What is That Keg Doing at the Goodwill Store?

People need to understand that a keg is the property of the brewery. I know it sounds silly to point that out, but something happened recently that brings up this issue. If you happen to find a keg laying around, whether it be on the side of the road or in a dark corner of your garage, understand that the keg belongs to a brewery.

Someone emailed a picture to Silver City Brewing of a keg (one of its kegs) sitting at the Goodwill store in Seattle. It was for sale. Apparently someone had donated it, so Goodwill just put a price tag on it and offered it up for sale. By the time Silver City contacted Goodwill, it had been sold. Goodwill Industries, to be sure, didn’t understand that they were dealing with lost or stolen property. Let’s be clear about that. Goodwill didn’t know the keg actually belonged to someone that should have been contacted. I am not slamming Goodwill Industries–it’s a great organization.

Kegs are expensive. For that reason, and for other reasons, kegs are highly valued by their owners. That’s why you pay such a hefty deposit if you ever buy a keg of beer. The brewery wants (needs) that keg back. Breweries take kegs very seriously. Keg repatriation is a big deal. Not only are they expensive, but at times they can be hard to get.

I’m not sure that I really need to harp on the point too much, but I think it’s important that everyone understand that a keg (any keg) is the property of a brewery. I suppose there could be circumstances where a keg is so old and so far out of circulation that using terms like “lost” and “stolen” really don’t apply, but I think everyone gets my point.


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Kurt Larson of Silver City Brewing posted this message on Facebook today:

“So apparently Goodwill (at least the location on Dearborn Street in Seattle) is in the business of selling kegs. We were sent this picture by a friend of the brewery yesterday and by the time we called the keg had been sold. I had to talk to 5 different people to get an answer. The manager I initially spoke to was rather aloof, finally confirming he sold the keg, but wouldn’t offer any details on the transaction. I informed him that if he was to have a keg “donated” in the future that he had a responsibility to contact the brewery it belonged to. After speaking with Seattle Police and our local Police (in an effort to try and attain the transaction details, i.e. credit card info so I could contact the purchaser) they informed me that there was nothing they could do because the keg wasn’t reported stolen to begin with. Anyhow, I’m not suggesting a larger conspiracy, but I would like to pass this along so we can keep our eyes open and maybe share this forward.”

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Like I said, I am certain that Goodwill did not operate with any malicious intent. They just don’t know. You, as a beer lover, should understand that kegs belong to the brewery. Even if it’s one of those MicroStar kegs and does not appear to be branded with a brewery’s name, someone has some money attached to it.

Sadly, kegs are made out of something that is easily sold to recyclers. By this time, all recyclers know that kegs are stolen or lost property. Then again, they likely know that a big spool of copper wire is lost or stolen as well. But somehow drug addicts and unscrupulous individuals find customers for their stolen products. Go figure. It is sad to think about a keg being sold and melted because some meth-head needs a five-dollar fix.

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As for Silver City Brewing, Kurt tells me that all of their kegs will soon have a sticker that says, in essence:

“Property of Silver City Brewery. If found please return. Resale of this keg by a non-licensed entity is a crime and punishable by law.”

I’d expect we’ll see more breweries doing the same.

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