Yeti Roadie 24

You could say we put the earlier iteration of this model, the Roadie 20, through a “long-term review.” Over the past six years, we’ve driven it across the country a couple times now for retreats. It’s shuttled review beer to different tasting panel locations, it’s kept prop beer cold for photo shoots, and it kept things cold that one time we thought it would be a good idea to shoot Cooking with Beer photos at a picnic site at the reservoir. We’ve forgotten to clean it and had to scrub out mold, and our photographer Matt has used it as a stepstool more than once. We’ve used and abused it, and it’s still in near-perfect condition. The handle foam is mint, the rubber closure pulls still require significant arm strength to close, and it still keeps beer cold for days.

So we were excited to see this successor announced for that tried-and-true little cooler. This new iteration boasts a few new tricks, such as 20 percent larger interior capacity, and a taller form factor that (the manufacturer assures us) will fit a bottle of wine. We can confirm through our own testing that it will hold up to a half-dozen corked-and-caged

750 ml beer bottles standing upright. You can squeeze in a case of 16-oz cans or a dozen crowlers (on their sides), if you so desire.

Nice touches, such as the hinged closures, let leverage do the hard work. And the carrying strap that replaces the metal handle is attached with a rotating fixture that lets it effortlessly fall into place—a clever design detail.

The Yeti Roadie 24 won’t make your beer taste better, but if you’re like us and appreciate well-made gear that stands up to hard use for many, many years, and looks good doing it, this new Roadie should be on your list. —JB