Will beer drinkers embrace Chateau Cardboard?

The phrase ‘beer is the new wine’ is often heard as the craft beer trend gathers pace, but if one industrial designer has his way beer could soon become the old wine being sold in cardboard four-litre casks.

Australian industrial designer Tom Hussey has designed a four-litre cardboard ‘keg’ that looks remarkably like an old school wine cask but could revolutionise beer packaging.

Beer has traditionally avoided being relegated to casks because of the difficulties of keeping carbonated drinks pressurised in their flexible, inflatable bladders as well as preventing air getting into the packaging.

Hussey’s ‘kegless’ sustainable beer package uses a collapsible design that he says “eliminates the need for the complex pressurised carbon dioxide systems that limit the success of other large volume packages.” It relies on a telescoping skeleton that collapses a polyethylene bag to maintain pressure on the contents preventing the beer from going flat while a tap with check valve is designed to prevent oxygen from spoiling the beer prolonging its life.

Hussey’s description says that the collapsible design of Kegless eliminates the need for the complex pressurised carbon dioxide systems that limit the success of other large volume packages.

While the idea itself seems brilliant, another selling point is that the simple and basic design allows a low cost manufacturing and distribution solution, with reduced environmental impacts throughout its life cycle.

“I wanted to reduce the environmental effects, but also reduce cost and provide a marketing benefit,” Hussey said.

The product reportedly can keep beer fresh for up to a month and Hussey has received interest from at least one major brewer. Hussey is one of 14 finalists in the student category of the 2010 Australian Design Award and currently has a patent pending for the design.

More: www.tomhussey.net