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Super Bowl Kegerator Parties

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Super Bowl Kegerator Parties

The Super Bowl. Not simply another day of football, it has turned into a national pastime that is noted for the specific foods that are served and the fact that it is the biggest beer-drinking day of the year. Super Bowl parties are a great way to hang out with friends to watch the game and the much anticipated commercials between breaks, while also enjoying great munchie food like pizza, wings and nachos, and of course, beer.

If you’re headed to a Super Bowl party at someone’s house that has a home kegerator, you can be sure that the gathering place will be around the kegerator while people watch the game. Most people that own a home kegerator also have a home bar, or some type of area in a family room or game room that they enjoy using for entertaining. This area is usually the “hang out spot” when friends gather for social occasions. People love to hang out near the kegerator because they have easy access to refill their cup of beer and it just seems to be the place that everyone gathers around throughout the party.

It doesn’t need to be Super Bowl Sunday to get together a bunch of friends for a party around the kegerator and to order a bunch of pizzas and wings while watching football. Any weekend in the fall or winter is the perfect time to have a group of friends over for a football watch party.

Just gather together some of your buddies that enjoy watching football (or just enjoy hanging out and eating and drinking while others watch football!), make sure your kegerator has enough beer in the keg to get you through the game, and make or order some good food and you’ve got yourself a party. Saturdays are great for college football watch parties, while Sunday is the day you’ll want to plan your football watch party if pro football is more your speed.

If you don’t want to have to supply all the food and drinks for the event, simply organize an informal get together, either at your house or somewhere else, and have everyone agree to bring something to the party. If you’ve got the kegerator, you can be sure that everyone will want the party to be at your house, but if someone has a portable kegerator or a mini kegerator, it’s very easy to take the beer to wherever the party will be. If no one has a kegerator or you want to have the party somewhere else, the alternative is simply to buy some cans or bottles of beer for the party instead. It won’t provide you with the authentic draft beer taste and feel that you’ll get at the local sports bar or pub, like a beer from a keg will, but it should suffice to get you through the party just as well.

Having a home kegerator is the perfect excuse to get family and friends together over a game of football. So, whether your favorite day of the football viewing year is the college championship game, the Super Bowl, or simply any day that your favorite team plays, call your buddies, grab some chips and dip or order a few pizzas, and then tap the kegerator and enjoy the game!

Dinner Parties Around The Kegerator

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Having a dinner party? You may want to start or end the get-together around your home bar, especially if you have a kegerator. This can make for a fun and informal night.

Beer Tasting Flight

Dinner parties have always notoriously been a more formal way to get together with friends. They often include the invitation of a few select people or couples and a somewhat formal procession to the evening. Dinner parties typically start with a drink or two, so people can get to know one another if they don’t already or catch up with old friends if they do, followed by a sit-down meal in the dining room.

After the main meal has been served, the party can become a bit more relaxed, with guests adjourning to the living room, family room or game room. A few more drinks, or coffee and dessert, can end the evening – or the dinner party can transition into a whole night of more informal fun.

If you want to add a bit of fun and informality to your next dinner party, start or end the evening around your home bar and tap into the kegerator. Nothing sets the tone for a more casual and enjoyable night like a few draft beers shared around the bar. If you don’t have a home bar, complete with an under counter kegerator filled with beer, have no fear. A glamorous stainless steel mini kegerator set up on a counter or table serves the purpose well, too. Mini kegerators fit small 5 liter beer barrels, which should be enough beer to serve to a dinner party crowd, and they dispense the beer through a tap, just like a real bar.

One increasingly popular method of planning a dinner party these days is to plan a progressive dinner party. This works well if all the people at the party live fairly close by and works especially well if you are planning the party with neighbors. In a progressive dinner party, each phase of the dinner is hosted by a different person, in a different house.

So, you can start with appetizers in one person’s house, have drinks in another, the main meal in a third, and dessert at yet another home. If you have more people than that, or want to keep the party going longer, you can then head to another home for more drinks and socializing. Progressive dinner parties are a great way to spend a fun evening and equally spread around the work of entertaining a crowd.

