Imagine a world where every cocktail you served tasted the same no matter which bartender made it, and every glass of wine stayed as fresh as the first. You can stop imagining now because taps aren’t just for beer anymore! Serving wine and cocktails on tap is becoming a popular trend in many restaurants and bars. Having these drinks ready to serve straight from the tap not only cuts down on drink preparation time, but it also ensures consistency among drinks. In this article, you’ll learn whether or not these systems are beneficial in your particular establishment, and if they are, we’ll give some recommendations for your setup.Do you ever wonder why certain wines can’t be ordered by the glass and only by the bottle? Truth is wine is a tricky beverage. Traditionally, it goes through a rather pricey packaging process. It has to be bottled, labeled, printed, sealed, and cased. Then, the cases finally get shipped to the restaurant or bar who has to pay for all of those costs. If all the wine is sold in a timely fashion, then it’s no big deal.

But, for many establishments, someone will order a single glass of premium wine, and then that wine won’t get ordered again for some time after. best wine boxes 2015 ukOnce a bottle of wine is uncorked, the wine begins to oxidize. best winery tours in nyOxidation changes the taste of the wine the longer it sits in the bottle, even if it's recorked. best way to get red wine to room temperatureIf someone orders a glass of wine from a bottle that’s been opened a week previously, it won’t taste nearly as fresh, and it won’t have the flavor it should. best place to buy wine in nice france

More often than not, the glass will be sent back, and the bartender will have to pour out the entire bottle of wine. best wine ebookThat’s why it’s too risky for many establishments to offer wine by the glass. best ice wine canada 2013But now, there’s a solution to this wine wasting! best wine store little rockOn average, it can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 to have a wine dispensing unit set up in your restaurant or bar; the best red wine vinaigrette recipehowever, this cost will quickly pay for itself due to savings per bottle and savings from waste. best wine in 2008In fact, many establishments will see a return on their initial investment within nine months.

Setting up a wine tap system is similar to setting up a beer dispenser. First, you simply have to decide where to place your dispensing system. Do you serve a lot of wine on a daily basis? If so, you should consider locating it centrally behind-the-bar. If wine orders aren't nearly as popular as beer orders, then maybe you can place your wine dispenser off to one side.You also have to consider the special requirements for a wine tap. The valve coupler, tubing nipples, and faucet must all be constructed of 304 grade stainless steel. If wine doesn’t flow through a special 304 grade draft system, then the flavor will be affected. You must also have a 304 stainless steel oxygen barrier to prevent oxygen permeation, as well as an air tank that has a blend of 75 percent Nitrogen and 25 percent CO2. This blend preserves the wine’s quality and freshness and is readily available in many bars because Guinness also requires this gas blend. Now, it’s time to picture this: It’s thirty minutes prior to your home team’s kickoff time.

You own a sports bar, and the lines are at least five people deep. You have a cocktail special, but you still have to take the time to measure out perfect rum to lemonade ratios. Then, you get a complaint about someone’s drink not being as strong at their friend’s. There has to be an easier way! Outfit your high volume sports bar, night club, or casual restaurant with a cocktail dispensing machine that offers liquor on tap. Take this Hamilton Beach cocktails-on-tap dispenser, for example. These types of machines hold bottles of liquor on a tray that slides out for easy refilling. They also hold the bag-in-box mixer of your choice. With the simple pull of the unit’s tap handle, you’ll have a perfectly mixed and consistent drink within seconds. And, the best part about this is, you didn’t have to measure out a single ounce of alcohol! A cocktail dispensing system is very easy to install! Its compact size allows its base to fit underneath your bar, while the tap platform slides onto the bartop with no mounting hardware required.

An included hose attaches to the tap and connects to the base, allowing you to dispense product. These units are also powered by a CO2 tank and require no electricity, which means you can place your unit almost anywhere. Simply choose a spot where bartenders can easily access the tap during happy hour, kickoff, or a special event. If you're looking to reduce wine waste, offer more premium wine options by the glass, and ultimately increase wine sales, then offering wine on tap is a great choice for your restaurant, upscale bar, or lounge. However, if you're running a crowded sports bar, night club, or casual restaurant, you will benefit from having cocktails on tap. Not only will these systems cut down drink prep time, but they'll also provide consistency among drinks. U.K. wine seller offers premium wine-on-tap in a recyclable 20-L PET keg that replaces 27 glass bottles, eliminates waste, spoilage, and breakage, and costs customers 15% less. London-based independent wine specialist Roberson Wine was established in 1991 when Cliff Roberson opened the first “urban winery” on Kensington High Street.

London Cru offered a diverse range of wines, including everything from the very finest, rarest wines, to the best everyday bottles. Since then, the company has evolved from a retail to an online business, specializing in artisanal, high-quality wines from France and California. Roberson sells to individuals as well as to restaurants and bars, and can deliver its wines anywhere in the world. In 2014, looking to continue its history of innovation—Roberson also brought the “New California” wine movement to the U.K., according to Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa McCaghy—the company considered adding kegged wines to its offerings. Roberson had seen their use by wineries in the U.S. and Canada and was excited by the advantages wine-on-tap provided. Says Roberson Senior Buyer Mark Andrew, “We’ve managed to build a really great reputation for the wine we sell in bottles. It’s something that we spent 20 years building. But we decided it was time to do something different, something new, something interesting.

