Over the last decade, the popularity of craft beer has spawned a new generation of enthusiasts who want to put their own spin on producing craft beer.
No longer do you have to rely on your favorite brewery to produce the beer you want to drink. Instead, people across the country, and the world, have jumped headfirst into homebrewing.
And that passion, as more and more people pick up the hobby has been accelerated by the pandemic.
The concept sounds simple, right?
You get the necessary equipment, start brewing beer in your garage or basement, and, like magic, have the exact hoppy creation you’ve been craving.
The reality of the situation is that brewing beer at home is challenging. It’s expensive, easy to mess up and, well, messy.
Aaron Walls is familiar with the challenges as self-described homebrewer himself.
So, while at Cornell University for an MBA program, he began concocting a new plan to simplify and contain a homebrewing operation into one connected machine.
Walls teamed up with Cornell classmate Brett Vegas and a few others and began developing the BEERMKR product in 2017.
The team was attempting to create an “idiot-proof” homebrewing machine small enough to fit on a counter, simple enough for even the most basic homebrewer and still produced a beer that customers enjoyed.
“We realized there was a big hole in the market that the tech we had developed could really plug and bring these beer lovers into the brewing fold with what we had developed,” Walls told Colorado Inno in a recent interview.
The challenge was taking a brewing operation (think: big tanks and barrels) and scaling it to fit into a box designed to sit on a kitchen counter.
After a few years of research, development and a successful Kickstarter campaign, the first BEERMKR products were shipped during the holiday season of 2020.
The allure of the machine, Walls and Vegas said, is its all-in-one simplicity. Users are guided through every step of the brewing process by BEERMKR’s application, from adding ingredients, to fermentation and then when it’s ready to pour.
“We were creating an all-in-one homebrewing machine that anyone can use,” Vegas said, admitting he wasn’t a homebrewer before BEERMKR. “We eliminated all the laborious, tedious, boring steps and kept all the fun stuff.”
It takes between one and two weeks from the start of the brewing process to when a beer is ready to drink in the BEERMKR system. While other companies have attempted similar machines in the past, Walls said his company attempted to rethink the way we brew beer, cutting out unnecessary steps.
“We focused on what the end product should be, and we got there with the most user-friendly method that we could come up with. It’s more of a Crockpot approach. Just toss everything in and the machine figures it out,” Walls said.
While the machine and application are very hands-on, they offer freedom and customization opportunities for more adventurous brewers. Want to add a grapefruit or orange taste to your IPA? Walls and Vegas are all about it.
At the start of 2020, the BEERMKR team had sought an opportunity to showcase their product and applied to ABC’s "Shark Tank" on a whim.
After a long back and forth, they were ultimately invited to the show and will pitch to the panel of sharks Friday, May 7 at 8 p.m. ET.
With years of research and development in their past, Vegas said the company is excited to showcase its product on a national stage.
“In our minds, our product is perfect for the show,” he said.
