February 7 Update: According to Gish Pak’s Facebook page, Gish Pak and its patent have been sold to a larger company. Check out the full post here. Gish Paks are still available for purchase on their website until additional details are released about next steps.
Photo Credit – Gish Pak
With New Year’s resolutions popping up like crazy, one thing that we can all strive to be more mindful about is sustainability. Craft beer drinkers tend to buy lots of bottles and cans of beer. We also have a lot of 4- and 6-pack holders stacking up. If you’re looking for an easy way to travel with a few beers or needed a way to hold beers when buying single cans or bottles at the beer store and be sustainable, look no further than the Gish Pak.
The Gish Pak is a game changer when it comes to transporting beers no matter what your destination is.
Photo Credit – Gish Pak
Sure, you could reach for one of the many beer holders you’ve held onto or put them in a small box. A problem arises with what you’re going to do with the beer holder or box when you get to the get together or home. Are you going to pass your waste off or leave it somewhere for someone else to find? Are you going to add to the growing stack of holders in your garage?
Brian Gish’s crafty invention was derived from an observation he made about four years ago when he and friends would get together to enjoy craft beer together. Brian noticed a large amount of waste from these gatherings and wanted to make something that was reusable, compact, and sturdy enough to carry a few beers. The Gish Pak was born!
The Better on Draft team received a few Gish Paks from Brian last fall and have been tinkering with them ever since. We’ve found them to be useful on our beer traveling adventures and an excellent party trick. Once when I was leaving a small, socially distanced party with a few people, leftover beer bottles were being split up amongst a few of us. As friends scrambled to find a holder or box, I took my Gish Pak out of my back pocket, unfolded it, and got first dibs!
During an interview with Brian Gish, he told me that anyone can find value and use in the Gish Pak, but that his intended user is someone bringing cans or bottles of beer somewhere or someone shopping at a bottle shop for individual cans or bottles. While it only holds four cans or bottles, it is durable and flexible to the varied yet traditional sized cans and bottles on the market. Gish said that a 6-pack holder is in the works, but that he wanted to get the 4-pack holder exactly right.
In closing our conversation, I asked Brian what the end game was for Gish Pak. He said wants to either license the product or sell the patent to a large beer company or cooler/carrier companies. He wants whats best for the consumer and that is to be able to have a quality, durable product that is sustainable and easy to carry.
I think the Gish Pak has a bright future no matter what scale production and distribution are. I and the Better on Draft team have thoroughly enjoyed using it and are looking forward to spreading the word about Brian’s pride and joy!
Cheers!
Disclaimer: Thank you to Brian for sending the Better on Draft team a handful of Gish Paks for us to try and use!
Additional resources:
- Being a sustainable distillery is the right thing to do
- Beer Review: Brewery Terra Firma – Theodore Belgian Trippel
- How craft brewers are embracing sustainability
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