Draft beer and technology unite. A portable cooler brand launched by a Northern Kentucky couple is making its debut this week at CES, the world’s largest tech show in Las Vegas, thanks to a recently forged partnership with a California robotics company.
Cooler Keg, a Covington, Kentucky-based startup developing a portable draft bar inside a classic-sized stainless-steel picnic cooler, has teamed up with Santa Monica, Calif.-based Ottonomy to roll out the Ottobot Brew, an automatic draft beverage robot, on the CES show floor. Cooler Keg co-founders Anthony Bernas and Racine Gruberman made the trip out to Sin City as part of the deal.
The couple has spent a lot of time on the road as of late – hand-delivering the first 10 Cooler Kegs ordered as part of a six-figure Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign they closed last year. The handoffs mark a major milestone — Cooler Keg navigated a number of production hurdles but finally has product in hand.
The partnership with Ottonomy came together “organically, unexpectedly and very, very quickly,” Gruberman told me. The companies — in a networking stroke of fate — connected through the innovation team at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, who Bernas and Gruberman met during StartupCincy Week in October.
CVG was the first airport to pilot Ottonomy’s Ottobots, fully autonomous delivery robots used for food and retail delivery – passengers are able to order grab-and-go food and beverage items to be delivered throughout Concourse B.
CVG equally loved the Cooler Keg product, Gruberman said. Things grew from there.
“It’s cool because (Ottonomy) is a very fast-moving company and really ready to innovate,” Gruberman said. “And this is almost plug-and-play in a way. We’re not losing sight of where we want to go, this is just another application we could have with a great strategic partner that could allow us to grow.”
Cincy Inno first profiled Cooler Keg in March 2023. Bernas and Gruberman initially developed the system while tinkering with ways to improve their summertime lakeside setup – Bernas quit his job in late 2021 to build out the concept full time.
Gruberman called Cooler Key the “Goldilocks” of the industry. Jockey Box, a favorite at beer festivals, is much larger — and thus harder to transport — while SquareKeg, a “Shark Tank” alum, is significantly smaller, with a capacity for a dozen 12-ounce beers.
The Cooler Keg, by comparison, fits 36 12-ounce beers or 144 3-ounce cocktails. It weighs in at 45 pounds when the kegs are empty or 72 pounds when full. It’s completely portable and equipped with a food-grade CO2-driven draft system. It features double taps, not a keg pump, to mirror what’s found at bars and restaurants, and no electricity is needed.
Perhaps its biggest selling point: it comes with two refillable, wide-mouth kegs, each with a 228-ounce capacity. No store-bought kegs needed. That means users can filled the containers with virtually any beverage – from beer to hard seltzers, cocktails, mocktails, soda and more.
The setup is easy, Gruberman said. With just a few clicks, the Cooler Keg is ready to go.
The Ottobot Brew brings “a new level of mobility and service to the beverage industry,” Ottobot said in a news release. The system integrates Cooler Keg’s ultra-portable cooler and CO2-driven draft system so customers can “effortlessly order, select, pay and receive drinks at their location with unparalleled ease.”
The Ottobot Brew can dispense a variety of cold drinks, including beer, cocktails and even coffee, suitable for use at stadiums, casinos, hotels and public events.
"Our autonomous robot technology is changing the way brands can meet growing customer demands," Ottobot CEO and co-founder Ritukar Vijay said in the release. "All of our strategic partnerships will focus on ways that autonomous delivery robots can sustainably enhance customer service.”
Gruberman said it’s unclear what the Ottobot partnership will look like following CES. It’s also hard to gauge, at least at this juncture in the show, what the ultimate payoff will be in terms of exposure. CES kicked off Jan. 9 and wraps Friday, Jan. 12.
There are only a few case studies locally. In recent years, the StartupCincy ecosystem has had only a handful of companies represented, including Over-the-Rhine’s Contact CI, which is developing haptic gloves that bring add the sense of natural touch into virtual reality.
While Gruberman said Cooler Keg and Ottobot have not discussed post-show details, “neither intend” for the Ottobot Brew to be a one-off CES showpiece.
Cooler Keg is largely targeting B2C (business-to-consumer) sales – it can be used for tailgating, camping, boating, fishing, golfing and more — but Bernas said last year said he noticed an uptick in business-to-business interest as well.
Breweries have approached the couple about using the Cooler Keg for their regional sales teams. There’s also interest from coffee shops (for pouring nitro brew), food trucks, wineries, even large law firms and real estate agents who want Cooler Kegs for corporate gifts or gifts for high-end clients.
“This just proves the applications for this are endless,” Gruberman said. “It would be great at airports, stadiums, conference centers, even large companies with big campuses, this could just rove around. And the great thing is you can put anything in it.”
Once CES wraps, Bernas and Gruberman will start their trek back to Greater Cincinnati. There’s lots to do when they return. When Cincy Inno last profiled the couple, they had about 375 pre-orders lined up. Gruberman said 1,200 coolers are currently en route to the states, set to arrive in three different batches.
The January shipment is sold out, while units arriving in February and March are currently available for purchase.
Cooler Keg currently retails for $949.99. Shipping is free.
