Fizzics Beer System

GEAR TEST

While its marketing claims may be a touch overblown, this “portable draft system” offers an entertaining way to serve beer at home—just stick with growlers rather than bottles or cans, and go light when topping off your glass. PROS: The unique selling proposition for the Fizzics beer system is the smooth, nitro-style, thick and creamy head it creates on any beer poured through it. It definitely delivered on this promise—every beer we tested in it, from IPA to stout to Pilsner, poured with thick heads of very tight bubbles, akin to beers from a hand-pulled cask or a nitrogen tap. Additionally, the flexibility of the system is impressive—it will work with everything from a 12 oz can of beer to a 750 ml bottle to a 64 oz growler. We poured beer from each of these packaging formats, and all performed equally well.

The system itself is well-designed, easy to use, and simple to clean. Details such as the rubber pouring mat and removable interior container make it easy to handle errant pours or interior spills. The single handle operation and battery power make it straightforward and quickly transportable. CONS: Achieving a perfect pour was more challenging than we expected. While the instructions suggest that users should push toward the rear to fill the glass then pull forward to top off the beer with foam, we found that (with most beers) it was unnecessary to pull forward to top the beer and doing so would most often lead to an overflowing glass if we held the lever forward for more than a second.

The flexible tube that transports beer from the container to the glass appears to be silicone—a good thing—but the slightly rough surface of the tube created nucleation points for CO2 with some of the beers we tested. One beer in particular began foaming as soon as we inserted the tube in the bottle and continued to pour only as foam. Users should be careful pouring highly carbonated beer styles through the system.

It took us a few beers to really get the hang of the system, and that meant some wasted beer. If that’s a concern for you, we highly recommend practicing with less expensive or more readily available beer.

Nothing more than your favorite beer glass.

While it’s far from necessary to use the Fizzics Beer System to pour a great pint, we found it enjoyable to use, and the novelty was a conversation starter in the office and among friends. Pouring frrom smaller 12 oz containers of beer proved a bit tedious—the setup and cleaning flush time overshadowed the time spent enjoying the beer—but pouring from 32 oz and 64 oz growlers was where the unit came into its own as an ersatz draft beer system. It is not a replacement for a home kegerator and is not intended to be, but it’s a fraction of the price of a kegerator and much less work to set up and maintain. At its price point, it’s competitive with pressurized growler systems. While it won’t keep beer fresh like one of those systems, it offers the alternate benefit of working with standard growlers.

$169.99 as tested