In the year 2017, a team was formed at a company hackathon in downtown Austin, Texas. A team with a dream of beer and technology mingling and interweaving in a way never seen before. This dream manifested itself into an award-winning kegerator. This kegerator could tell you how many pints you’ve had, how much beer was left in the keg, light up with pretty lights, and probably even tell you the time. All was well in the world of the hackathon kegerator.
Cut to 2019. Like the rusted and walled-in train engine named Henry in that very dark episode of Thomas the Train Engine, the kegerator was long-forgotten.
Forgotten, at least, until a few software engineers that totally don’t drink too much found it and saw an opportunity to be praised for promoting drinking in the workplace. Thus began the start of tearing down the Henry-hating brick wall that had been built around the kegerator over the years.
First order of business on the path to a revival was cleaning the moldy, hazardous beer dispenser. Exhibit A below. Warning: NSFW.
Unfortunately, by the time The Biergarten Crew (Trademark pending) began to clean the kegerator most of the electronic features that had made it an award-winning kegerator had been stripped out, leaving only two half-filled kegs and lots of tubing. After a night of cleaning with only one beer splash that covered my kitchen sink, phone and significant other’s purse (sorry Brooke!), we had sanitized equipment ready to connect to whatever keg our heart’s desired…
Stay tuned for part two. Thanks for reading.