When planning progressive dinners, everyone usually volunteers to host the portion of the dinner that they feel most comfortable with. That means that, if you’re lucky, the person with the best stocked bar or a full kegerator of beer, will be the one to host the pre-dinner or post-dinner drinks. [Use our beer calculator to see how much beer you will need for your dinner party] If you’re the type of crowd that likes to split your time a bit after the formal portion of the dinner is over so that the guys can hang out and shoot the breeze, maybe play some pool and throw back a few beers while the ladies open a couple of bottles of wine and catch up, then it makes sense that the guys head to the house with the kegerator while the women head to the house with the fully stocked wine refrigerator.

Having a kegerator or a mini kegerator is certainly not a necessity when planning a dinner party, but if you or one of your dinner party guests happens to own a kegerator, it can certainly add to the enjoyment of the evening.

Kegerator Robots

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Beer and robots are a great combination. As industrial America has disappeared, industrial art and hobbies have sprung up, utilizing the tools of the bygone industrial age. Now, we can count along with the many technological wonders of the modern age, beer launching robots, beer serving robots, automated home breweries, and even robot kegerators. A beer-launching robot has even been seen on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Kegerator Robot
Wired has a kegerator robot that serves beer

Robot building just goes better with beer. There are few hobbies that don’t go better with beer – granted, it may make hobby more dangerous, but with danger comes excitement. With excitement, danger, and beer, usually there is blood as well. It follows naturally that roboticists making robots in there spare time, drinking beer, would make such robots as the ‘killer’ robots pictured here. These robots, the Subjugator, Drunken Master, and Spiderbot, were made by Christian Ristow in association with RoboChrist Industries.

A decline in industrial manufacturing and industry in the United States has not meant a decline in inventiveness in the United States. This is especially true when it comes to beer and robots. Coming out of the home brewing revival in the 1970s was also a revival of the D.I.Y.(Do It Yourself) mindset. It took a while for D.I.Y. beer and D.I.Y. robots to meet up, but finally, we are there. Sadly, most beer LAUNCHING robots can still only fire commercially produced canned beer, and not home brew. However, these two hobbies come very close with robots such as Wired’s Beer Robot – a robot kegerator.

The engineers over @ Yelp.com took a keg and tap, an Arduino, an RFID reader, and an iPad and turned them into an amazing kegerator robot. The device not only tracks who’s been drinking but also tracks information about the beer as it’s poured, including the temperature and ratings of recently poured drinks (so you’ll know when the keg is on a roll). They even put together a bookmarklet to monitor and track the keg remotely.

 

 

It should be noted that the recent wave of D.I.Y. robot building has even taken the term “home brew” to describe many garage style hobbies. This term is often used to describe a hobby interest that comes from a technical or industrial field, but is made at home, such as home brew computers, home brew robots, and even engines. This is further proof of the connection between beer and robots.

One great moment of inspiration and promotion of home brew robotics was when the Late Show with David Letterman had a special guest: the Beer Launching Fridge. Also, the beer launching robot’s maker, John W. Cornwell, Duke University graduate. The Beer Launching Fridge that Mr. Cornwell invented launches beer up to 20 feet, and is remote controlled. In a blog post, Mr. Cornwall expressed the possibility that he may make his Beer Launching Fridge commercially available, and with improvements: the new design would allow a user to swivel the robotic armature with the remote, effectively aiming the launcher.

The phenomenon of beer and robots is not only confined to the garage and DIY inventors. Asahi has built a little robotic bartender that stores and pours beer. This invention can be seen at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tXmGYk_A_c This robot seems to be built more for cuteness than efficiency, though. It takes about three and a half minutes for it to pour a beer, and it spills some, too.

One great take on the beer launcher is a mechanical unit which is foot pump operated. The ‘Ultimate Tailgating Machine’ holds 12 cans of beer and was the final group project for three student of a Design Class at U of I. See it in action at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCIGIe2T4j0 Brought to the world by Dan Larson, Justin Tobin, and Steve Walker.

