Pour your own pints with Carlsberg's Draughtmaster

Stuart Dredge Gadgets
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All bets are off for the gadget most men will be putting at the top of their Christmas lists this year. I’ve just had a hands-on demonstration of Carlsberg’s new Draughtmaster, which lets you pull pints of
lager in the alcoholic comfort of your own home. And while it’s got a couple of flaws, I can still think of a dozen friends off the top of my head who’ll want it.

The device basically lets you pour pints of Carlsberg Export through a proper beer tap, and takes five-litre kegs, which is almost nine pints. It’s not the first home pint-puller, but it’s the most environmentally-friendly.

“There’ve been a few on the continent, but they used aluminium
kegs,” says Carlsberg marketing controller Chris Lewis. “You have to return them to a store to get a refill.
Ours are made of plastic, and fully recyclable, so when you finish one
keg, you just pop it in the recycling bin and fit another one. And it
also means we can sell them online.”

The Draughtmaster goes on sale next week in 85 branches of Tesco
Extra, and on the Tesco website. It’ll cost £129, with kegs costing
£13.99 each – i.e. around £1.55 a pint. However, if popular it’ll go on
general sale next year through other stores and websites. Carlsberg
developed the technology, and then partnered with Breville to make the
device itself.

“The idea was to have something that’ll sit happily in people’s
kitchens,” says Lewis. “It won’t look out of place next to your
smoothie maker or coffee maker. And the advantage is that there’s no
fiddly cleaning to do once you’ve finished a keg, unlike those devices.”

So what about the potential flaws? First is the lack of choice –
it’s not much use if you don’t drink Carlsberg Export. However, Lewis
says that when the Draughtmaster goes on general release, the company
intends to widen the choice of kegs to include its other brands. He mentions Carlsberg and Skol, and the company also owns Tetley’s.

Secondly, to work properly, the kegs need to be cold. “We recommend
putting them in the fridge overnight or for half a day,” says Lewis.
“Once it’s in there, the built-in chiller keeps it cool, but it does
need to be cold when you start. The colder the beer, the better the
pour!”

This proved to be the case during the demonstration, where the
Draughtmaster produced an enormous
head on two successive pints. And yes,
Lewis was holding the glass at 45 degrees. The problem was that having
fitted a new keg to demonstrate how quick it is to do – and it took
around 10-15 seconds – it hadn’t been chilled enough. Hence the mighty head.

This is all fair enough, but imagine you’ve invited, say, four
friends round to see your new gadget, as you would. And say you stick
to the British binge-drinking stereotype and drink five pints each over the course of the
evening, making 25 pints in all. That’s three sizeable kegs that you
need to have chilling in your fridge for a day beforehand. Admittedly,
for most single men, this isn’t a problem, especially as many already
have entire fridges devoted to booze.

Carlsberg is quite keen to stress that the Draughtmaster isn’t
intended as any kind of pub-killer. “It’s not about stopping people
from going to the pub,” says Lewis. “We know people drink at home from
cans and bottles, and we know they’re not happy with that. At least
they’ll now have an alternative – a freshly pulled pint!”

Rest assured, we’ll have this in for a video review as soon as we
can get our hands on one (and recover from the subsequent hangover).

Stuart Dredge
For latest tech stories go to TechDigest.tv

31 comments

  • i bought a draughtmaster for my husband for christmas from next including 2 kegs .he was also able to get the kegs from Next after christmas they cost £15 each if you think its hard getting a keg on the mainland try living in ulster ,with no threshers and tesco not selling them its online or nothing!pat peel

  • I had a draughtmaster bought for me as a xmas present by one of my sons.It was great for the family get together and future paties and summer Bar BQs.The only problem is trying to purchase a replacement keg and without this the unit is rendered useless. I live in Welwyn Garden City, Herts and my nearest Tesco is in Hatfield which do not seem to stock the latter.Any solutions to where i can get an easy replacement.

  • On the question of other kegs for the draughtmaster, in sweden it is called the ‘Tuborg Draughtmaster’ and you can also buy ‘Falcon’ kegs aswell. I havent found anywhere that ships the tuborg ones to the UK yet but I would be interested if anyone knows where/how to get hold of one(going to scandenavia not being an option!!!)

  • Its awesome. Threshers is the way forward. My local one just got 150 kegs in. Best beer ever. Me and my liver have fallen out!.

  • hi i brought one for my husband for xmas and i must say the kegs are hard to get hold of i dont no if its because its xmas but he loves it i am sure you can get the kegs from threshers in coventry thats were i managed to get 4 from at 13.99 each my husband seems to think its better than a pub pint so
    he dont have to go out now lol xx

  • hi i brought one for my husband for xmas and i must say the kegs are hard to get hold of i dont no if its because its xmas but he loves it i am sure you can get the kegs from threshers in coventry thats were i managed to get 4 from at 13.99 each my husband seems to think its better than a pub pint so
    he dont have to go out now lol xx

  • hi i brought one for my husband for xmas and i must say the kegs are hard to get hold of i dont no if its because its xmas but he loves it i am sure you can get the kegs from threshers in coventry thats were i managed to get 4 from at 13.99 each my husband seems to think its better than a pub pint so
    he dont have to go out now lol xx

  • Hi,
    I got one for chrimbo from the misuss (seems all the women are sucked into this eh!) well yes dont do warm, or slightly warm kegs as it dont work very well. HAS TO BE COLD.

