The best beer bar in the Gulf

Ant Brew, a small brewery and beer restaurant in Lahti, built a unique system in Finland to ensure the freshness of beer from its own brewery to the customer’s glass. The solution was implemented in cooperation with Barfix Oy. Ant Brew markets itself as a producer and provider of fresh beer. As beer is a fresh product, it must be stored correctly and drunk within a certain time frame. The beer starts to age as soon as the keg is capped. If the beer container is kept at room temperature, as is the case in the majority of restaurants, the beer must be served within 3-4 days. If the container is placed in a cold cupboard, the beer will keep for 2-3 weeks. For this reason, Ant Brew wanted a US version with a cold chain instead of the system commonly used in restaurants. Now the brewery, warehouse and serving cabinets are all chilled, and Ant Brew has an unbroken cold chain from brewery to tap. Ant Brew has a separate tap wall and keg cabinets installed underneath to keep the beer kegs cool. The space between the tap wall and the cabinets is also cooled. This ensures that the beer barrels stay cold and the taps attached to the beer tower stay cool even in the summer months. Kari Puttonen, one of Ant Brew’s entrepreneurs, says that the refrigerated cabinets were used to ensure that the cold chain would work in all conditions. In mid-summer, the cold chain is visible as condensation on the surface of the beer taps. The water drips into the drip tray and then directly into the drain. “The tap wall is made of stainless steel. The wall is easy to keep clean, and easy to maintain. Thanks to the uniform structure, the water drains directly into the drain. The wall can easily be washed with a shower,” says Mikko Myyryläinen, entrepreneur at Barfix.

The tap wall brings equality to beer

At Ant Brews, the tap wall behind the counter was chosen for a number of reasons. According to Myyryläinen, one of the advantages of the tap wall is that it brings the customer and the waiter closer together. “Normally, there are beer towers, glasses and other beer-related items between the waiter and the customer. By moving all this to the back counter, there was space for the front counter to meet the customer.” He adds that the solution also improved the ergonomics of both the counter and the employees. The tap wall was brought forward from the back wall so that the waitress does not have to reach out to dispense the beer. Wires were hidden behind the wall and a service hatch was made. Keg cabinets were placed under the tap wall. The kegs keep the beers at +3 to +5 degrees Celsius. The tap wall was also an attractive feature. Ant Brew’s range is based not only on its own products but also on those of other small breweries. The ten taps change every couple of weeks, with the most popular beers running out within a day. Puttonen emphasises that the taps are just that, taps. At Ant Brews, the signs are the thing. That’s why Ant Brew’s taps are simple and anonymous. The beer labels on top of the taps, made by artists, are what sell the beers. According to Myyryläinen, a big reason for the ever-increasing popularity of the tap wall is that it equalises the beers on offer. “Do you have any recommendations?” “Do you have anything local?” “What should you try?” Beer culture has changed and customers are looking for experiences instead of traditional medium and four-strength beers.

Investment pays off

The system built by Barfix for a beer restaurant doubled the budget, but it has paid off. Thanks to the end-to-end solution, beer is served better and faster, there is less foam in the pints and the kegs can be emptied accurately. “Serving is faster when the beer doesn’t foam and because it doesn’t foam when it comes into the glass, the beer doesn’t over-ferment, so the customer gets a better product,” Puttonen lists. The word about fresh and properly served and stored beer has spread among beer enthusiasts. Ant Brew has quickly gained a reputation as the best beer bar in Lahti.