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Surprise Party Necessities: Food, Friends, Beer

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What’s the  secret to throwing a good surprise party? The secret is that the best parties are all about who’s on the guest list. Good food and good beer are certainly an added bonus, but they’re not the most important thing. I know. I know. This is a blog about kegerators and beer, but good friends and close family are “Numéro Uno” without a doubt.

Kegerator Surprise Party

Decorations and gifts are nice, but they don’t solely make for a good party. So, if you are thinking about planning a surprise party for someone close to you, the most important thing is to make sure that the most important people in their life are present – and that those they don’t like are not.

Once the guest list for your surprise party is taken care of, then you want to think about things like food, drinks and entertainment. If the party is for adults, then alcoholic beverages are usually part of the game plan.

If the host of the party has a home bar, complete with a home kegerator that serves delicious, authentic-tasting draught beer, then you’re in luck because kegerators offer a great option for serving the beverages at the party. If you don’t have an authentic beer dispenser like a kegerator, that doesn’t mean your party is ruined, however. You can see if someone you know has a mini kegerator that you can borrow for the evening, which will still dispense great tasting draught beer. The mini kegerator’s size will allow someone else to easily bring it to the party, and then all you’ll need to do is buy a few 5 liter size mini kegs to put in the beer dispenser to keep the beer flowing all night.

If you can’t get your hands on a kegerator for the surprise party, have no fear. A beer cooler filled with some of the guest of honor’s favorite brand of beer in cans or bottles will do the trick just fine. If there are wine drinkers at the party, you can also make sure to have a few bottles of wine on hand as well. You can even opt to have a fully stocked bar, complete with hard liquor, but doing so can get expensive and is a better option if you’re also hiring a professional bartender.

Aside from beer and other alcoholic drinks, you’ll also want to consider food for your surprise party. The type of food you offer will depend in part on how formal or informal you want your party to be, what type of food your guest of honor and his or her friends prefer, and your budget. You can throw a surprise party with a light menu of just chips and snacks or can have a full meal served. You can be as informal as pizza and wings or can have a fully catered affair with upscale appetizers and decadent desserts. You can plan the whole menu and buy all the food yourself, or you can ask each guest at the surprise party to bring a dish and make the party a pot-luck event. The point is, you have a ton of different options when it comes to the food being served at a surprise party, and you’ll find that whatever option you choose will not change the level of fun the party delivers.

So, if you are planning a surprise party for someone, your first order of business should be to make sure you get the guest list right – don’t leave important people off the invitation list and don’t have people on there that don’t belong. Then take care of things like drinks and food – try to find a kegerator or ask if any guests have a mini kegerator so you can all enjoy some great tasting draught beer throughout the party or stock the cooler full of cans or bottles of beer.

Or, if you have more of a wine drinking crowd, make sure you have enough wine on hand. Then choose a menu that suits the overall mood of the party crowd and your budget. After that, if you are interested and still have time and money left over, you can worry about things like decorations, paper goods, invitations and the like. The truth is that the guest of honor is usually so happy that someone took the time out to plan a party just for them, that their gratitude is in the thought and planning that goes into the party, not the little details that serve as “extras” to make the party a bit more special.

The Mini Kegerator Craze

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Mini kegerators are a convenient way to enjoy draft beer at home, and many beer fans are joining the bandwagon. In our world of gadgets and gizmos, this invention is quite sellable. Most mini kegerators are designed to dispense from a new kind of five-liter beer keg, available at most supermarkets. While these mini kegs are easy to find, I have only seen them from Heiniken, although I hear that many other companies produce them. Mini kegerators are very portable, making them the perfect choice for weekend camping or boat trip, and also fit into any RV with little work, as some brands run on 12-volt power. Mini kegerators are about the size and weight of a microwave. They make a good gift idea for any die-hard beer fan.

