Batched cocktails on tap are here to stay, but so is one of the biggest challenges of batching in kegs: how to keep juice-based and other beverages from separating. Sure, the bar can hang a sign in the cooler reminding everyone to shake the kegs, but how reliable is that? There are also keg-agitating products that require specialized kegs and systems, but who wants to do that when there’s already a standard Cornelius keg sitting there? With the arrival of the Kegnado, batching mixed drinks just became affordable, efficient, reliable, and easy!
Kegnado is revolutionary in that it fits on any standard five gallon Cornelius keg, with models available for 10 and 15 gallon ball lock kegs. No special kegs or circulation systems are needed. Kegnado installs in less than a minute and keeps the keg gently and consistently stirred all night. Empty that keg and the Kegnado moves to the next one easily. Your patrons get perfect drinks from the first pour to the last pour of every keg.
Bar and restaurant owners know the value of pre-batching drinks. A recent study* in Great Britain revealed that more than a quarter of bar patrons report having left a bar to go to another because of long wait times. A similar number said they changed drink orders to something simpler and cheaper for the same reason. But when bars prebatch cocktails, the customers are often unhappy with inconsistent pours because the ingredients settle, and their cocktail ends up being either straight vodka or a glass of juice. The Kegnado team heard from a bar manager in the midwest who had to toss gallons of expensive alcohol because the keg in the cooler settled and the long lines to the tap were filled with unmixed product. Stirring the cocktail with Kegnado would have prevented that tragedy.
Kegnado is made in America and was developed in Michigan by Atlas Diversified Products Corp. Atlas’ co-founder and president, Kirby Adams, says the keg agitator was originally designed for laboratory use by a client in the agriculture industry. “They didn’t end up buying the design, so we put it online and a couple weeks later a bar in Buffalo called and wanted to buy one. Then we started getting calls from bars, brewers, coffee houses, and beverage producers around the world - including a couple Fortune 500 companies. We decided we had to tweak the design to durable industrial standards and start making these things!”
Building a stirrer that would stand up to daily use in a bar environment with seals that could handle pressure and last for thousands of hours was no easy task. The engineers at Atlas worked on the design for two years, with lots of trial-and-error and a room full of testing kegs that made visitors wonder what kind of lunch parties they were having.
The Kegnado finally hit the market in July of 2023, when the first two production models stirred hundreds of metrotinis and margaritas for a PourMyBeer self-pour system at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the ALSD trade show. “I became a Kegnado fan right away,” says William Metropulos of PourMyBeer. “We served over 800 cocktails out of two taps stirred by Kegnado and every one was perfect.”
Kegnados are also keeping kegs perfectly stirred at restaurants in Portland, Oregon. Alex Chong of Grand Cru Hospitality says, “We have eight Kegnados operating in our restaurants and everything is going great. We’ve been innovating with kegged cocktails for years and this allows us to do some things we just haven’t been able to do any other way.”
Kegnados are also operating in tasting rooms in San Diego, resorts in Key West, and homes in New England. The company has launched partnerships with beverage installers in the Great Lakes region and plans to expand that program. There’s even a thirty-gallon unpressurized barrel stirred by Kegnados that will be released soon nationally and internationally. Kegnados are stirring cocktails, home brews, Kombucha tea, cider, and even hot chocolate.
If you want to see what the Kegnado can do for you, call the Kegnado team at 833-KEGNADO.