Wired.com recently got a chance to test the Newcastle DraughtKeg, a 5-liter self-contained mini-keg of Newcastle Brown Ale.

Shaped like an actual keg, only much smaller, the DraughtKeg contains an internal CO2 pressurization system. All you have to do is attach the included plastic tap, hold a glass under it, and lift the lever on top.

Verdict: This is an excellent, convenient way to serve up more than a gallon (1.33 gallons, to be precise, or about 10 pints) of delicious beer.

There are some caveats. One, whether you regard Newcastle as delicious or repellent depends on whether you’re English, whether you’re from the northern or southern part of England, and whether you were a punk in the 1980s when the best way to be cool was stealing food, squatting in abandoned buildings, and buying the cheapest beer possible. Or something like that — we’re not all that clear on the exact valence of Newcastle Brown Ale among the British. Suffice it to say, as Americans and beer drinkers, we like it, even if it’s no Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. From the DraughtKeg, it tastes like a proper tapped beer, with a good head and no off flavors.

Second, the little instruction sheet that comes with the keglet (right) rivals Ikea assembly instructions for graphic elegance and inscrutability. Something about chilling the keg, attaching the plastic parts, and pouring the beer? Yeah, we could figure that out on our own; these instructions didn’t add much. Also missing was a warning about that little jet of beer that shot out as we were attaching the tap. Not a big deal, but a little embarrassing since it landed on our pants.

After that, it was all dreamy though. Incidentally, the little bit of beer left after our initial test was still good almost a month later, so Newcastle’s claim that it will last 30 days after being tapped is credible.

The Newcastle DraughtKeg will cost about $23 (that’s $2.30 per pint), and is currently available in just a few U.S. markets (Southern California, Minneapolis, Chicago). If you’ve got a Krups BeerTender, it’s compatible with that.

Disclosure: Yes, the PR firm for Newcastle sent the DraughtKeg to us for free. What were we going to say, no? Our journalistic mission required — demanded, really — that we test out this beer delivery system so we could report the results to you, our readers.

Photos: Dylan Tweney / Wired.com

Below the jump: One more photo of the DraughtKeg.

Next to a 5-gallon and fullsize keg, the DraughtKeg is puny. But its built-in compression and plastic tap are convenient.