Pour Your Own Beer in a Bar

April 24, 2015 – Next time you are waiting in line and feeling frustrated, don’t get mad.  Get creative like Josh Goodman did.

Josh and his friends were at a Baltimore sports bar in 2008 waiting to get a beer before an Orioles game.  It occurred to Josh there had to be a better way for patrons to get their beer, and for the bar to make more money.

We’ve become a self-serve nation – gas, grocery checkout, ATM – it’s a long list so why not beer, wine and spirits?  Josh set out to solve the problem, invested some of his own money, partnered with a U.S. manufacturer and launched Pour My Beer, a self-serve system for beer, which is equally applicable to wine and cocktails.

The individual table system came on line first in 2009.  We talked to Josh recently and asked how the table system works.  He explained a table can have two or four taps hooked up to different kegs that are in a locked container under the table, maintained at 34 degrees.  Like the idea of lounging in the bar and getting quietly sloshed?  Fuhgeddaboudit. Your purchase is limited and management has control of the system.  They can either supply refills or cut it off.

The next innovation was the beer wall introduced in 2011.  Patrons love it and so do bar owners.  Get a prepaid RFID wristband or card and a clean glass from the staff, tap your card, select the beer and pour.  Each card is good for two beers (32 ounces).  The RFID – radio frequency identification – allows staff to control consumption, which they’re required to do.  In fact, Josh has had to obtain the approval of the state liquor control board in every state where he sells, which is more than half of them.

The Pour My Beer system works just as effectively for wine, which can be kept fresh for months and it is also being used for premixed cocktails.  Like a gas pump, quantities are preset, there’s very little waste, it’s clean and fun to operate.  If you haven’t had a chance to try it out, be patient.  A beer wall is in your future.  There’s one in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport where the world congregates, or so it seems.  Also check it out on John Taffer’s popular Bar Rescue series on Spike TV.