A wine on tap fit perfectly into that mold.” In autumn 2014, Roberson became the first in the U.K., according to McCaghy, to introduce kegged wines. Following its U.S. suppliers’ lead, Roberson chose Petainer’s PetainerKeg™ one-way PET keg. Since Roberson introduced kegged wines, six London restaurants and one food market have begun using the company’s wines on tap. From beer to wine The PetainerKeg was introduced in 2011 as an alternative to steel kegs for beer. As Petainer Group Commercial Director Annemieke Harman-Jemmet explains, the commercial proposition for the 100% recyclable PET keg is its simplicity. “Today, a brewer will send a steel keg out to a customer, and they want to see the keg returned,” she says. “That obviously has an associated cost, not only from a freight standpoint but also from a sustainable footprint perspective. “Brewers also lose a phenomenal amount of steel kegs; maybe 30 percent to 40 percent just do not get returned.

At 100 Euros a steel keg, it’s quite an expensive proposition if you loose that many kegs. “We’re finding a lot of brewers are very interested and are embracing the opportunity to buy a one-way keg, fill it, and send it to the same markets but not, obviously, have to fund the return journey.” In time, Petainter recognized the advantages of the PetainerKeg for wineries as well. “What is happening in the wine industry is that they have similar challenges to the beer industry,” says Harman-Jemmet. “They would like to service markets farther away from their location, but they don’t particularly want to do that in glass because it’s very heavy.” The PetainerKeg, available in 15-, 20-, 30-, and 40-L sizes, offers a lightweight construction, ranging from 226 g to 576 g. Notes Petainer, 20% to 30% more liquid can be transported in a 20-L PetainerKeg versus a standard metal keg. Blow-molded into an oblong shape from a preform manufactured by Petainer, the keg is constructed of a single layer of 100% PET that incorporates Petainer’s Polyester Plus scavenger and its own blending technology to restrict oxygen ingress and reduce CO2 losses by actively removing oxygen from the interior of the keg.

A brown pigmentation in the plastic and an optional corrugated outer case provide UV light protection. The keg can be filled either manually or with filling equipment from Petainer partner KHS GmbH that ranges from semi- to fully automated systems. Petainer also offers a specially designed version of the keg, the PetainerKeg USD in a 20- and 30-L size, that can be used with conventional filling lines for metal kegs. Taste, variety win hospitality customers According to Roberson Business Development Director Adam Green, Roberson was initially attracted to the PetainerKeg because of its 100% recyclability, its ease of use for consumers—the keg is compatible with standard drink industry fittings—and its cost. “It is the most cost-efficient solution for kegging wine, meaning we can invest the largest amount into the liquor that is going into the keg, which is obviously the main purpose of the project,” he says. Another important benefit was the PetainerKeg’s ability to preserve the taste and freshness of the wine.

According to Harman-Jennet, over a 12-month testing period, VLB Berlin determined that the PetainerKeg offers the best taste performance versus competitive PET kegs. Wine filled in a PetainerKeg has a nine- to 12-month shelf life in an untapped keg. Once the keg is tapped, the wine must be consumed within two months. Says Nick Chambers, Operations for London restaurant Rex & Martino, a Roberson customer, “The enemies of wine are exposure to light, exposure to oxygen, and temperature changes. We don’t have any of those operational issues with wine-on-tap. It’s all in a cabinet, it’s all in low-light conditions, it’s always at the right temperature, it never changes, and it never gets moved around.” But taste is just one of the benefits Roberson can offer its customers via wine-on-tap. In addition, because all the wine is used, there is no waste or spoilage. Without bottles, there is no glass breakage, and with no corks, there is no cork taint. Environmentally, one PetainerKeg is equal to 27 glass bottles, corks, capsules, and labels.

“For a restaurant working with about 120 cases of wine per month, they are going to save about 17,000 bottles per year, which means about 8,000 tons of glass waste alone,” says Green. Wine-on-tap also allows restaurants and bars to provide greater variety. “Stocktaking and ordering are so much easier for our customers,” says McCaghy. “They can serve wine in a variety of sizes, as well as give customers tastes of everything very easily—the possibilities are endless.” One initial concern of Roberson’s customers related to wine-on-tap was the perception that wine in kegs is of lower quality. But so far, McCaghy says the restaurants have been pleasantly surprised with how positive the reaction has been from their customers. “The systems need to be explained to people, but once they understand the benefits for both the quality of the wine served and the environmental benefits, it’s hard not to get on board,” she says. Roberson now offers around 60 wines on tap—everything from house wines like French and Italian varietals, to high-end, small-quantity wines from California, Bordeaux, and Spain.