Some mini kegs require the use of electricity to keep the beer cold, and others you simply place in your fridge. This is where the mini kegerator comes in. Many companies are making these gadgets these days. Here is a brief revue of some of the more competitive models:

EDGESTAR HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED

EdgeStar Mini Kegerator

EdgeStar Mini Kegerator 
Under $200.00
The EdgeStar Mini Kegerators are good multi-purpose mini kegerators. Heineken 5 liter Draughtkegs can be used in them, and they feature quiet operating noise. These mini kegerators light up with a blue LED light to illuminate your mini keg beer choice. Includes cleaning kit (a must), and is capable of running off of AC or DC power. All this for only $200.00 or so. See Mini Kegerator Details

Avanti Mini Kegerator

Avanti Mini Kegerator
Around $200.00
The Avanti Mini Kegerator MBD5L is another multi-purpose kegerator in which either gravity flow or CO2 can be used for operation. This unit can also be used with AC or DC power, making it a good choice for RVs, camping, or boating. It features a digital display and both tapping and cleaning kits are included, a real bonus! This model can be had for around $250.00. Icy Cold Mini Kegerator works with CO2 mini kegs and gravity feed mini kegs, and can hold even 6-liter mini kegs. A fan inside the kegerator ensures even cooling of the keg, and it is hand washable. These are found for around $200. See Mini Kegerator Details

Krups BeerTender Mini Kegerator

Krups BeerTender Mini Kegerator
From $99.00 to $200.00
Krups BeerTender is powered by a CO2 pressure system, and features three temperature presets (36°, 39° or 42°F), a beer volume gauge, and keeps track of how long your mini keg has been opened. A good multi-function mini kegerator – these run about $200.00. See Mini Kegerator Details

Vinotemp Mini Kegerator

Vinotemp Mini Kegerator
Around $300.00
Vinotemp Mini Kegerator VT-BEER. Beer flow is powered with CO2. This unit comes with a digital display and push button temperature settings, and the cooling system operates efficiently. It also comes with 3 CO2 cartridges to get you going. Prices run from around $300. See Mini Kegerator Details

Nostalgia Electrics Mini Kegerator

Nostalgia Electrics Mini Kegerator
Around $175.00
Nostalgia Electrics Mini Kegerator BC4600 is a mini kegerator designed for use with gravity flow mini-kegs. This model is self-cooling, and runs about $175.00. See Mini Kegerator Details

As you can see, there are many variations on the theme of mini kegerators. Some models focus on efficiency, some on multi-functionality. Take the time to consider what qualities will make the mini kegerator useful to you – it is a good idea to shop around to ensure you best value if you plan on buying one. Some questions you should ask before buying are:

Is this mini kegerator energy efficient? With the current economic and environmental situations we are facing in the world, this is an important issue. We see, smell, and hear pollution from our cars and trucks, but we often don’t see, smell, or hear the pollution coming from our power plants – but the effects of such pollution are drastic and frightening. The environmental destruction from coal and nuclear power plants is hard to measure now – future generations will be more familiar with the real costs of utilizing such techniques to power our gadgets and gizmos. Therefore, it is wise to conserve energy.

Does this model accept the mini kegs of my favorite beers? This is the most important question. What good will a mini kegerator be if you can only drink swill form it? Double check that the model you buy will fit the keg you drink from – or that an adapter is available for it.

Will this mini kegerator work with CO2 powered mini kegs? This question is related to the previous one. If the mini kegerator utilizes CO2, and your favorite beer mini keg utilizes CO2, it will probably work. If it does, you will also need some CO2 cartridges – know what you will need to operate your mini kegerator.

Is this model noisy or quiet? For some, noise pollution is as bad as smog. If you or the person you are buying for has sensitive ears, look for a mini kegerator that features quiet operation. If the user does not have sensitive ears, then go for the value on the louder mini kegerator.

Will this model function on DC power? And does it come with an adapter for such use? Especially if giving a mini kegerator as a gift, you will want to make sure it comes with everything it needs for operation. DC power is nice to have, and some models with DC power come with the adapter, but just in case, make sure that the model you are buying has the adapter – it may be hard to find otherwise.

