My buddy's having a bday party in two weeks and I want to surprise him with a keg of beer. How does the purchase of localized large amounts of alcohol work?

4/6/2012 8:58:46 PM

Pay for beer and deposit on keg/tap. Consume beer. Bring back keg/tap, get deposit back.

4/6/2012 9:02:26 PM

^

Pro-tip. Lonerider is the only brewery I know of in the area that does not require a cash deposit. Instead they hold onto your credit card number and if you don't return the keg in a week they charge you the $100.

4/6/2012 9:25:06 PM

1. Go to College Beverage
2. Pick out desired keg and pay for beer and deposit for keg (~$20 I think)
3. Drink beer in keg
4. Return empty keg to college beverage for full defend of deposit.

4/6/2012 9:25:29 PM

^^ additional pro-tip, their beer is great

4/6/2012 10:38:22 PM

Party Beverage also sells kegs. I've purchased one from them on several occasions.

Kegs aren't are hard concept as long as you can remember to return all the stuff at the end.

4/6/2012 10:47:04 PM

it used to be so easy:

raid a keg party at 5am
steal keg shell
take keg shell to keg store
exchange for new keg
save $20

4/6/2012 10:57:05 PM

4/6/2012 11:07:21 PM

^FUCK YOU.

I just searched for the pic to post that, then scrolled down and BAM!

Fuck.

Oh well, here is the video. Everyone loves videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfA2MuUJDyI

4/7/2012 12:09:10 AM

Do you already have the necessities; tap, giant bucket or fridge?

4/7/2012 12:10:02 AM

Quote :

"Pro-tip. Lonerider is the only brewery I know of in the area that does not require a cash deposit. Instead they hold onto your credit card number and if you don't return the keg in a week they charge you the $100."

actually, Carolina Brewing Company will rent you keg shells and even taps with no deposit whatsoever. If I'm not mistaken I didn't even leave a CC number, it's on the honor system. Call in advance though for the taps.

Love me some CBC

4/7/2012 4:19:01 PM

Total Wine sells kegs as well.

4/7/2012 7:13:43 PM

Quote :

"Do you already have the necessities; tap, giant bucket or fridge?"

I know nothing about purchasing alcohol.

4/7/2012 8:03:18 PM

yeh, you'll want a 55 gallon trash can (assuming full keg (e.g. 1/2 keg in real terms)) and a shit-ton of ice.

You can rent trash cans at some beer stores.

You'll rent the keg and tap from the beer store and pay for the beer. some beer stores require a cash deposit; however, many have moved to a credit authorization method (I haven't left a cash deposit in a long damn time). return whatever you rented and the the cash back/no credit charged. Oh, and drink all the beer first, you pussy.

4/7/2012 8:36:42 PM

Sweet!

And Lonerider and College Beverage are ideal?

4/7/2012 8:52:48 PM

I've had a lot of success with both Total Wine and College Beverage. Never tried LoneRider.

4/7/2012 9:50:54 PM

jesus Spontaneous, you're how old?

4/7/2012 10:10:44 PM

27, is that bad?

4/7/2012 10:12:58 PM

just figured at some point when you were 21 or 22 you bought the keg for a keg party, oh well

4/7/2012 10:17:19 PM

Do you know what kind of beer you want?
How quickly are you anticipating consuming it all?
How much are you looking to get? A half-barrel (15.5 gallons), or something smaller? Lone Rider does 1/6 and 1/2 barrel kegs, as do most other local breweries.

Also, you'll likely get a purchase and transport permit for the keg when you buy it, depending on how much you get. Required by the state and done when you get it.

4/7/2012 10:42:41 PM

^^ - Nah, I was a teetotaler until I moved to Pittsburgh, where drinking is required at the most basic of social functions, including class, work, and church.

^ - I was thinking Yuengling and am anticipating between 20-30 people at the party.

4/7/2012 10:53:07 PM

Ok, so total wine or somewhere like that will be fine.
There's about 165 12oz cups of beer in one keg, so as long as everybody drinks at least 6 each, on average, you'll be fine with one keg and killing it in one night. I know we've had less people and floated 2 kegs in one night though . Depends on the crowd.

4/7/2012 11:17:16 PM

Thanks, T-Dub!

4/8/2012 1:01:22 PM

Does Total Wine charge a deposit on their kegs?

4/9/2012 9:13:57 AM

^yes

^^^FYI just because a keg can float doesn't mean it's out of beer. They usually start floating when they're still about 25-30% full.

4/9/2012 11:15:30 AM

^While true, my definition of floated means they were empty. I don't think I'm alone on that understanding.

4/9/2012 12:10:01 PM

If anyone has extra keg shells laying around, I'll purchase them from you.

Just PM me with a price.

4/9/2012 12:28:59 PM

i use that definition too, even though technically the keg might float before it's all the way out of beer.

4/9/2012 12:30:38 PM

Quote :

"You can rent trash cans at some beer stores."

but can you rent the ice???

4/9/2012 12:53:23 PM

So Total Wine(maybe the AB distributor) upped their Anheuser Busch keg deposits to 50 bucks.

Anyone know if this is across the board at all keg retailers in the area? Would like to know if I can take advantage of this to squeeze an extra 20 bucks.

4/9/2012 12:56:39 PM

Thank you, T-Dub, for making my first keggar a resounding success.

4/22/2012 4:35:36 AM

My roommate circa 2007 threw out about a dozen keg shells I had accumulated on my deck. He was of the impression they made us look immature.

Needless to say people swarmed on them to return or sell as scrap metal and made hundreds of dollars.

4/22/2012 3:24:05 PM