PLANNING a party or a gathering at your place and want to kick the party up a notch? It could be worth investing in one of the best beer dispensers on the market.
Not only can you impress your friends by providing IPAs and craft lager on tap, you might just improve the flavour compared to drinking out the can.
A beer dispenser is basically like having a mini keg of beer, like you’d get in barrels at the pub, on draught in the comfort of your own home.
You can purchase a keg of your favourite beers, pop it in your at-home beer draught dispenser, and then pour pints for you and your mates to your heart’s content.
Depending on how much you want to spend, there are a few price brackets for beer dispensers. Getting a mini-keg is super simple and will cut down on your can collecting time when the night’s over – meaning your heavy recycling bin will thank you.
But the real aficionados will want a draught machine that you hook up to a keg of your favourite beer. That means you can have your ales, lagers and IPAs on tap without having to venture to the pub (and without the hefty price tag, either).
Or, if you’ve got some time on your hands, and fancy something even more unique, you can even brew your own beer with the Pinter system.
So take a look at the best beer dispensers you can buy in 2022 – you’ll thank us afterwards. Cheers to that!
The Sub Compact Black 2L, £109 from BeerWulf – Krups The Sub
I thought The Sub looked very cool – it’s a bit different to other machines as the keg that goes inside is laid on its side rather than upright, which gives this device is cylindrical “submarine” design.
The instructions were the most confusing of the ones we tested, as some of the diagrams were a bit difficult to understand – but it still only took five minutes or so to get set up.
It didn’t feel as high quality to use though – the tap felt quite flimsy and the drip tray is quite cheap looking.
It was also quite difficult to pour a decent beer from this one, and there was a lot of froth in my pint.
The kegs for this machine are 2 litres – which is around 3.5 pints – so you wouldn’t need to be throwing a huge party to justify firing it up.
Cooling takes 6-10 hours. The kegs cost between £8 and £17 from BeerWulf. A £9.49 keg of Heineken works out at around £2.71 a pint.
PerfectDraft Pro, from £335 at Beerhawk
The PerfectDraft machine was incredibly easy to set up – it was all done in a few minutes.
Although cooling the keg takes around 10-hours so this is one to prepare in advance.
The machine was heavy though, and I couldn’t lift the box myself. It’s quite plain looking but I liked that you could customise the beer pump with a selection of badges.
I also liked the easy-to-read temperature display on the front and the indicator which tells you how full your keg is.
And there’s an eco-friendly feature – you can return your keg when it’s finished and you’ll get £5 off your next order.
The first beer poured out a bit “lively” as they say in the industry, but after that it came out very easily and made me look like a professional pint pourer.
You’ve got 30 days to drink your beer once the keg is open. Replacements cost from around £30 to £40 depending on which beer you choose.
They are all six litres, giving you just over 10 pints. A £32.50 keg of Stella Artois would work out at around £3.25 per pint.
That’s our priciest pint of the machines we tested – but it was the best. Overall, this was my winner. It poured really nicely and was like a pint that you’d get in the pub, plus I liked the display features.
I still don’t think I’d invest in one though – I don’t have the space at home.
However, if you’re someone with a bar or dedicated man cave (or just a really big kitchen) then this would be a nice luxury to treat yourself.
Philips PerfectDraft Starter bundle, from £249 at Beer Hawk – PerfectDraft
The regular PerfectDraft machine is stylish – complete with a black and silver chrome design – relatively quiet and pours perfect pints… what more could you ask for?!
To purchase with it, you can get your hands on kegs from Corona, Jupiler, Leffes, Stella Artois, Thornbridge and more at Beer Hawk.
Its six-litre capacity means that it’s a perfect party piece for small gatherings, too, making you the new favourite host with the most.
And it’ll keep your beer fresh for 30 days after your first pour, so there’s plenty of time to work through a keg if you’re going at it alone.
Blade Draft Machine, from £475 at Beerwulf – Blade
I initially thought this machine was the ugliest of the bunch but my husband insisted the temperature gauges, high-quality drip tray and the fact you can see the keg were all very appealing.
