Testing Out Popular Beer Gifts

Every beer lover has been handed a gadget they weren't sure about. Matthew Shapiro and I took on two popular beer gifts to find out whether they are completely stupid trash or maybe actually cool. This is the second video in our gadget series, after the foaming gadgets test.

Gadget one is Draftop, the can that becomes a cup

The Draftop is designed to mimic pouring your beer into a glass when you don't have one. It cost about $25, which seems a lot. Its whole pitch is to turn your can into a cup. It is literally a can opener with a little circular blade. You hook it on, remove the top of the can and drink from a wide opening. The top does not pop off at once. Ours dropped into the beer and I had to fish it out, so it is not quite as foolproof as the marketing says. The first fit was tricky. The cut edge turned out to be smooth.

Aroma is the reason this matters. Drinking a good beer through the little hole means you get less aroma and less taste. With the top off, you can swirl after a few sips and build some foam. It feels more like drinking from a glass. Carbonation matters too. When you pour into a glass you knock some CO2 out, which forms a head instead of ending up in your gut and making you feel bloated. Brewers expect that pour when they carbonate.

Our verdict is that it is a winner, silly but cool. We both liked it for the beach or a picnic, when you bring cans and not cups.

Gadget two is the battery-powered sonic foamer

This one is the real gadget, at around $30 and it takes batteries. It fits on top of a can and vibrates very fast. We used Deschutes Black Butte Porter. The instructions say to pour out about 70% of the beer down the side of the glass, turn the foamer on, then finish the pour and let the device do the work.

It shot foam out like crazy, like a nitro pour. We both thought we should have poured out more. My advice is to wait until you have poured out about 90%, then foam it. The result was a creamy, tight, wet, pillowy foam with fine bubbles instead of a mix of big and small ones, almost like Czech foam. It was a bit flattish after a while. Foam does beget foam, but the beer drank nicely.

We also tried it in a dirty glass, which also foamed up. That is a trick, not a practice. If you serve beer, clean the glass.

Our verdict is that both have some legitimacy, especially this one. It is a fun one to bring out for a laugh with friends. It is more significant than the other foaming gadget we tested, but we can't imagine using it on every pour. I like that the Draftop is analog and easy. Neither of us wants batteries every time we pour a beer.

Watch and try them

Watch the video above for the full test, including the foam eruption. The gear is the Draftop and the Salrog canned beer foaming machine. Know a gadget we should test? Tell us in the comments. If proper pouring and glassware interest you, my Certified Beer Server course covers them. You can share your own gadget finds in the Beer Scholar community on Skool.

Matthew also runs virtual beer tastings for date nights and corporate events. If that sounds like your kind of evening, email him at [email protected].

Cheers! –Chris