Today I read something in the newspaper that truley made me sit up and take notice.
The Kirin Brewery Company has devloped a self-cooling keg that does not need electricity or external cooling devices. (Not even ice!)
They will be test marketing them in Tokyo stores this year with plans to sell them nationwide in 2004.
The kegs will contain 5 liters of draft Kirin Ichiban Shibori and the suggested retail price is 2,620 yen (plus a 2,000 yen depositd for the keg, refundable when the consumer returns the empty keg). Cheap at twice the price! After all this is self cooling beer!
The keg uses a double walled low pressure design, and once the keg is tapped, the water contained within the double walled low pressure area will begin to evaporate and turn into ice, providing the necessary cooling effect. (Remember that old equation from chemistry, pv=nrt? Same concept.)
It will take about 90 minutes for the contents to be chilled down to a frosty 7 degrees celcius and it will hold this temperature for up to 12 hours.
Talk about an invention greater than sliced bread!
Frosty cold beer anytime, anywhere, without the need for ice or electricity.
With this new product hitting the shelves this summer, I fully expect a lot of camping trips here in Japan to end up with some poeple getting the mother of all hangovers. Either that or a disproportinatley large increase in the number of Darwin Awards nominees in the coming years.
I can’t wait to see one of these beauties for myself. 5 liters is kind of small, but I may not be able to stop myself from buying one anyway. The “gee wizz” factor is just too high on this product.
I wonder if we can start a write-in campaign to get the good people over at Kirin Brewery Company considered for the next Nobel Peace Prize?
Forget about putting a man on the moon.
Self cooling beer is what I call an accomplishment!