He said it had strong “man cave vibes” but, frankly, I was more concerned about how heavy it was to lug around.
Set up was a bit more involved than some of the others, but it was in place within 10 minutes.
It does, however, require 24 hours of cooling so if you were having mates over you would need to prepare this the day before. I have seen these used in bars and pubs so I had high expectations for the pour and it didn’t disappoint – it’s a very professional beer that comes out of the pump, chilled to a refreshing 2 degrees.
Once you open the keg, you have 30 days to consume – but you’ll have to keep the machine plugged in. But I struggled to get past the price point. Replacement kegs are around £35 each too, although this varies depending on which beer or cider you choose.
The kegs are 8 litres, which is 14 pints (a pint is 568ml), putting the cost at around £2.50 a pint.
The machine scored high on flavour but lost points overall because the price point will be beyond many people’s reach.
It was harder to set up because of its weight and had the longest cooling time of the bunch.
Fizzics DraftPour Beer Dispenser, from £129 at Menkind – Fizzics DraftPour
Around the same size as a coffee machine, the Fizzics device took less than a minute to get set up and didn’t take over my entire kitchen worktop.
You have two options for power, which is handy – it can be plugged in to the mains or work off 2AA batteries.
So not only is this the only machine we tested that’s portable, it’s also the only one that doesn’t require you to buy a specific keg.
Instead you simply insert the bottle or can of beer you want to drink and it is simply dispensed through the machine.
That made it super easy to use, but it felt a bit pointless. Fizzics says it uses sonic wave technology so you get a draft taste from any can or bottle of beer.
It claims to enhance the aroma and give you a smooth mouthfeel. But we tasted the same beer straight from the can and it didn’t taste notably different.
Still, it’s the only one you can use straight from the box as the machine doesn’t need time to cool your beer – you’ll just have to make sure the fridge is stocked in advance.
Where to buy a beer dispenser
As you can see from the nine cracking options above, it’s easier than ever to buy one of the best beer dispensers.
Your best bet would be shop around online, though, with budget offerings usually found on Amazon.
If you’re more of a craftier kind of beer lover, head over to beer experts Beer Hawk and Beerwulf.
If you’d like to try and make your very own beer, without the fuss of owning (and cleaning!) a brewery, a Pinter is your best bet – with letterbox friendly beer recipes, and ingredients.
But do expect to be forking out a little more than your budget-friendly options.
How to clean a beer dispenser
How to best clean a beer dispenser depends on the make and model you have.
The Sub, for instance requires very little cleaning; just mopping up a bit of condensation that forms in the barrel.
How much do beer dispensers cost?
The prices of beer dispensers tends to vary with their size.
The relatively small Sub is usually available under £110 but can only handle two-litre kegs. The larger PerfectDraft or BLADE systems are more expensive, reflecting the larger six and eight-litre kegs they dispense, respectively.
How to set up a beer pump at home
Unlike setting up a full-blown pump that you’d get in a pub with gas cylinders and miles of piping, setting up one of these pumps at home is a doddle.
Most of the devices are plug-in-and-play, i.e. they don’t require anything other than a beer keg and a plug socket.
They’ll take a while to get your cannisters to the correct pressure and to cool your beer, but the process doesn’t require a lot of input from you.
What is the best home beer dispenser?
Our favourite of the options above is The Sub. It’s relatively cheap and it pours great pints, the only downside being that the two-litre kegs make it a bit more difficult to share… which we guess isn’t too much of a problem!
We’ve seen nothing but good reviews for the people who have plumped for the PerfectDraft and the BLADE dispensers, though.
Where can I buy kegs for beer dispensers?
The most important part of getting a beer dispenser is the beer! But kegs can’t be bought from just anywhere, sadly. Fear not, there are plenty of affordable, budget-friendly options to choose from online, including your favourite – or next favourite – beer.
PerfectDraft has a great selection of keg, starting from around £30, and offer Tiny Rebel lager, Goose Island IPA, Corona, Leffe, Beck’s and Budweiser. Amazon also does a selection of kegs, ranging from your standard lagers, to your crafty numbers.
