Ever wanted to walk around with an insulated bucket holding ice cold mixed cocktails on your back, so people can ask you stop and get a drink from the integrated tap before letting you go on your merry way? Probably not. However, that’s exactly what you can do with the BruMate Backtap. Seriously.
That’s right, it’s an insulated jug with an integrated tap that’s clad in a backpack cooler form factor, so you can carry your group’s refreshments on your back, instead of leaving it on a table somewhere. Why would you do that? We don’t know, but it sure makes an erstwhile humdrum water jug sound a whole lot more fun.
The BruMate Backtap is a hard-sided cooler that can be filled directly with cold drinks like a water jug dispenser or stocked up with cans and bottles like a regular cooler. That way, you can mix ice cold Gatorade inside for use at your son’s next baseball game or fill it up with cans of your favorite booze the next time you drive down the beach with your buddies. An integrated tap at near the bottom makes it easy to draw drinks mixed directly in the cooler, while a removable stainless steel interior makes it easy to clean, so the smell of that juice-and-gin mix you made for the Sunday barbecue doesn’t have to linger.
Can you fill it with beer? Sure, but it’s not pressurized, so the suds will likely get stale over time, apart from being watered down by the ice, so it’s probably not the best idea. For margaritas, fruit juices, and other mixed drinks, however, this should do the trick just as well as that Coleman water jug you typically use for the job. According to the outfit, it can accommodate up to three gallons of liquids, so that’s a whole lot of refreshment you can put on tap.
The BruMate Backtap comes with multiple carrying options. There’s a steel handle that makes the darn thing look like a bucket for hand-carrying, a large strap for slinging around one shoulder, and even a dual-strap with sternum strap for carrying like a backpack that will let you walk around doling drinks from your backside. Yeah, it’s weird like that. The shoulder strap and backpack straps can both be removed, by the way, so you can keep it as a streamlined stationary cooler when having a backyard party at home.
Like every modern hard cooler, it’s rotomolded, so this thing should hold up to the nastiest abuse any crazy parties, wild gatherings, and rugged outdoor adventures can send its way. And yes, it looks sturdy enough that you can use it as a stool in a jiffy. There’s no word on the kind of insulation onboard, but they’re marketing as a day cooler, so it should, at least, keep ice for a couple of days. When used as a regular cooler, by the way, it can fit up to 12 standard beer cans, 14 slim cans (e.g. Michelob Ultra), or five bottles of wine.
The BruMate Backtap is available now, priced at $199.99.