So,  Now that we know what kegs sizes we will commonly see, it’s time to talk about how you will actually purchase your beer.  This is how it works in Oregon.  Your state might vary a bit, but everything I’ve heard says that this is the more or less standard (except in Utah.  They can’t get real beer in a keg).

Understanding The Industry

This applies to national brands. Most beer is brewed hundreds of miles from you.  Unless you live in Golden Colorado, ST Louis,  or Milwaukee, your beer probably gets trucked to you   Once the beer is trucked to your area,  it is stored at the local distributor and from there goes to the stores and bars for you to enjoy.

If you want one of the national brands, you need to figure out which distributor has the brand you are after and then call them up.  Rather then worrying about who has the beer you want,  open the yellow pages to beer  or beer distributers and find the list.  Call the first and ask if they have the beer you are looking for.  If they don’t, then it’s on to the next one in the list.  Occassionally one of them will tell you heres who has the beer your looking for.

Once you have found your beer, the next question is what sizes are available and at what prices (see later in the series for the information about special dock sales and saving money).    You also need to make sure that it has the right tap style to match what you have at home (or if you are deciding what tap to buy, asking here so that you can make that decision).

I generally like to know what beer I’m going to get before I get to the distributor.  This saves everyone time. When you show up to buy,  you are going to need to have ID and to fill out the form for the keg.  Depending on your state, they may also have you fill out a form for the state to get the beer tag to put on the keg.   You are also going to need to tell them what beer and what size so that they can have it retrieved.  You are also going to have to leave a deposit for the keg.  The deposit insures that you bring the keg back and don’t sell it for scrap or leave it at the party site.  My last deposit was $30 so you might want to ask on the phone about it.  You also get the deposit back when you return the keg, but many times, you just roll this onto the next keg each time.

A quick warning, distributors keep the beer cold,  like 34 degrees so be ready when you grab the keg.

Finding Microbrew Kegs

If you are lucky enough to live an an area that has a great microbrew in it,  you may have to deal with an entirely seperate system.  I buy most of my beer from a microbrewery.  The beer is fresher, and I like the styles better.  However getting it can be much tougher since there isn’t a full time staff there to sell keg off the dock.

If no one has the beer you are looking for in kegs, check in the yellow pages for a beer brewers or breweries section.  See if you can find the beer there.  An alternate way to get the information is to ask the bar where you have purchased the beer from before who the supplier is.

Once you are in contact with the brewery, the questions are the same.  The selection is usually more limited in terms of what size choices are.  Many times if I want a specific beer, my options are 15.5 gallons or nothing.  Such is the way with micro breweries.   Usually there is an alternate choice though that you can get in the size you want.

I’ve learned more about brewing from my local microbrewery then I have from brewing the beer.  The process is the exact same, they just do it on a larger scale.  I can’t gaurantee that all microbrewers will be this nice, but when they are, it’s a lot of fun.  Plus from time to time, you get to taste beers that are will be coming out at a later date.

The next section delves more into the topic of national vs micro brews and what you should know before choosing.