Beer Pouch Bucks Bottles & Cans

One thing I’ve always envied of wine drinkers: When it comes to taking their beloved beverages to go, they seem to have more options than beer lovers do.

First, there was the bota bag—the traditional leather Spanish wine skin that is ubiquitous on ski slopes worldwide. Then, those wine boxes appeared, allowing you to take a box of wine—in different sizes, even —to any picnic or other outdoor excursion at a location that doesn’t allow glass. There are also little plastic “single-serve” bottles. And just recently, I saw single-serve units of wine that come in small wine-glass-shaped vessels, so you don’t even have to bring your own glass.

In the beer world, there are bottles, growlers and cans of many shapes and sizes, but nothing has come close to the portability that wine lovers enjoy. Until now. Enter the BeerPaQ—a multi-sized pouch that goes anywhere cans do, and those places glass bottles or growlers can’t.

Created by Beverage Pouch Group LLC, a Sarasota, Fla.-based organization, the BeerPaQ’s CarboPouch stretches after the beer is poured into it to compensate for carbonation—the one characteristic of beer that, in the past, has made it difficult for packaging companies to accommodate.

A sensible option for size-restricted breweries, the BeerPaQ’s CarboPouch system allows brewers to fill clean, ready-to-go pouches that include a spout and cap for easy dispensing. According to the company, the pouches’ material, a patented organoleptic film structure, doesn’t impart any flavor into the beer. It also is designed to stretch, so the pouch can be fully filled while still allowing for expansion from the beer’s carbonation.

The system’s automatic “bottling” process, sold separately, works so that it leaves no headspace after filling, which means that consumers get a full pouch of beer. And the three-side seal pouch (the fourth side is reserved for the spout) is designed for easy gripping, meaning no bulky, awkward Capri Sun-type pouches or sippy-straws for serious beer fans.

The BeerPaQs come in three different easy-to-chill sizes: Single 45, which is a full 16-ounce pint; Single 25, a half-pint at 8 ounces; and the StandUp Multi64, a 1.8 liter (60.8 ounces) party pouch that’s perfect for sharing with a friend or two.

For the small brewery that is considering whether to bottle or can its beers, the CarboPouch system could be another option. The pouches take up very little storage space compared to bottles, growlers or cans, and there is even a special holder available for craft brewers who want to sell six-packs or mix-packs of their beers for customers to take home. Plus, traveling beer fans might find that packing a pouch or two from a favorite brewery might be easier, safer and lighter than bottles—the pouches are 20 times lighter than glass bottles.

“The combination of these factors makes the CarboPouch a true economical innovation for distribution of craft draft beers to the consumer’s home,” the company says in its marketing materials.

Craft brewers looking for ways to improve their sustainability practices might also be interested in the CarboPouch. The pouch is made from a patented material that contains nylon, foil and a proprietary layer that guards against leaching off-flavors, but also is completely recyclable in a growing number of states. In regions that have garbage incineration in place, such as the company’s home state of Florida, the plastic components of the pouch are vaporized, and the vapor is then used to generate electricity. The metal can be collected and used for other projects.

While it might take the consumer a while to get used to asking for a pouch of their favorite craft beer, and the song “99 Pouches of Beer on the Wall” just doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, the pouch might be a new option for craft brewers and beer fans who want to take their beer on the road. ■