As we can see, beer, kegerators and robotics are a great combination, with potential for great fun.

Decorate Your Kegerator For Independence Day

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Decorate Your Kegerator For Independence Day

Independence Day, which is celebrated on the 4th of July each and every year, is a day to celebrate America’s independence, as well as all things that makes this country great. The holiday is observed by most businesses and is a federal holiday, which means that not only can you celebrate the freedom of our country, but you can celebrate your freedom from the workplace, at least for one day. Independence Day is a big day for parties, parades, BBQs and celebrations.

And, where there are celebrations, there is a place for kegerators. If you own a kegerator and are hosting this year’s 4th of July festivities at your house, you can supply cold, fresh tasting beer to your guests right from the tap. This is usually a big hit, since an icy cold beer on a hot summer’s day is not only festive, but refreshing. Even if you are not hosting this year’s Independence Day celebration, you can still bring the cold draft beer (make sure it’s a domestic brand!) to the party if you have a portable mini kegerator. Your host is sure to appreciate that!

When July 4th rolls around, no matter where the social gatherings take place, there is almost always plenty of red, white and blue to go around. You’ll find flags flying, red, white and blue balloons blowing in the wind, red, white and blue paper goods and decorations, and even some red, white and blue food. So, why not join in the patriotic spirit by not only filling your kegerator with great tasting, American beer, but also decorating the appliance in red, white and blue so it can become a centerpiece of the celebration?

Decorating your kegerator in patriotic colors is fairly easy to do. Depending on the size of your kegerator, as well as the exterior surface material, you have a few different options. For example, if the exterior surface of your kegerator is metal, you can attach magnets in the form of American flags on it. You can wrap your kegerator in red, white and blue boas, leis, or even crepe paper. You can even use patriotic looking tablecloths to cover your kegerator – all you need to do is to cut them down to size. Using vinyl tablecloths is best so any drips from the kegerator do not ruin the decorations.

If you really want to get into the holiday spirit and decorate your kegerator in a patriotic motif, whether just for the 4th of July holiday or all year long, you can buy a kegerator wrap that is custom made specifically to fit the exact specifications of your kegerator. Kegerator wraps are made from vinyl wrap, the same type that is used to wrap cars and trucks with advertising graphics, and can be the perfect way to customize your kegerator and proclaim how proud you are to be an American. See our post on Halloween Kegerators.

There are many ways that you can decorate your kegerator for Independence Day. And while it is not necessary to do so, a few red, white and blue inspired decorations on the exterior of your kegerator can subtly enhance the appreciation of the great tasting, refreshing American beer that’s on the inside.

What Does Dad Want For Father's Day? A Kegerator, Of Course!

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Father's Day Kegerator

Just like Mother’s Day comes along once a year to celebrate moms all over the world, Father’s Day is a day reserved for celebrating dads. In the United States, Father’s Day is designated as the third Sunday in June, although in other parts of the world, it may fall on a different day.

Like Mother’s Day, many people take time on this day to spend time with their dads, to tell them how special they are and to give them gifts to show their appreciation. The problem is that many are often stumped as to what to buy dad for Father’s Day, other than a tie (which he probably doesn’t really need.) Moms are a little easier – they are often happy with flowers, candy or a gift certificate to a spa or restaurant. Buying for dad can be a little trickier sometimes.

If your dad or your husband likes to drink beer, the perfect Father’s Day gift may be to buy him a kegerator. A kegerator is the ultimate in man-gifts for those that love beer. It’s a novelty item that he may not buy for himself, and is something he probably doesn’t already have. So, unlike another tie that will hang in his closet unworn, the gift of a kegerator will be appreciated, enjoyed and used over and over and over. In fact, giving dad a kegerator may be one of the greatest gifts he’s ever received – except of course the gift of having you as his child.

