Can Wine In Kegs Find Its Legs In Calgary? by TONYA LAILEY
So what exactly is “wine-on-tap” and why the hoopla? Wine on Tap is wine drawn from 19.5 L pressurized containers (kegs) fitted to specialized dispensing systems (taps) for supplying wine-by-the-glass programs in restaurants. Kegs assume several forms, from the single-use recyclable polyethylene terephthalate PubKeg and KeyKeg, to the 304 grade stainless kegs that have recently taken the west coast by storm. Wine kegs are practically a panacea for the by-the-glass business. Each keg delivers 130 consistently fresh 5-ounce pours. Kegs rationalize storage space, reduce bar clutter, save service time, simplify wine accounting, cost less per glass, and eliminate the spoilage (loss) inherent to handling scores of bottles opened on different days. Add to this the ecological sense it makes to forgo bottles - the largest contributor to the wine industry’s carbon footprint - not to mention corks, capsules and labels. “Convenient and cost-effective, the best thing ever,” says Cam 34
FreshTap
Chalmers, Manager at Calgary’s Marquee Beer Market & Stage, who stock keg wines exclusively. Brian Gunsten’s Dream Wines distribute Cannonball Cabernet Sauvignon in stainless keg. “I’m extremely happy with the technology and process. It’s a no brainer,” he says. But it has taken brains to get the technology to this point and it takes brains to use it to desired effect - as a profitable, direct-to-glass system for delivering fresh, quality wine.
Jim Neal, proprietor of N2 wines in Rutherford, California, is a pioneer of contemporary wine keg technology. N2 distributes stainless kegs of Napa and Sonoma wine as well as imported product. Neal has invested serious time, money and effort into solving the shortcomings of early wine keg iterations. Free Flow Wines, a kegging facility in Napa, is another player integral to the evolution in keg practices, having devised a precise system for installing, maintaining, servicing and cleaning its constituent parts. A spin-off industry