Where Is BEERMKR From Shark Tank Today?

"Shark Tank" is no stranger to beer product pitches. The show has seen several success stories with products like BevBuckle — a retractable belt buckle that's also a drink holder. MobCraft Beer from "Shark Tank" is similarly successful; it's a crowdfunded brewery that turns consumers' ideas into beer. BEERMKR was the first device on the show to allow consumers to make craft beer at home.

Presenting their product on Season 12, Episode 23, Aaron Walls and Brett Vegas from Boulder, Colorado, explained that making beer isn't as easy as it looks. "No. It takes tons of time, experience, expertise, and the worst part is," Walls explained, "you could spend weeks on a single batch of beer, and it could come out terrible."

The pair demonstrated how the world's first all-in-one countertop craft-brewing appliance makes the equivalent of a 12-pack of beer. It takes just three steps, which are spread out over about 10 days (give or take a few, depending on the brew). Since it's connected to your mobile phone via Wi-Fi, you get notifications for each step.

Walls and Vegas also told the Sharks that they are fans of beer, and Walls even did some homebrewing of his own for 15 years. The idea for BEERMKR evolved from the duo's work while attending an entrepreneurship class at Cornell University in 2013. But that wasn't the only inspiration behind the device. The pair also wanted to find a way to make beer brewing so easy that anyone could do it, so they enlisted Cornell space engineers Matt Goff and Evgeniy Tkachenko to help design the machine. Now, let's find out what the Sharks thought of the pitch and whether or not BEERMKR had any success after "Shark Tank."

The BEERMKR bid on "Shark Tank" aired in May 2021 but was filmed in September 2020. Aaron Walls and Brett Vegas asked for $500,000 for just 2% of the company, which immediately received an "ouch" from Barbara Corcoran and a "wow" from Alex Rodriguez. When they revealed the narrow cost margin for the machines — $375 to make and a $499 price point (which includes the first batch of consumables) — Mark Cuban, who made Season 16 his last, raised concerns. The pair explained that they expected to make most of their profits from selling the consumable kits of grains, yeast, and hops necessary to make the beer.

Another problem the Sharks had was that Walls and Vegas hadn't sold any machines or consumables outside of their Kickstarter, which had 1,000 units sold in a month. Walls explained that they were still shipping those units, and only 24 had been shipped so far. Kevin O'Leary, who was very vocal and animated, had the biggest issue with the $25 million valuation. He viewed it as paying $1 million for each machine, which got laughs from Cuban and Lori Greiner. Additionally, the Sharks were shocked to learn that the partners had already raised and put $3 million into the business.

Corcoran, Greiner, Cuban, and Rodiguez rejected the bid because of the uncertainty of BEERMKR's future success, noting the lack of additional sales, no customer feedback, narrow margins, and the high valuation as their reasons. Surprisingly, O'Leary decided to take a chance, offering Walls and Vegas a $500,000 loan at 9% interest for 3% equity in BEERMKR. Ultimately, the partners walked away without a deal.

A week after the "Shark Tank" episode aired, Aaron Walls provided additional insight into what happened on the show via a blog post on the BEERMKR website, which is no longer accessible. He said their segment was reduced from about one hour of fielding questions about their product to just eight minutes of beer and drama to make great television. He said there was nothing they could do about the poor timing of the filming — COVID-19 delayed production and shipment by more than nine months. Walls also admitted in the blog that he and Vegas missed an investment opportunity from O'Leary, but the timing was just off. At the very least, he added, they succeeded in introducing the countertop beer brewer to millions of viewers with the show's exposure.

Brett Vegas also spoke to The Denver Post about the shipping issues: "The product was 95% complete when we introduced it [on Kickstarter] in 2018, but it takes a lot of hard work to get it from 95% to 100%. We also ran into issues with the trade war with China, as well as supply chain problems during COVID. [...] The timing of the show was unfortunate because we were so close to launching and having sales, but since then, we've developed from being an idea into a real business."

Brett Vegas told The Denver Post that things were starting to look up for the future of BEERMKR, with website traffic rising from just a few hundred a day to about 8,000. "From a marketing standpoint," he added, "the biggest challenge we have is getting our message to audiences that aren't homebrewer-focused, so ["Shark Tank"] gave us the opportunity to show our product to everybody."

And it did when you look at the sales, with the numbers near their highest in May 2021. Meanwhile, BEERMKR launched an equity funding campaign through StartEngine the same day the "Shark Tank" episode aired. With a valuation of $12.3 million, the brand touted almost $1 million in sales (more than 1,000 machines and over 15,000 consumable kits) and $130 in recurring revenue per BEERMKR machine in use in 2021. The goal was to raise $10,000 to $2.5 million, and it was off to a fantastic start, but by the end of the campaign in late November 2022, it had only raised about $128,731.

Sales waned after the May 2021 airing despite some buzz around BEERMKR in July 2021 when homebrewer Christian Chandler won gold at the National Homebrew Competition with an American porter made using the system. Then, sales picked up well during the November and December holiday season to the point that BEERMKR completely sold out. As of February 2023, more than 2,500 machines have been sold and shipped, and the brand joined the Techstars accelerator program to boost its progress. It found some success with additional preorders and refurbished systems in spring 2023.

Unlike Fizzics from "Shark Tank," which offers the perfect pour for canned and bottled beer, BEERMKR has stopped operations. The company used its Facebook and Instagram accounts to make announcements about new products, such as a portable beer keg and consumable kits for different types of beer, but those posts stopped in May 2023. Then, in mid-2024, the company issued an update to investors on StartEngine, notifying them that it was unable to find a lead investor through the Techstars program and that its cash reserves had been depleted throughout 2023. Because of that, it let go of its operations team and partnered with an investment bank consulting firm to sell BEERMKR.

Through it all, 200 or more Kickstarter supporters say they never received their machines. Since January 2025, the company's website has been redirected to a page that requires a password to enter but notifies visitors that the company is undergoing significant changes and has not been operating for a while. It also recommends that BEERMKR customers get support for its product on Reddit, where savvy users can assist. Although the company could only secure AWS server access — which allows the machine to provide sensor data through the cloud and mobile app — through April 2025, some Reddit users have found a way to brew without the AWS cloud connection and still use the machines.

Despite the current shutdown, there's still a sliver of hope that BEERMKR will resume operations eventually. Brett Vegas looks to be interested in saving the company. He currently works as the marketing director of Sage V Foods, and its website states that it has taken an active role and made substantial investments in helping BEERMKR succeed. On the other hand, Aaron Walls left the company in August 2024, moving on to co-founding and taking on the CEO role at cybersecurity startup ZioSec in June 2024. He even left all of the company's social media accounts.

Additionally, an email to customers was posted in a Kickstarter comment in January 2025, which stated, "As we move ahead, we are thrilled to announce that we are working on a fresh new design and an exciting range of new products. Stay tuned – we can't wait to share these with you in the near future!" The email didn't specify whether the product would get a whole rebrand, but one Reddit user has noted that the current BEERMKR site domain is set to expire in May 2025. It also hasn't been confirmed, but it's possible that ANDESIGN, which had a hand in engineering the machines, could continue designing the product. If you want to see BEERMKR's pitch, Season 12 of "Shark Tank" is available on Amazon's Prime Video.