Kegerators come in all sizes and with a variety of different functions. There are single tap kegerators and multi tap kegerators to choose from, depending on how much variety you want to give dad for his beer tapping pursuits. There are kegerator-fridge combos, so if you know that dad likes his beer, but mom prefers wine and would be more inclined to let dad keep the kegerator if she could chill her wine right beside it, then you may want to opt for this option. There are even mini kegerators that can be put on a table top or that dad can take with him if he enjoys going camping, boating or tailgating. Or if he simply needs to leave the house in order to enjoy his beer.

Along with a variety of sizes and functions, there is a variety of kegerator prices as well. Mini kegerators can be bought for around $100 or more, while some of the bigger kegerator models can cost as much as a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. How much you are willing to spend so dad can have his very own draft beer dispenser will depend on your budget, whether you are chipping in with others in the family, and more, but rest assured that at least the money you spend on a kegerator will be money well spent. Dad will get much more use and enjoyment out of a kegerator than he will out of another tie, or a tool set, or something that he doesn’t really want or need.

So, if you’re stumped about what to get dad this upcoming Father’s Day holiday, make your gift something that really shows how much you appreciate him by getting him a kegerator.

This Mother's Day, Let Mom Tap The Kegerator

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Let Mom Tap The Kegerator

Mother’s Day is a day set aside for honoring our mother and is celebrated almost all over the world. It began as a U.S. holiday, being celebrated on the second Sunday of May each year, although over the years the holiday has been adopted by many other countries, and the timing of the holiday may differ depending on where in the world you are. In some countries, Mother’s Day is tied to a specific religious date or has been combined with dates that were already designated to honor mothers, such as Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom. But no matter where you or your mother may reside, the holiday is always celebrated sometime in either April or May.

When Mother’s Day rolls around, many people try to find ways to make their mom feel extra special and to give her a chance to relax from the everyday rigors of being a mom. This may include such niceties as bringing her breakfast in bed, sending her flowers, or taking her out to eat so she gets a day off from being in the kitchen. In some households, mom is given an opportunity to totally relax and to be pampered, such as taking a trip to the spa or sharing a quiet drink undisturbed by the kids after dinner.

If your mother, or your wife, the mother of your kids, enjoys having a beer or two on occasion, why not give her the chance to tap the kegerator and enjoy some delicious, fresh tasting beer on this special day? Her enjoyment of the kegerator, which has long been your coveted home appliance, can be one enjoyed in solitude or with a crowd, depending on her desires.

If your wife or mom can use some uninterrupted time, along with a drink to unwind without the kids around to bother her, then give mom the gift of relaxation by taking the kids out for the evening so she can enjoy some solitude in the comfort of her own home. A little “alone time” and a trip or two to the kegerator may be all she needs to rejuvenate herself and to get her ready to dive back into motherhood once you and your brood arrive back at home.

If, however, your mom or your wife prefers a more social celebration on Mother’s Day, why not gather the family for a nice family meal? While many opt to take mom out to a restaurant so that she doesn’t have to cook, you know how crowded restaurants can get on this, one of the busiest days of the year in the restaurant business. So, instead, why not invite the rest of the extended family over to your house? Order in some food, or better yet wow mom with the culinary skills of the men in the family (just be sure to clean up to so mom can relax!), and then spend the afternoon or evening sitting around the kegerator, having a few drinks and a few laughs, and letting mom know just how special she really is.

Now, while you may think that suggesting a drink from your coveted kegerator is an extra special gift, just be sure that your mom or wife can appreciate your kegerator as much as you do. If you know that you mom hates the fact that you own a kegerator, then it’s probably best not to draw too much attention to it on this day. If your wife prefers wine to a draft beer dispensed from a kegerator, then by all means break open a bottle of wine, and save the kegerator tapping for a day set aside to honor the men in your family, such as Father’s Day. Letting mom tap the kegerator, either alone or as part of a big, noisy family gathering, can be a great way for her to enjoy the day, as long as you know that the suggestion will be met with a positive reaction. After all, Mother’s Day should be all about making mom happy!