    Tesco Extra in Manchester do them, cheap too £12.
    Only hte extra stores do them.
    Threshers/Bottoms Up/other Thresher brand stores do them, I found one in my local Threshers, though there was only one, but If u ask the manager say u have a draught master and can u get em in regularly for ya and they will!

    You can buy direct from carlsberg too.

    So no excuse in my eyes for not being available !

  • i had one for xmas and once again mine is also just sitting there as not able to get hold of the beer. been to tesco extra stores and was told that they once sold them but now did not plan on selling them in the future. went to my closest threshers store where i was told that they have never sold them and did not plan to, although i was told that i could try the other store 50miles away as they MIGHT have some.
    think ine is goin bak to the shop!!!!!

  • My wife bought me one of these for xmas and so far its just an ornament as i cant find the kegs for sale anywhere!i also have concerns about future availability.I will try Threshers today,also i think Tesco’s blackmailing with the buy 12 bottles of wine and you can order a keg is totally out of order!

  • You can buy the kegs at branches of Thresers wine shops.I know this because i went to nearly every Tesco in my area and they had sold out and ended up going to Thresers!!!

  • ive just received the carlsberg draughtmaster, and i must say im very impressed so far anyway, kegs are very easy to install and the qaulity of the pint is excellent better than a lot of pubs i think. i got a hold of my keg at my local threshers store, im not sure if theres any legalities involved but surely carlsberg are obliged to provide the kegs even if demand isnt great. as for enviromentally friendly….no its not, swedish reviews have said that it runs at the same cost of running five A+ fridges. i give it 8/10, 1 point minus for energy, 1 point minus for lack of choice of beer

  • hi
    I’ve just purchased a draughtmaster for my husband. i’m one of thoses people who cannot get hold of a keg for love or money. all the tesco extra shops that are in my area don’t sell them does anyone have any ideas. please, please. also i’ve tried to contact draghtmaster by e-mail and all my e-mails have been ret. funny eh.

    donna (nottingham)

  • Environmentally friendly my arse.

    These things run at 70W continuous. Thats about £70 a year. Uses much more energy than a standard fridge!

  • Based on a price in the pub of £3, you will have to drink 56 pints at £69.99 for the unit and 92 if it costs £129.99, to break even on the investment. So lets hope that neither the novelty has worn off or they stop stocking them before you consume that amount.

  • Tesco are currenty selling the kegs for £12 on an Xmas deal.

    Also Comet are selling the machine for £115 in store but cant find it cheaper anywhere else. The concern is that is it doesnt take off then you will not be able to get the kegs in the future.

    Anyone know where you can get it cheaper or how the product is selling etc??

    Matthew alan, Midgham

  • Hi there
    I watched a programe on BBC sunday morning called
    something for the weekend and it featured your
    Carlesberg Beer Pump. They quoted a price of
    £69.99. Can you tell me where I can buy it for
    this price, because the prices I have seen are
    much higher. Look forward to your early reply,
    trying to get something different for my Gransons
    18th. Kind regards Sylvia collins.

  • Have bought the draughtmaster yesterday and although I have visited many tesco shops have been unable to try the product out. Feeling very disappointed after spending £130. Julie

  • Get a Wunderbar Cooler instead. It takes the 4 & 6 litre pressure kegs, 5 litre standard kegs plus it has a plastic container that you can fillup with whatever you like! Basically you can get any beer you like for it and are not just limited to Carlsberg, Skol & Tetley!

  • !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    hi all
    i have bought a draught master had it since november, the tesco extra i bought from no longer stocks the kegs and now inform me that they dont plan on stocking them any more either.
    the product is great but its like having a car with a major fuel shortage.
    luck has it that i travel the uk for work and am fortunate to be able to visit many tesco extra stores to find the odd keg or two.
    the only orther problem with it is that it does make a noise (not to loud) but does compress randomly from time to time.

    been told that i should be able to get kegs sometime early this year.

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  • You can purchase the kegs in Tesco Extra stores. I have just spent four weeks trying to obtain one for my husband’s Christmas pressie. Alternatively, Tesco advise you to order 12 bottles of wine, along with your keg from their Wine Club and then refuse to accept the wine when the courier delivers it!

  • I have just bought one, but have not opened as cant get the beer! I might take it back! What a wast of £79.99. You can get the kegs on tesco online, but only if you order 12 bottles of wine! Where are you supposed to get the beer? Tesco dont stock it!!!

  • Were else can you buy the kegs apart from Tesco. I have been trying to search the carlsberg site to see if i can buy them on line or somewere else but i keep hitting a brick wall. And is there any update to other beers being available.

  • I was wondering how easy this product is to clean as presumably you need to clean the taps after and before putting a new keg in the machine. What about getting spares for the machine if necessary?

  • Does anybody know if there is something similar that you could put your own beer in (homebrew), I have been making homebrew for years, a gadget like this & around the same price has the potential to make somebody very rich. Maybe I should become a designer??

  • just bought one of these from tesco.
    made the mistake of trying a keg warm, you must chill in fridge first.
    have bought 3 more kegs and have to say the lager is better than your average pub by far.

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