Whatever Happened To BEERMKR After Shark Tank?
Plenty of boozy products have passed through the hallowed halls of "Shark Tank," especially products like Bottle Breacher and Beer Blizzard that are meant to optimize the drinking process. This even expands to brewing drinks for one's self.
In Season 12, Episode 23 of "Shark Tank," entrepreneurs Aaron Walls and Brett Vegas entered the tank to pitch their product BEERMKR, an at-home brewing system that brews, ferments, and carbonates beer right on your countertop. Upon entering the studio, Walls and Vegas pitched BEERMKR with an astounding $25 million valuation and sought $500,000 for only 2% equity. It was a risky gambit for a company that was still fulfilling its initial round of Kickstarter orders.
"We were in a weird position where we had incredible technology and a huge potential to disrupt a $100 billion domestic beer market," Vegas told The Denver Post. "So, we went in with a high valuation knowing full well we would get yelled at." With demands like this, they did — in fact — get yelled at.
"It's like coming in and asking us to believe in the fairy godmother," Barbara Corcoran said. "You have virtually no sales. You have $3 million put into it already, and you have no proof of concept even." Every "Shark Tank" shark agreed, save Kevin O'Leary, whose offer Walls and Vegas rejected for its hefty debt portion. Walls and Vegas may have walked away without a deal, but BEERMKR is still fulfilling its promise of providing idiot-proof at-home brewing.
BEERKMKR blames bad timing for their lackluster Shark Tank performance
While Walls and Vegas were thrilled to make it onto "Shark Tank," they would have preferred to reschedule their shoot.
"When we filmed our SharkTank segment in September 2020 ... BEERMKR was in a completely different stage of its life," the BEERMKR website states. "On the day of filming, BEERMKR was the culmination of years of R&D, but we were just starting to ship product to our KickStarter backers."
In a conversation with The Spoon, Walls added that it all came down to timing.
"There was nothing we could do about the ... production schedule, and there was nothing we could do about Covid delaying us by [nine plus] months," he said. "If we had the choice, we would have chosen to pitch after we had shipped product, had sales to prove our model, and had positive reviews from our early brewer base. Unfortunately, you don't get to choose when to pitch on 'Shark Tank,' and if you get the opportunity to pitch, you have to take it."
Still, the BEERMKR co-founders stand by their generous valuation, and today their product retails on their website for $499 or at a discounted price of $249 for a slightly used model. They've also sold tens of thousands of MKRKITs, curated beer recipes that produce different styles.
Crucially, their vision has gained clout among their most coveted market — other home-brewers. At the 2021 National Homebrew Competition, Christian Chandler entered his BEERMKR concoction to beat out 164 entrants and win gold in the Porters & Stouts category. Now, BEERMRK sells the recipe to other enterprising home-brewers who want to taste gold.