Your Kegerator Can Save You Some Green On St. Patrick's Day

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Your Kegerator Can Save You Some Green On St. Patrick's Day

March 17th of each year is virtually defined by the color green. Everywhere you look on that day in mid-March you will find people wearing green, will see streets and buildings decorated in green, and you’ll even find people eating green bagels and drinking green beer. Why? Because it’s St. Patrick’s Day, of course!

If ever there were a holiday that went hand in hand with ownership of a kegerator, it would be St. Patrick’s Day. When most people think of this holiday, they think of wearing green and drinking some type of alcoholic beverage – usually beer. It doesn’t matter whether you’re Irish or not when March 17th rolls around. Everyone is Irish on St. Patty’s Day! And almost everyone wears something green and probably has a drink or two (or more!) in celebration. In fact, St. Patty’s Day is noted as being one of the biggest days for the consumption of alcoholic beverages, and also one of the busiest days for bars, especially those with a bit of the ol’ Irish in them.

While it is certainly fun to hit the bars and pubs along with the rest of the crowd, a day spent pub crawling can get pretty expensive – and pretty ugly – by the end of the day. So, if you’re looking to save some green on this, the greenest of all holidays, then invite a bunch of friends over to your place to enjoy your kegerator!

If you don’t want to foot the bill for all the beer consumed from your kegerator, because it might get rather pricey to be filling the mugs of some very “Irish” people that day, have a St. Patty’s Day keg party where everyone contributes a small fee but you organize the festivities and supply the kegerator filled with beer. Or you can foot the bill for all the beer your kegerator can hold and ask your guests to supply the food. Either way, even if you wind up paying for it all, you will be enjoying a day of celebration in honor of St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, amongst all of your friends, right in the comfort of your own home.

What’s so great about having a kegerator inspired party in your home on St. Patrick’s Day rather than hitting the bars? Well, for one, you are surrounded by just your friends, rather than a bunch of drunken, rowdy people that can get obnoxious or even cause unwanted trouble. You also don’t have to deal with all the crowds at the bar or in the restaurants and all that comes with that, such as long wait times, difficulty getting to the bar to place your drink order, and more.

Another benefit to hanging out around your own kegerator is that you don’t have to drive home at the end of a long day or night of celebrating, or figure out another way home. By having the party at your house, you still have all the benefits of heading to a bar, since you have the great tasting beer in your kegerator to wet your whistle, but you don’t have to deal with potentially dangerous traveling. And you can even ask your guests to stay if they’ve made a few too many trips to tap the kegerator.

So, when St. Patty’s Day rolls around and you start making your plans for an appropriate celebration of the patron saint, consider the benefits that your trusty ol’ kegerator can provide. Not only can it help you save some green, but it may make your friends green with envy that you have your very own draft beer dispenser right at home. But that’s okay – being green is what St. Patrick’s day is all about, after all!

For Valentines Day, Get Your Sweetie a New Kegerator

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Get Your Sweetie a New Kegerator

Ah, Valentine’s Day – the day for lovers and for professing your love. Very often that is accomplished with candlelit dinners, sweet, sappy cards, and gifts. Flowers, jewelry and candy top the list of gifts for the ladies. But how do women reciprocate with a gift for their favorite man? Very often, that leaves many women stumped. How do they find something that is romantic and that shows the man in their life how much they love them?

Well, we’ve got the perfect solution for those who have given their hearts to beer-loving men. Get them a kegerator! What better way to say “I love you” than to give your guy a gift that he is sure to love for years to come? A kegerator is the perfect accessory for a guy with a home bar, a pool table or game room or the often-coveted man cave. But, it is not just for guys that want to sit around drinking beer in white t-shirts with a bunch of other guys. A kegerator is also the perfect gift for those who love to brew their own beer, or have very discerning tastes and love specialty imported beers. See our Online Kegerator Selector Tool to find the right kegerator for your special guy.

