America’s beer palate is changing, making people want GrowlerWerks’ uKeg. FourPortland beer-loving engineers invented a growler that keeps craft beer fresh, cold and carbonated. They also met their crowdfunding campaign goal of $75,000 within 34 hours on Kickstarter.
A stretch goal of $120,000 was met within three days, the uKeg became a Kickstarter staff pick, and by Monday, five days into the campaign, GrowlerWerks raised $$228,836. That represented 1,773 backers wanting to pay for production of the uKeg, a growler that fits in your fridge or goes where you go — camping, the beach or a friend’s backyard. Emily McIntyre wrote an article for Portland Eater, headlining that “PDX ingenuity means no more flat beer.” The uKeg solves the problem of oxygen hitting beer and ruining it. An easy-to-use pressurized cap is the key.
The Portland Tribune highlighted that meeting the stretch goal would mean GrowlerWerks could fund tooling for the uKeg 64, a standard-size growler, and the uKeg 128: the world’s first insulated and pressurized, one-gallon-size growler. People were clamoring for both.
Below shows key features of the uKeg:
The half-gallon size is $99 and the gallon-size is $129. Existing backers can upgrade pledges through the “Manage Your Pledge” button on the Kickstarter page. Pint glasses and shirts are available, as is a discounted 12-pack of uKegs for breweries wanting to be one of the first to shelve and fill uKegs. The uKeg is also good for cider, wine, kombucha or soda.
Shawn Huff, one of the company’s founders, credits Kickstarter’s success to the strength of the craft beer community, crowdfunding fans and beer lovers’ need for growlers that keep beer fresh when it’s not available in bottles. More and more beer isn’t, as craft beer is locally produced in small batches with rich flavor profiles. Now that you can keep good stuff fresh, you aren’t limited to a half-gallon of take-home beer. Both sizes of uKegs maintain perfect carbonation from the first to last pour. Where you want to take your growler and who you plan to share it with will be the only things dictating which uKeg you choose.
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