What's a keg in the US?

trocadero said:

In Australia, people often hire a keg for a party - a barrel full of beer that has a hose and tap. What do Americans call this kind of set up? I've googled but I can't find it!

Thanks.

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I think it's a 'keg'. Parties like that are 'keggers'.

Keg is used in the US as well. Sometimes a smaller version called a pony keg is used (1/4 barrel).

In the US people wouldn't normally say "hire a keg". It would just be "get a keg".

Yup - keggers/keg. However, I dont think we'd use phrase 'hire a keg'. Think its usually get a keg, buy a keg, or throw a kegger.

Also, kegger implies frat party (I don't think an adult party that happens to have a keg would be called a keggger)

In the US, you buy a keg or rent a keg. Technically, you buy the beer and pay a refundable deposit on the keg. British/Australian term for rent is hire. In the US, you hire employees and rent physical items.

Hiring a cab is a strange term we might use, but you're hiring the cab driver, not renting the cab, so it sort of makes sense. More sense than most use of the English language here...

Jeff

My husband is English and I can just hear him saying "hire a keg," but like someone else said in the US it would be said "get a keg."

You put a deposit down on it and you get that back when you return it.

I agree I wouldn't call an adult party with a keg a kegger. My high school and college graduation parties, which were both family and family friends type parties, had kegs. But hey definitely wouldn't be considered keggers. In some places weddings will often have kegs.

Then, there is the whole keg stand. Haha.

alleycat said:

Keg is used in the US as well. Sometimes a smaller version called a pony keg is used (1/4 barrel).

In the US people wouldn't normally say "hire a keg". It would just be "get a keg".

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According to my friends at Kegerator, there are Mini, Sixth, Quarter, and Full, which are called Bubba, Log, Pony, and Full respectively and contain 1.32/5, 5.16/19.8, 7.75/29.3, and 15.5/58.7 US Gallons/liters each.

See Ma? Ya didn't waste college on me!

For reference for those wondering what it is in (Western) Canada:

It is "bring a keg." We use similar names for the party - the kegger.

In the midwest in the late nineties we would say, "Get a keg," or "Roll in a keg."
A party that happened to have a keg was just a party with a keg. A party with the purpose of drinking beer from a keg was a kegger, whether it was a fraternity party or a party at someone's house. Usually fraternity parties had more resources to buy kegs, so they had keggers more often.
The typical keg is 15.5 gallons. Sometimes people would say, "Get a barrel," or "Roll in a barrel," but a keg is techincally half a barrel. The smaller kegs we would call half kegs, which were technically quarter barrels.
We would call the little gallon or gallon and a half containers with self contained taps pony kegs, although I think a pony keg is technically a half keg.

In the U.S. there's a half-size keg called a pony keg. It's a quarter of a barrel, or about 7.75 U.S. gallons.

Not sure who in Australia is hiring kegs - I've only ever heard of having a keg party in American tv or movies. Maybe I went to the wrong parties? Or perhaps it's not the done thing in Melbourne so much?

Sometimes a smaller version called a pony keg is used