I love beer. I like to sit down and watch a baseball game or other shows on TV and enjoy a nice cold beer. But, I didn't like going to the liquor store all the time and having empty bottles cluttering up the place so I did what any good beer lover would do, I bought a refrigerator and converted it into a kegerator. Now, I have cold beer on tap at all times.
Unfortunately, for me, there seems to be a market failure in that liquor store's keg service is completely inadequate. Most keg buyers are one time buyers, they're buying for a party and they want Bud Light or Miller Lite or some other mass market beer. A big liquor store typically has these on hand at all times and most liquor stores will get you one in a couple of days. But, for the discerning beer drinker, such as myself who may want to buy a keg of Goose Island Hex Nut Brown Ale, keg buying is a whole world of pain in the ass.
I had an experience last fall where I called my regular keg supplier (Lukas Liquor, if you're in the KC area and care) and ordered a keg of Boulevard Nutcracker Ale (Boulevard's winter seasonal beer and a wonderful concoction at that). Lukas told me they could have it in a couple of days. I call back, after not hearing from them, a couple of days later and they tell me that they can't get that particular keg. It would have been nice if they would have called when they found this out instead of waiting for me to call, but they offered up an excuse so I ordered the aforementioned Goose Island Hex Nut Brown Ale. Same story, after several days I called and they said they couldn't get the keg. I gave them one more shot with another slightly harder to find beer and had the exact same result. I decided to go to another store, closer to my house.
Mind you, Lukas was the second liquor store I purchased from. The first, Royal Liquor, where I got my first couple of kegs, was really rude and didn't seem to care about me being a customer and they wouldn't give me my deposit back on a keg. So I went to Lukas and then to Gomer's which is somewhat closer to my house. The problem with Gomer's is they didn't really seem to care about my business either and they didn't carry too many kegs without having to order, so it was a bit of a crapshoot what kind of beer I would get from them. Plus, they were a little more expensive than Lukas.
A couple of months ago, when I went to a local brewpub, I noticed on the menu that they sold kegs of their beer. I inquired about what I needed to do and how much it would cost. It seemed reasonable so last week I called them and placed an order for one of my wife's favorite brews, 75th Street Raspberry Wheat. It took them 5 days to call me back and say it was ready, really pretty good service. So I went in last night to pick it up, but, it turns out they use a different type of tap than I have. The brewer was very kind and called a local tap distributor to see if they could sell me one and he even offered to let me borrow one of theirs. However, I didn't want to go through the trouble of dissembling my current assembly so I asked for my money back and left kegless with no real prospects except to tuck my tail between my legs and go back to Lukas.
My point is this; more people need kegerators so liquor stores can make money by providing good keg service to individuals.
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