KegWorks Blog

As we roll up to the end of 2007, I wanted to take the time to thank our customers and the team here at KegWorks for our best year ever.

To our Customers – Thank you. We appreciate your confidence in us for you to choose to shop with us. Without you all, I would not be able to work with these great people:

Jm, Tim, Hannah and Liz – our fantastic Marketing group.

William, Shane, Peter and Mike – our patient and knowledgeable Customer Service team.

Gary, Jake, Mike, Jeremy, Willie, Jake and Daniel – our hardworking Warehouse crew.

Chris and Kris – managing sales from other channels.

John and Zak – our boisterous IT guys who keep our site and other systems humming.

Dave – the brains behind it all.

As great as 2007 was, I cannot wait for 2008 to start.

Thanks again.

–Tom

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One of my favorite aspects of Christmastime is the opportunity to see old friends that are home for the holidays. In that regard, the Sunday before Christmas turned out to be the perfect storm of fun for me. We had an impromptu party that really made my Christmas. All the food, family gatherings and presents after that were gravy.

I got home from a cold, rainy Bills loss to the Giants around 5 PM on Sunday, shivering and ornery. Looking for something to put me in a better mood, I talked to my brother, who lives upstairs from me, to see what he and some of our friends were up to that night. He said a couple of people were probably going to stop by to try Rock Band, the new video game we both chipped in to buy a few weeks earlier. Rock Band is like the better-known game Guitar Hero, only with all instruments in a band instead of just guitar.

Apparently, word got around and a few friends told a few more friends, who told a few more friends. Before I knew what was what, there were 15 people in and around my living room passing around plastic guitars, tapping away on plastic drums and belting out the vocals to “Wanted Dead or Alive,” “Highway Star,” and “Dani California,” among other great tunes.

It was outstanding. Every single person got in on the act and gave the game a try. We definitely exploited the social aspects and unifying properties of the game. In the end, I couldn’t have been happier because all the people I wanted to see came right to me. I didn’t even have to leave the comfort of my living room.

The one small hiccup in the fun occurred when I had to run out to the store for more drinks. It was at that moment I wished I took the time to convert the old refrigerator in my garage to a kegerator. The plan was to convert it early in the summer, but I put it off repeatedly and never got around to it. Making a quick run to the store wasn’t a big deal, but it would’ve been easier to relax if I didn’t have to trek out into the cold and leave the fun behind.

All in all, I had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you did to.

TAGS [ KEGERATOR | DRAFT BEER ]

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Submissions are coming in, and not a moment too soon - the Great Lakes Home Bar Contest is only open for entry until December 31st, so if you haven’t sent in pics and a blurb of your home bar yet, get to it! Here’s some photos from one of our entrants:

TAGS [ HOME BAR | HOME BAR CONTEST ]

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That’s right… pick a resolution you actually have a chance at this year, like throwing better parties! And, what better time to start than New Year’s Eve? We’ve got all you need to throw a swinging New Year’s bash, like plastic champagne glasses and bottle stoppers, sure to keep your bubblies fizzy for hours - you just add the champagne.

If you really want to get things going at 2007’s New Year’s Eve bash, pick up some jello and get your creative juices flowing - jello shots are all the rage. KegWorks makes it easy to enjoy ‘em too - choose from plastic jello shot cups with lids, paper shot cups, and even new-fangled Twist ‘n Shot Jello Shot Cups.

TAGS [ NEW YEARS EVE | CHAMPAGNE | PARTY | JELLO SHOT ]

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Today is a day that changed US history forever.

When you learned about our early settlers in grammar school, your teacher never mentioned beer. Possibly, the most pressing reason that the country’s first settlers settled where they did!

The Mayflower left England on September 16, 1620 and after a grueling, (storm and disease filled) 64 days at sea, on November 11, the ship dropped its anchor inside the hook tip of Cape Cod.

