or when it’s a ladies-only night as well. And, whether poker night consists of guys only, girls only or a mixture of the two – and whether it’s a singles night or a night that those who are married get a break from the usual routine, poker night is sure to be a much anticipated night out for all. Adding in some great tasting draft beer and some good eats are sure to add even more to the card-playing fun!
