LÖWENBRÄU Beer Keg for PerfectDraft Review: a clean, easy-drinking German lager for your home tap

I’ve been using a PerfectDraft machine for a while now, and the LÖWENBRÄU 6L keg is one I’d seen recommended a lot, so I finally gave it a proper try over a couple of weeks. I went through one full keg mostly on my own, plus a few pints shared with friends during a weekend barbecue. So this isn’t just a first-impression review; it’s based on actually emptying the keg and seeing how it behaves from the first pour to the last glass.

If you’re old enough to remember when LÖWENBRÄU was on tap in a lot of UK pubs, this feels a bit like a throwback. That’s why I bought it in the first place: I was curious to see if it still tasted like the lager I remembered from years ago. I also wanted something simple and easy to drink, not a heavy craft beer that knocks you out after two pints.

The beer sits at 5.2% ABV and is a classic German helles-style lager. In practice, that means pale, fairly light, and meant for drinking in proper pints, not sipping in tiny glasses. Over the days I used it, I paid attention to how it poured, how long it stayed fresh in the machine, and whether the taste held up over time, not just on the first night when everything is new and exciting.

Overall, I’d say this keg is a pretty solid choice if you like straightforward, clean lager and already own a PerfectDraft machine. It’s not cheap, and it’s not some crazy special beer, but it hits that “pub pint in the garden” feeling quite well. In the rest of the review I’ll go into taste, performance in the machine, value for money, and a couple of small annoyances I noticed along the way.

The taste is where LÖWENBRÄU justifies its reputation. It’s a straightforward German helles lager: pale golden colour, clear in the glass, and a decent white head if you pour it properly. On the nose, it smells like a typical lager: a bit of grain, a bit of bread, and a light hop smell. Nothing fancy, but it smells fresh and clean, not skunky or chemical like some cheap supermarket lagers can.

The first sip is smooth and quite crisp. You get a light malty sweetness at the start and then a mild, slightly tart finish with a gentle bitterness. That tart note is something a few reviewers mentioned and I noticed it too; it’s not sour, just a bit sharper than something like Stella or Carling. I actually liked that because it keeps the beer from feeling too bland. After two or three pints, it still felt refreshing and didn’t become heavy or sickly.

In terms of body, it’s on the lighter side, which makes it easy to drink over an evening. At 5.2% ABV, it’s not weak, but it doesn’t hit you as hard as some stronger lagers. I had three pints one night with food and didn’t feel like I’d overdone it, which isn’t always the case with heavier beers. One of my friends who normally sticks to ales even said it was “very drinkable” and went back for a second pint without complaining that it was too gassy or bland.

If you’re into very hoppy or very malty beers, this will probably feel a bit plain. It’s not trying to be a craft beer; it’s just a solid, classic lager. For me, that’s the point: it’s the kind of beer you pour for a barbecue or to watch a match, and you don’t have to think about it too much. Compared to other PerfectDraft lagers I’ve tried (like Stella or some of the cheaper options), I’d put LÖWENBRÄU clearly above them in taste. It feels cleaner, less harsh, and more like what you’d get in a decent German beer hall.

Let’s talk about price, because that’s where people hesitate with PerfectDraft in general. By the time you buy this LÖWENBRÄU keg, you’re usually paying somewhere that works out to roughly £3 per pint, sometimes a bit less if you catch a promo or buy from sites that offer multi-keg discounts. That’s more expensive than supermarket cans, but cheaper than most pub pints. So it sits in this middle ground: you’re paying for the draft experience at home and the convenience.

What helps a lot is the £5 credit for every empty keg you return through PerfectDraft/Beer Hawk. If you actually bother to send them back, that knocks a bit off the real cost per pint over time. It doesn’t make it cheap, but it makes it easier to accept if you treat it as a weekend treat rather than your everyday go-to beer. If you never send kegs back and don’t look for discounts, the value drops and it starts to feel pricey for a standard lager.

From a taste and quality perspective, I think the price is just about justified. It’s clearly better than the bargain-basement lagers in cans, and the draft experience at home is genuinely more enjoyable, especially when you have guests. I’ve tried cheaper PerfectDraft lagers that didn’t taste as clean or as well-balanced as LÖWENBRÄU, so I don’t feel ripped off paying a bit more for this one.

Would I drink this every single week? Probably not, mainly because of the cost. But for barbecues, birthdays, or just when I feel like having a proper German lager on tap at home, it makes sense as an occasional treat. If you’re very price-sensitive and just want cheap alcohol, there are better options. If you care about a decent pint and already invested in the machine, the value is decent, especially with the keg return credit.

Design-wise, there’s nothing revolutionary here, and that’s not a bad thing. The keg follows the usual PerfectDraft 6L format: metal body, plastic top where you plug in the tube, and the familiar cylindrical shape that slides straight into the machine. The dimensions (around 20 cm diameter and 28 cm height) are basically the same as other PerfectDraft kegs I’ve used, so storage and handling were exactly what I expected. It fits on a fridge shelf if you want to pre-chill it, but it’s quite tight.

