5 Reasons Your Office Needs a Kegerator

Ever wondered what it would be like to have a kegerator in your office break room? Below are five reasons that might just be convincing enough to make your boss think twice about adding one.

Staff meetings would instantly become more bearable.

Weekly staff meetings in any career are the bane of the worker bees' existence. In my career, no one looks forward to them. Sitting for hours on end, having information continually thrust at you, instantly causes my eyes to glaze over. My mind starts to wander to what I need at the supermarket, what I am doing that weekend, to where my first beer will be as soon as I am out of this meeting's clutches.

I'm doodling. I'm daydreamning. I'm passing notes. I'm doing anything BUT paying attention. We have often joked about having meetings at bars. How fun would that be? But, with staff meetings during work hours, that never seems to be a realistic option. What might happen if you could bring the bar to the meeting? Don't the best ideas and dialogue occur over a few pints? Having a kegerator accessible in your office would increase participation in staff meetings, allow for honest conversation, and open the floodgates for creativity to flow. Successful companies like GitHub, TechCrunch, Tumblr and Threadless all have had success with kegerators in the workplace.

Build a more cohesive workforce.

The last time you were at a bar, did you notice silence? Did you notice a room full of people not interacting? Did you see people just sitting there, minding their own business? Of course not. You look around the bar and see groups of people laughing, joking, and interacting with others. You see a few solos at the bar, striking up a conversations with each other, even though they have never met. Now think about your work environment.

Could you say you see the same things? Do you walk up to the next cubicle and strike up a friendly conversation? Do you stop each other in the halls for a brief chat? Do you know anything about the people you work with? What better way to build a more cohesive work force than to introduce a kegerator! Instead of huddling around a water cooler (do those even exist anymore?), you all could gather around the kegerator, discussing politics, religion, and all those taboo topics you don't speak of over water. You learn more about each other. A staff that drinks together works better together. Proven fact.

Lure new clients in.

As a school teacher, I don't deal in a business that depends on obtaining new clients on a regular basis. However, after polling some beer loving business peeps, this reason seemed to continually be mentioned. Picture this. You work at a soon to be extinct newspaper. Each week, your company is losing money. You need to hook. line, and sinker some new advertising accounts. But how? Cold calling isn't working. The present advertisers don't want to invest more money than they already do.

Without advertising, your paper can't sustain. How do you get new clients in? You invite them in to the office for a beer. Do you know anyone on this planet that would decline this kind of offer? They arrive at your office. You hand them a fresh cold pint. You show them around. You talk about circulation and distribution. You break the ice and share some stories. You refill their glass. Before you know it, they have committed to a full page ad for the next year. You're welcome.

Test out homebrew.

While I have made nearly two dozen different homebrews, I tend to gravitate to hoppy, girthy, high octane creations. Don't we all get into homebrewing to make the beers we like to drink? That being said, I often find value in making a style that I might not automatically reach for. Although I might not be a fan of it, it might have the option of being enjoyed by others. A few years back, I made a stellar batch of Honey Lemon Blonde and put it on tap. I didn't think it was that stellar, but everyone else did. I probably drank two pints of that corney keg, while friends and family enjoyed every last drop.

What I am getting at is that I was able to get honest feedback on a beer that I didn't necessarily like. Who better to give you that kind of feedback than your snarky overworked coworkers? Don't they already tell you how not so great you are anyways? Bring in some homebrew and really get to know what they think. Not only will they be giving you constructive criticism, you, in turn, are expanding their beer horizons with styles that they might not immediately reach for as well. Beer feedback and beer tutoring all wrapped up into one. That's a win-win situation.

Take the middle man out of "Beer Fridays".

On hour 39 of your 40 hour work week, you start to salivate at the thought that Beer Friday is right around the corner. Interoffice instant messages start a flurry of where the crew will be meeting when that clock strikes 5pm. Going anywhere trendy and cool is immediately ruled out. No reason to spend your first moments of the upcoming weekend waiting for a cramped table amongst a bunch of amateurs.

A bar at a chain restaurant? Definitely no. Aren't we all escaping the idea of going home to our families by hanging out with coworkers? Nobody can decide, and this once great idea to cohesively imbibe now has us all going home thirsty. Solution? Office kegerator. By 5:01pm, you can have a frosty pint in your hand and slowly start to unwind. Camaraderie is saved and before you know it, going home doesn't seem so bad. Plus, isn't it easier to spin the reason you are late getting home because you were at "the office" instead of the bar?

What do copy paper, ink cartridges, laptops, and a kegerator have in common? Essential supplies that every office needs. Before long, you will never understand how you survived without one.

Heather Erickson is a beer writer, advocate and teacher in Tacoma, WA. Her home brewery is named H2 Brewing. A craft beer lover for over a decade, Heather finally made her first batch of beer in 2010. Over the past three years, she has experimented with different styles, ranging from a triple hopped Barleywine to a Peanut Butter Porter. With hops in her family, her great grandfather was a hop farmer, it is no surprise that Heather's favorite style to brew and drink is an IPA. She religiously brews 10 gallons a month on a SABCO Brew Magic system.