Mybeerbuzz .com Highlights TrailKeg Portable Draft Growler (Review)

As you can imagine, I have a fair amount of beer with me at home and also when I travel….and while that beer may typically be packaged in cans and bottles, I also travel quite a bit with growlers.  If you’re familiar with growlers, you also know they have their limitations.
How many times have you opened your growler and found the beer flat, and how many times have you hesitated to start sharing your growler of beer knowing that once you open it, the freshness clock starts ticking and you have to drink it all in a short period of time.
If this is you, then I may have found a new system that will change how you feel about traveling and sharing draft beer.  The system is called TrailKeg and I think you’ll find that it revolutionizes how you will use a growler in the future.
TrailKeg offers various system components and sizes from half-gallon (64oz) to gallon (128oz) growlers, but size is only part of the picture.
First off lets talk temperature.  Unlike a traditional growler, TrailKeg is vacuum insulated so no more finding a warm beer in your growler when you decide to drink it.  This insulation will keep your beer cold for 24-hours depending on where and how it is stored.  I can tell you after just 2-hours in the fridge, my beer remained cold in the TrailKeg overnight and well into the next day without refrigeration.  I intentionally pulled the beer out of the fridge at 7PM and when we drank it at 3PM the next day, it was still cold…and the TrailKeg was in my 67-degree garage overnight.
While temperature is important, the big advantage of TrailKeg is that it will keep your beer pressurized.  No more flat beer coming out of your growler, and with TrailKeg you can actually keep your beer carbonated for weeks!  The system includes the standard TrailKeg lid which includes a chrome tap to pour your beer, two CO2 cartridges to keep your beer carbonated and a dual-stage regulator/dip tube with flow restrictor to ensure the perfect pour.  So yes, you can actually pour real draft beer from your TrailKeg the way you would from a traditional tap (except that TrailKeg is portable and it can go to picnics, hikes and even parties.)  I intentionally left beer in TrailKeg for several days and even 6-days later, the beer was still carbonated and tasting great.
If that’s not enough, the TrailKeg lid has a Corny Keg ball lock, a quick-disconnect regulator port (for the TrailKeg regulator only) and a 75psi pressure vent.  What this means is that home-brewers now have a really great option to share their beer directly from the Trail Keg spring-return tap or even via their existing Kegerator or Keezer.  I carried TrailKeg to a get-together with beer friends & homebrewers and it was the life of the party.  Everyone wanted to see how it worked and everyone wanted one for themselves.  The only down side I found was that my 64-ounces of beer was consumed pretty quickly because everyone wanted to see the TrailKeg pour over and over again.
The system is compatible with 16g CO2 cartridges which are easy to find and you can regulate the pressure from 0 to 25 psi.  The dip tube uses food-grade silicone and my pours were consistently balanced and foam-free.  The half-gallon growler portion of TrailKeg weighs about 4-pounds (empty), about 8-pounds full and it is just about 18-inches tall when assembled.  While I managed to not drop my TrailKeg, I can tell you the growler feels sturdy with thick walls all around.  There is a handle to carry your TrailKeg and it comes in Stainless Steel as well as Black.  If a half-gallon is not enough beer, TrailKeg does offer a gallon-sized growler and the lid and accessories from your half-gallon bottle, will fit the gallon size as well.  The bottles, lids and accessories are sold in all sorts of combinations so you can find just the right combination for yourself or the homebrewer in the family.
I heavily tested the TrailKeg and discussed it with several home brewer friends and we found no issues or anything we would change.  The design looks great and performs really well and you can even use the base bottle to keep liquids hot (for 12 hours) or to store other carbonated drinks like Kombucha.  I traveled with TrailKeg several times and it was constantly the center of attention at parties and events.  The TrailKeg was easy to fill, easy to charge and fun to dispense; and the beer was always consistently carbonated and tasty right to the last drop.
Overall I’d say TrailKeg has easily become my favorite growler and whether you are using it just as a growler with no charging, or if you’re using the full charging and tap system, it simply works great.
Be sure to check out TrailKeg for yourself and see what I mean, and if you have a homebrewer on your gift list, I think you’ll find that this is the perfect present (even if that homebrewer is you).

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