The way to serve a tailgate crowd is cans on ice, set out like a bar. It's legal almost everywhere, nobody waits on a tap, and nothing has to be poured. Kegs are getting banned lot by lot, and no cooler is getting through the gate anyway. So the cooler's job is the lot.
No kegs in the lots
- Gillette Stadium, Empower Field at Mile High, Hard Rock Stadium and U.S. Bank Stadium ban kegs. Minneapolis also bans "common-source containers."
- Raymond James Stadium bans kegs, large vessels and large amounts of alcohol in the lots.
- College: Penn State, Notre Dame, Iowa State and Georgia's North Campus ban kegs. Oregon State allows them only with approval.
No glass
Many lots ban glass outright, including Highmark Stadium (cans and plastic cups only) and Arrowhead. Pack cans. They chill faster too.
The cooler stays at the car
Under the clear-bag rules, most stadiums won't let a cooler through the gates: Lambeau, the Linc, Soldier Field and the Superdome (Champions Square included) among them. In Seattle, coolers aren't allowed at the team-run pregame either (see the Lumen Field guide).
So which cooler?
The bar and the backstock. Set out one cooler as the bar, where everybody grabs a can and the dip sits next to it, and keep a big one behind the tailgate to refill it. The bar is Revo's Dubler ($169.89): 24 cans one side, a half pan of food the other, small enough for Lambeau's 9 x 6 feet. In November, the Dubler HEAT keeps two pans warm on heat packs instead, up to 5 hours, Revo says. For the backstock, a Taiga 55 ($299) holds about 60 cans with ice and Taiga backs it with a limited lifetime warranty; if you park far away, the Cordova 50 Outpost ($379.49) rolls 63 cans in so nobody carries it. If your crew doesn't eat, Revo's 44-inch Party Barge is one long tub of cans. That's the whole pitch, and it's enough. Nobody here has hauled these through a whole season yet, so for now that's the makers' numbers talking, not ours.
How many drinks do you need for a tailgate?
Three cans a head for a four-hour lot, plus water. Lambeau, Highmark and Nissan open four hours out; do your lot's math.
The bar runs dry before the backstock does, every time. Refill it before somebody has to ask.
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