This was definitely NOT the plan: The people of the Mayflower originally had planned to land near (what is now) New York City months earlier than they did. They had first set sail in August, but their original ship, the Speedwell, sprang a leak that set them back a month. Then, encountering bad weather, their course was slowed and ever changing.

Now, in the midst of winter and with bad weather upon them, they tried, but failed to get to their scheduled destination. So, on December 26th, 1620 - 387 years ago, today - they chose to settle close to where they first landed in Cap Cop, in what the ship’s navigator called “Thievish Harbor,” near which is now known as Plymouth Bay.

These voyagers are quoted with saying: “We could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer, and it being now the 19th of December.”

Without beer, Plymouth it was!

TAGS [ BEER | PLYMOUTH | MAYFLOWER | PILGRIMS ]

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A KegWorks’ Holiday party tradition is a keg of Custom BrewCrafter’s Christmas Ale. The company Holiday party is this coming Friday, but I got a preview of this year’s batch of Christmas Ale. I liked it so much last year; I bought a keg of it as soon as it became available this year. Custom BrewCrafter’s is a local brewery whose production is mostly limited to kegs for bars and restaurants in Western New York, so I knew when the opportunity to get my own keg arose this year I had to act on it.

The beer is very dark, ruby red with a subdued nose that only hints at the ale’s spicy goodness. The beer tastes like childhood Christmas memories with noticeable, but not overwhelming, flavors of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. The malt used is sweet and with a toasted caramel flavor; while the hops stay in the background supplying just enough bitterness to not make this ale over sweet and cloying. I am not huge fan of spiced beers, as most tend to overdo it, but not this great seasonal ale.

A friend of mine (who I was tasting the beer with) said it reminded him of fruitcake or spiced Christmas cookies. If you live outside of Western New York, and cannot get Custom BrewCrafter’s Christmas Ale (Sorry!); go to your local brewery and toast the Holidays with a winter seasonal from your neck of the woods.

TAGS [ CUSTOM BREWCRAFTERS | CHRISTMAS ALE | DRAFT BEER ]

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As I promised last week, I am going to share the story of our first rare-find smoke with all of you. Here goes:

I was in Florida in the year 2000 visiting my Aunt in Boca Raton. The only way my mother and the other girls would get me to venture out with them in the afternoon on their shopping sprees was to promise to take me to the cigar shops I wanted to visit along the way. Little did they know the research I put into these afternoons. I would have a nice listing of all the shops I wanted to hit, and I had already called ahead to verify their hours.

Well, on one afternoon, as we were heading back after a long day out in the heat and shopping I noticed a sign in a plaza that advertised a cigar shop. So, of course I break the rare silence in the car (anyone who has dared to venture out on one of the shopping trips I am talking about knows how rare these “rare silences” really are) to point out the cigar shop. Reluctantly, we pull into the plaza and find the shop behind the plaza. It looks like it is closed - I must physically… get out and check the door lest I am tricked by those not wanting to wait for me.

Most certainly the shop is open! So as I am wandering around the walk-in humidor and happen to find nothing interesting that I can’t get in Buffalo, when on my way out when I decide to reach into a box above my head. The box is not labeled, so I have no idea what is in there. There are three smokes that I can feel in the box, so I pull two out. They are Fuente Robustos, upon further inspection I notice something else written on the band – Anejo. What is this? No idea. However, I have never seen it before, so I buy them, call my friend in Buffalo and tell him what I happened upon.

He seems to know what they are because he can’t believe I found them. This was their first year out and they are the same blend as the Opus X, only they have a Maduro wrapper. Well, to find out later these smokes only come out once a year (in fact they just came out a couple of weeks ago). Well, after aging for eight years in our humidors, we fired these smokes up on Monday night, as my friend is getting married this Saturday. All I can say is that they were worth the wait; they burned perfectly, strong white ash and a nice spice to them that is not common among the newer versions. I am hoping he has a kid quick so we can smoke one of the other specialties soon!

TAGS [ CIGARS | ARTURO FUENTE | ANEJO ]

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