Is Tap King the draught beer you're looking for?
We take a look at the Tap King 'draught beer at home' system to see if it really can quench our thirst.
James Squire, draught beers at home, Lionel Richie. At least two of these things will appeal to a wide range of people.
The Tap King system for getting a pub-style poured beer at home is an Australian innovation, developed as a collaboration between brewing giant Lion and Aussie packaging company Visy.
The two part system uses specially designed 3.2L PET bottles that work with a proprietary pouring dispenser. At the moment there are only six beers available for Tap King, but the list does include James Squire's Chancer and James Boag's Premium.
When Michelle Starr got the Breville Crispy Crust pizza oven in for test, we decided that a beer and pizza lunch was the perfect opportunity to put the Tap King through its paces.
As the video shows, it's a very simple set up and the beer quality is quite impressive. If we had any complaints it would be that the 3.2L bottle empties faster than you might expect — that, or our co-workers have been having a few cheeky samples when we weren't looking.
The Tap King is probably at its best for general home use — there are bigger and more appropriate solutions if you're looking to keep a party from getting dehydrated. But as a replacement for a six pack in the fridge, it's definitely worth considering as an excellent alternative (although you'll probably need a few goes to get your pouring technique at pro-level).
The dispenser itself is AU$32.99 while a pack of two 3.2L bottles will cost between AU$35 to around AU$50 depending on your choice of poison.