While good beer can be had in a can, bottle or growler, beer fans tend to prefer it straight out of the tap. The problem with that is how to enjoy your beer without having to be at the bar 24/7 (unless you're on Cheers). St. Louis company Synek has the answer: a home draft system that doesn't involve you lugging kegs around. We're in.
See also: Want to See Draft Beer Available "To Go"? Call Your State Rep!
Founder and St. Louis native Steve Young worked as a stock analyst and took note of the rapidly growing craft beer industry. He talked to brewers around the country to better understand their trade, and found that they all had a similar problem: getting their product to the people.
"A bottling and canning line are always cost prohibitive to small brewers, so he set out to make something that's cheap but effective and you can get to the consumer," Synek advisor Tim Fahrenhorst tells us.
All you have to do is take the Synek bag and fill it up at any tap, just like a growler. Then the machine's CO2 cartridge keeps the beer fresh for 30 days. Synek used Kickstarter to raise enough money to produce the machines; it's billed as the "first ever crowdsourced beer dispenser." With fourteen days to go in the campaign, Young has already raised $423,357 of his $250,000 goal.
The next step will be to make the first batch of Syneks, which are kind of like Keurigs for beer. Kickstarter donors will receive the first round in early 2015 and will give Young and his team feedback before the machines are sold to the public.
"The craft brew scene has been blowing up in St. Louis. -- you can just see by the number of brew pubs popping up," Fahrenhorst says. "This gives everyone in St. Louis access to those beers in their home. We want to take care of St. Louis. A lot of the breweries [here] have been supportive and we hope we can support them and get their beers out to St. Louis."
You can keep up with Synek on its Kickstarter page here.
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