Kegged cocktails were a thing a few years ago, before the pandemic interrupted everything. As consumers have been making their way back to bars and restaurants, is it worth offering cocktails on tap?

Yes, according to the folks at Castle & Key Distillery in Frankfort, KY. Kevin Worthington, the distillery’s market sales manager, and Jordan Tycer, its single barrel and mixology expert, offered tips on kegged cocktails at a Bar Convent Brooklyn session on June 14.

The main benefits of cocktails on tap are speed — getting craft drinks into guests’ hands faster — and lower costs. The cost effectiveness of kegging, Tycer said, allows you to play around with flavors and ingredients without having to charge $25 for a drink.

What can cocktails can you keg? Almost anything goes, Tycer said, but stirred cocktails, such as Negronis, Old Fashioneds and Boulevardiers, in particular lend themselves to a batched and kegged format. “The CO2 or nitro gas in the keg will preserve vermouth and prevent spoilage.”

You can also carbonate cocktails on tap and add bubbles to anything from a French 75 to a Moscow Mule, said Tycer. “You can do weird carbonated Tiki cocktails,” Worthington added.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to fill the whole keg up, he noted. “You can just do 10 cocktails to test.”

What can cocktails can’t you keg? Stay away from egg whites and anything with cream, they advised, though you can keg a milk punch if you clarify it until it’s clear.

Shrubs are too acidic to keg, and pineapple juice will separate, though you can make a pineapple oleo saccharum to use. In general, making oleo citrate — using citric and malic acid to pull the essential oil out of citrus fruit — is another great time and money saver for bars, said Worthington.

“Make sure you strain the hell out of your own syrups” if you use herbs, however, Tycer said. He explained how rosemary particles left behind turned a client’s pomegranate-rosemary syrup from vibrant red to a dingy hue.

Last year Castle & Key served 13,144 Old Fashioneds from a keg, and as of early June this year they had already sold 6,683 and is on track to sell more than 18,000 in 2023. What do visitors think when they’re served a kegged cocktail?

One in every 75 distillery visitors is disappointed that the cocktail was batched, said Tycer; others are happy they don’t have to wait 20 minutes for a drink. “We have to educate guests that we create craft cocktails” to be served on draft.

Another benefit to kegged cocktails, Worthington said: The extra time you save preparing the drink “allows you to get really creative with your garnish program.”