Beer Vending Machine: wave of the future?

I saw beer vending machines years ago in Germany.

 

Navy guys had them way back in the day, just swaped out the Cokes for Buds. That was at Roosevelt Roads P.R.

 

Back in the 80's I heard of folks getting their hands on an old pop machine at work, stashing it in a janitor's area, and filling one or more of the selections with beer. Then they would only tell a few folks. In other cases, I expect management knew and possibly even supported it. Obviously these days when there is much more attention to substance abuse, particularly by minors, this would be a huge liability.

 

I loved these in Japan, there seemed to be on corners everywhere and you never had to worry about them closing.The laws here are much stricter, and crime higher in many areas, I just don't think it could happen here.

 

Then you get the issue of fake IDs. Wonder how the Japanese handle it? Perhaps they're like parts of Europe where they're not so hung up on teenagers drinking.

 

Please send these to my area.

I would rather it be a keg in the machine and it would tap a pint like the old soda machines did into those paper cups.

Enjoy

 

I hadn't seen a cigarette machine in years, up until a couple of weeks ago in Vegas. They were eight bucks a pack. I guess people buy them at that price or the machines wouldn't be sitting there taking up valuable casino floor space. Here's a thought: Put beer vending machines on every corner, price the product on a par with what they charge at a major-league ballpark or a hotel minibar, and have the machines set for credit only. If any underage would-be drinkers decide to go to the trouble of getting a credit card so they can pay eight or ten dollars for a can of beer, more power to 'em.

 

Everything is in vending machines in Japan.

It's a wonderful country.

 

Hard to see this implemented in the US but it's been available in parts of Europe and Asia for years. I remember several years ago I had to spend a whole night at Bucharest Airport in Romania (past security) and the place was full of vending machines selling Ursus Lager. But every single one of them was empty and all other shops that would sell food or drink were closed. It was one frustrating night.

 

Maybe more folks can set up eternal taps like Straub Brewery has on the outside of their brewery?

Cheers!

 

Works for me.

 

I remember these at Schipol airport in Amsterdam back in the mid 70's. Think you just put your coins in, no id system that I can recall, and I would have been around 18 at the time.

 

we had one converted from a Pepsi machine at my fraternity house in 1972-73.

35 cents for an Old Milwaukee, which were buying in bulk for about $4.00 a case IIRC ( groceries were selling these at $1.19 a sixer back then). 50 cents for a Schlitz which were maybe $4.50 a case. All profits went to booking bands which we did more than any other house on the Grounds, back then.

 

Ahh, the "eternal tap" with three different beers on offer.

Anyone in St. Mary's, which isn't very big, can come into the bottling line area and have a couple of small glasses of their beer of choice. The only rules being that you are expected to wash your glass after use and they ask you to limit yourself to no more than two glasses during your visit.

A great way to finish off your tour of the brewery and apprently the honor system works very well for them since the eternal tap has been there for longer than most of us have been alive.

 

I go to Japan one or twice a year and I have only seen beer vending machines in a few places - business hotels, red-light district of Shinjuku and a couple of random ones. There are seemingly millions of vending machines in Japan, so many different ones clustered together but finding a beer one isn't all that easy. So I don't think under age drinking is an issue because of them. There's no way we could have them in the States - people would probably ransack them every night.

 

These have been around for a very long time, even in the US. I don't know that there was a company actually manufacturing these for beer, but I have seen more than a few machines that were set up to vend beer dating back to at least the 70's. I have seen at least four or five older models in a few different states, as well as several newer ones.