In fact, there is a kegerator type and kegerator style for just about any kind of guy (and for a guy that is with any kind of woman). There are small mini kegerators that are table top models. They are upscale mini versions of traditional draft beer dispensers and can easily fit into just about any type of décor. Some of these mini kegerators are made specifically to hold imported, great tasting mini kegs of beer, such as Heineken, while others are made to dispense just about any type of beer. There are even those that have special equipment for dispensing international stout beers, for the international beer lover. Another great benefit to mini kegerators is that they can be taken on the go, so if your guy loves to go camping or you love to spend an afternoon tailgating together, that mini kegerator can come along for the ride and will always be ready to keep the party rolling.

There are other models of kegerators to consider as well. The type you choose for your beer loving man will depend on where you think he’ll put it, how much he loves beer, and how much you love him – or at least are willing to spend to show him that love. There are single tap kegerators and double tap kegerators. Some fit full or pony sized kegs, while others fit smaller keg sizes. The models with double taps even can accommodate two different types of beer to be dispensed from the kegerator.

There are even models where the kegerator is combined with a small regular fridge or glass fridge, so you can benefit as well. If you don’t love beer and prefer to fill the accompanying fridge with flavored malt beverages or even wine, the kegerator/fridge combo can become a home bar in and of itself.

So, if you are stumped about how to truly show your man that you love him – and want to give him something that he will love about as much as you will love the new diamond earrings you were hinting at the last time you strolled by the jewelry store – then get him a kegerator. It is a gift that you can both enjoy together and like diamonds, it’s a gift that keeps on giving.

After A Day of Service on MLK Day, It's Kegerator Time!

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Martin Luther King Day

Martin Luther King Day, also known as MLK Day, is a federal holiday in the United States dedicated to the remembrance of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January, which coincides with the date of Dr. King’s birthday, which is on January 15th. The holiday has come to be observed as a day of service, spurring Americans to spend the day giving back to the community in some way by volunteering their time and effort to make this world a better place.

If you are one of the thousands of Americans that truly honor the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King by getting out within the community to volunteer your services, then you should pat yourself on the back. And when you return home at the end of the day, if you have a home kegerator, you should pour yourself a fresh, draft beer and take a moment to reflect on Dr. King’s vision, as well as the part you have played on this day in bringing that vision closer to reality. Sure, there’s no correlation between the holiday of Martin Luther King Day and kegerators or beer, but the point is this – if you are one of the upstanding citizens of this country that believes in the importance of getting out there and giving back to your community, then you deserve that kegerator, and you certainly deserve that beer at the end of the day.

Better yet, consider bringing out a whole group of people to volunteer with you on this national day of service. Volunteering together as a group is fun, and it brings people closer together. It also motivates people to do more than they would do alone. Then, when your volunteer activity is completed, invite everyone back to your house to gather round your trusty kegerator and share a few drinks, and a few stories of the day. Sure, this isn’t quite the same type of festive holiday as Thanksgiving or Christmas, where you expect to gather with family and friends and give thanks for the blessings of the day. Nevertheless, in the same tradition as holidays such as Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Day is a day to give thanks for the ways that this world has changed in the time since Dr. King’s famous speech. If that happens to get done while gathering around an in home kegerator, so be it. Celebration is celebration.

Of course, you don’t need a kegerator to celebrate the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King. But it is nice to have one (or even a mini kegerator) to come home to at the end of a hard day’s work. On this day, many schools and businesses are closed. This means it is also a good opportunity for family and friends to come together. And anytime that you get an opportunity to get together like that, rather than having to head to the office, it is worth inviting a few friends over to share a few beers straight from your kegerator. It’s better and cheaper than heading to the local bar or tavern, and it gives you a chance to unwind and socialize right in the comfort of your own home.

Remember however, that MLK Day always falls on a Monday. That means that there is still a long week of work ahead for most people. So, while you may want to tap the kegerator so you can have a beer or two, leave it at that, or you’ll be feeling the effects as you head off to work the next morning, knowing that it’s only Tuesday and you have to make it through a long week.