If you are buying a mini keg as a gift, you should make sure to give them beer with it. Like giving a flask, it is bad luck to deliver the gift empty of alcohol. Some models use a gravity feed system, while others use a CO2 system for dispensing the beer. It is a good idea to check in with the mini keg receiver about what beer they like and suit the mini keg accordingly.

Mini Kegerators

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When discussing mini kegerators, it is important to make the distinction between which type you are talking about. There is the kegerator that is made from a mini refrigerator, and then there is the mini kegerator gadget. The mini kegerator that is made from a mini fridge is a compact, but still largely immobile device that is usually home made, using half sized or even smaller fridges. The mini kegerator that is a gadget is a new appliance on the market. It is quite portable, and a good way to enjoy draft beer while on the go – that is what we are talking about here.

Mini Kegerators"Gadget" Mini kegerators are a new retail item that helps you to enjoy cold beer without the expense of owning a full-on kegerator. Mini kegerators are becoming a more and more affordable way to ensure that you have draft beer on the go. Most brands come with a variety of options, such as DC power, cleaning kits, and temperature control. Mini kegerators that dispense 5 liter mini kegs are made by Krups, Heineken, Avanti, EdgeStar, Vinotemp, and other companies as well, so there are a variety of models to choose from.

These gadgets are currently priced right around $200 – $300. For all practical purposes, the less expensive units do just as good a job as the more expensive ones. For example, the Avanti Mini-Pub Kegerator retails for about $230, and the Vinotemp Mini Keg Beer Dispenser retails for about $100 more – $330. The Avanti has the benefit of being more compact, and the Vinotemp has a better temperature regulator. So, unless you have really exacting temperature requirements for your beer, you might as well get the more inexpensive brand – it is more likely to fit in the trunk or boat, or whatever you are traveling in. General compact-ability is a feature of most mini kegerator gadgets – at least, compared to the mini fridge kegerator or a full-blown kegerator. For this reason, these compact mini kegerators have enjoyed popularity among the draft beer fan crowd.

One of the great advantages of the mini kegerator is that they come with AC and DC power supplies. This allows you to run the mini kegerator off of your car, RV, or boat battery, even solar systems can power these mini kegerators. This makes it easy to take a small amount of beer (standard mini kegs hold 5 liters) out for a picnic, boating, or car camping trip. Mini kegerators can also be easily installed into your RV or boat as a semi-permanent appliance.

New advances in refrigeration technology may see a whole revolution in the way we cool all manner of things, including beer. Researchers at Penn. State have made headway in electromagnetic cooling devices. These devices operate without the use of a compressor or of Freon, and, if commercially viable, will produce machines that are much more compact than the bulky fridges we are used to. On top of this, Ben and Jerry’s, the famous ice cream men, have developed a way to cool their dessert via sound waves. By using a machine that employs pressurized helium gas and ethyl alcohol as a cooling medium, they keep their ice creams at a delightfully cold level.

The increased popularity and availability of kegerators is likely to create an industry that is capable of harnessing these new technologies and putting them to good use. It seems clear that, with this latest invention of the mini kegerator, the kegerator industry is willing and capable of incorporating new, inventive ideas into its arsenal of products. In short, we are sure to see more and more interesting forms of kegerators in the coming years.

The new options that these mini kegerators provide give fans of draft beer an excellent opportunity to enjoy draft beer in a variety of settings. While in the past, draft beer fans have gone to great lengths to install kegerator systems in their R.V.s, now it as simple as shopping around for a convenient new appliance. Some day, we may see mini kegerators replacing coffee makers in the office (certain offices, anyways), or at least be seen side-by-side with them. As it is, we will see them on the beach, the mountain retreat campsite, at sea, and at the omnipresent tailgate party. Draft beer to-go has become a reality at last.