Stocking up for Christmas and New Year’s parties just got easier with the arrival today of Roadies Beer. It’s an online store selling five-litre mini kegs of beer and delivering them straight to your home.

But it’s about more than just convenience for the two Sydney-based engineers behind Roadies Beer. They share a passion for home brewing and came up with the idea over a few beers.

“We’re huge on sustainability, it’s been one of the core reasons we created this business,” says one of the co-owners, who prefers not to be named.

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The business idea was sparked when the NSW government announced it would introduce its Container Deposit Scheme, which came into affect at the start of the month. Under the anti-litter initiative, brewers and drink manufacturers are charged 14 cents per container, of which 10 cents can be claimed back. The remaining four cents goes to funding the system.

According to the co-founder we spoke with, this charge will mean a minimum $4 price hike for a standard case of beer.

“We’ve been thinking of ways we can bring sustainability into the beer-drinking scene because it’s an old industry that hasn’t had any new [ideas] injected into it,” he says. “And with containers and bottles as one of the leading sources of pollution, there needs to be something that shakes it up.”

Manufactured and imported from Germany – which also runs a container deposit scheme – each mini keg is recyclable and features a CO2 canister, which can be used to pressurise the unit. Unlike other kegs, which expose beer to oxygen, meaning it must be consumed within 24-hours, a Roadies Beer keg keeps beer fresh for up to 30 days.

“It’s better quality and it pours beer like you get at a pub. So you get a head, which you don’t get in a bottle,” he says.

To start, Roadies Beer is offering beers from Young Henrys, 4 Pines, Two Birds and Murray’s Craft Brewing, with plans to add more choices down the track.

A five-litre mini keg starts at $50, depending on what beer you choose.

Each keg will be delivered by courier for $8 in metro Sydney and $11 for the rest of Australia. Shipping is also free in NSW for purchases over $99.

Eventually, though, the co-owner says the plan is for Roadies Beer to have its own delivery vans so it can pick up used kegs for reuse, too.

roadiesbeer.com.au