Why this beer keg checker earns its place
A keg gives you almost no warning. It pours normally, then it pulls froth, and by the time the bar knows about it the round is already half poured and someone is going down the steps. This checker tells you what is left in the keg while there is still time to do something about it — swap it before doors open, line up the spare, or leave it because it will comfortably see out a quiet Tuesday. That is the whole job, and it is a cellar job rather than a bar one: the person doing the changeover uses it, not the person pulling the pint.
It also settles the argument about ordering. Guesswork on keg levels is how a cellar ends up either holding stock it does not need or running short on the one line everyone drinks on a Saturday. A quick check across the kegs before the order goes in turns that into a number. Metal is the sensible build for where this lives — a cellar is cold, damp and knocked about, and metal wipes down and dries rather than softening or curling the way card would after a few weeks against a wet wall. The white and black finish stays readable in the poor light most cellars have.
