Kitchen Gadgets

It doesn’t take a beer buff to properly appreciate the clear advantages of drought beer over bottled/canned beer. The smooth, carbon-hydrate pumped liquid coming out of drought tap is so much more refreshing and flavor-filled than the often blend, flat beer you get from a bottle. Drought beer is served straight out of properly cooled pipes and is kept pressurized using a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide (the relation between which is determined by the type of beer – the creamier the beer the more nitrogen in used). For years this has been the popular way of serving beer and one of the main reasons to hop down to the pub (pickup bars excluded).

That it until Heineken and Krups teamed up to create the beer lover’s wet dream: BeerTender. A home draught beer appliance that hooks up to Heiniken 5L kegs and pours cold, pressured beer just like the one you get at your local bar.

The latest model, 95b, comes with an LCD display to monitor temperature and volumes. You can choose between three adjustable temperature levels of 36, 39 or 42 F. The unit has a stylish black-metal design and will look good in your kitchen, living room or games room (ready to be used when friends com over for a game of PS3 or fuzball.

But undoubtedly the coolest thing about this unit is the ability to practice your professional beer pouring. Heineken has got some pretty specific instructions on how this should be done. Quoted from their website:

1. Select a clean Heineken glass and wash in cold water. The glass has to be rinsed until it feels chilled in your hand.
2. Tilt the glass at a 45 degree angle and open the tap all with one smooth motion. Make sure that the foam is generated within the base of the glass initially and then run the beer under the foam.
3. Make sure the head is aligned with the star: switch to straight position when the glass is 3/4 full. Make sure the tap doesn’t touch the beer and that the bottom of the head should line up with the horizontal line in the Heineken red star on the glass.
4. Skim it: sit the glass to the side of the tap on the drip tray. Wet your skimmer, hold it at a 45 degree angle and scrape the top of the glass in one single smooth movement. By shaving off the excess foam the head is hermetically closed and carbonation is prevented from leaving the beer. This makes the beer last longer and also seals in the flavor.

Ok. I am not sure how much practice that takes but you are bound to have plenty of fun trying. Some limitations of this system: apparently it only supports Heineken 5L kegs which sort of limit your choice of draught. Also, if you plan to use the same keg for a long period of time (slow drinker?) you’ll need to disconnect the keg from the unit and keep it in the refrigerator between uses.

Amazon has this unit on promotion now selling it for 169$ only (in comparison, on the BeerTender website it is sold for 199$) true to the publishing date of this post. Follow this link
for more details.