The branding is simple: blue background, golden lion, and LÖWENBRÄU name front and centre. It has that old-school German beer look. I actually like that it’s not trying to be trendy or “crafty” with crazy graphics. When I had friends over, a couple of them immediately recognised the logo and started telling stories about drinking it in the 80s and 90s, so if you like a bit of nostalgia, the look does trigger that reaction.

From a practical point of view, the keg is easy enough to handle, but it’s still over 7 kg when full, so you do have to lift it carefully when you slide it into the machine. The top is smooth metal, so if your hands are wet, it can feel a bit slippery. I’d recommend holding it from the sides with both hands. Once it’s in the machine, you don’t touch it again until it’s empty, so it’s really just that one lift that matters.

In day-to-day use, there was no leaking, no weird noises, nothing odd. It behaved like every other PerfectDraft keg I’ve tried. So on the design front: nothing special, but effective. It’s basically a reliable container for the beer with a classic German beer look. If you want flashy packaging, this isn’t it. If you just want something that looks like a normal pub keg in mini form, it ticks that box.

Durability for a beer keg is really about two things: how the beer holds up over several days and whether the keg itself feels solid enough to handle normal use. On both counts, this LÖWENBRÄU keg did fine. I kept it in the PerfectDraft machine for about a week from first pour to last, and there was no noticeable drop in freshness. The beer stayed clear, the carbonation stayed steady, and I didn’t get any odd tastes or flat pints towards the end.

The keg itself feels sturdy, just like other PerfectDraft kegs I’ve used. The metal body doesn’t flex easily, and even after handling it a bit roughly while moving it from storage to the machine, there were no dents or issues. The plastic connection point on top locked with the tube securely; I didn’t have any leaks or drips around the connection, which is something I always check after installing a new keg.

One practical detail: once it’s empty, it’s still a big metal cylinder you have to store somewhere until you send it back or drop it off. It’s not a huge problem, but if you go through several kegs a month and don’t have much space, you’ll end up with a little stack of empties. On the plus side, these empties are part of the return scheme with £5 credit per keg, so they’re not just going in the bin, which makes the whole thing feel a bit less wasteful.

In short, from a durability and freshness angle, I have no complaints. The keg protected the beer well, there were no mechanical issues, and the beer was just as drinkable on day seven as it was on day one. It’s not something you keep for months, obviously, but for the usual few days to a couple of weeks in the machine, it holds up well.

In the PerfectDraft machine, this keg performed very reliably. Once the keg was fully chilled, the pour was consistent from start to finish. The first two glasses had a bit more foam, which is normal when you connect a fresh keg, but after that it settled down and I could pour a pint with a sensible head without wasting half a glass of froth. The carbonation level stayed stable across the week, with no flat pints at the end.

The machine kept it at a nice cold temperature, and the beer handled that well. Some lagers can taste a bit dull when they’re too cold, but LÖWENBRÄU still had enough flavour even straight from the fridge-level chill. I didn’t notice any change in taste over the week either. The last pint tasted basically like the first one, which is the big advantage of these kegs over bottles you leave half-open in the fridge.

In terms of pouring, I used standard pint glasses and tilted them at about 45 degrees, then straightened them near the top. That gave me a good 1–2 cm head most of the time. If you open the tap fully from the start, you’ll get more foam, so there is a small learning curve, but that’s more about the PerfectDraft system in general than this specific keg. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy to repeat good pours.

The only thing to keep in mind is that the machine needs a few hours to chill the keg from room temperature, so if you’re planning a party, you need to load it in advance. That’s not unique to LÖWENBRÄU, but it’s part of the experience. Overall, for performance, I’d say it does exactly what you want from a home keg: stable temperature, consistent carbonation, and no nasty surprises halfway through.

The LÖWENBRÄU PerfectDraft keg is a standard 6L metal keg designed specifically for the PerfectDraft machine, so you cannot use it without the machine. It’s heavy when full (a bit over 7 kg), so you feel like you’re handling real bar gear, not a toy. The branding is the usual blue background with the golden lion logo, so if you’ve seen LÖWENBRÄU before, you’ll recognise it instantly. It’s nothing fancy, but it looks like a proper beer keg, which is what matters.

In terms of content, 6L works out at about 10–10.5 pints depending on how generous you pour and how much foam you waste at the start. For me, it lasted about a week of casual drinking: a couple of pints on a Friday, a few more at a barbecue, and then finishing it off on weeknights. The nice thing is that, once the keg is chilled in the machine, it stays at a consistent temperature and carbonation the whole time. The first and last pints were basically the same in terms of taste and fizziness.

Setup is simple if you’ve used PerfectDraft before: you clip the included plastic tube into the keg, slide it into the machine, close the door, and wait for it to chill. With my machine starting from room temperature, it took a few hours to get to proper drinking temperature, so don’t expect to plug it in and drink straight away. That’s just how the system works, not a problem with this specific keg.

Overall, from a presentation and practicality point of view, it gets the job done without any surprises. It’s a standard PerfectDraft keg: fits well, pours fine, and delivers roughly ten pints of German lager that feels close to what you’d get in a decent pub. If you’re already set up with the machine, the format makes sense. If you don’t own the machine, then this product is useless on its own, so keep that in mind.