BrüMate Coolers

What BrüMate makes for hunters and campers

BrüMate's own site is mostly drinkware: tumblers, can coolers, mugs, wine and bar gear, plus some kids' bottles. This site doesn't cover drinkware, so you won't find it here. What this site does cover is the coolers, and on this site BrüMate covers two product types: hard coolers and soft coolers.

The grid above splits into two families:

• BrüTank: hard coolers with a removable drink tank and tap, in three sizes
• MagPack: soft coolers with a magnetic lid, sized at 12, 18 and 24 cans

Because BrüMate's lineup here is short, the grid also shows hard coolers from other makers in a separate alternatives block, picked by matching type.

The grid changes as listings come and go, so I'll write about the families and what separates them, not this week's count. The capacities and wheel marks in the grid come from the Amazon listings and are marked that way. The tank sizes, can counts and claims below come from BrüMate's own pages. The maker's pages I read don't list empty weight, outside dimensions or how the BrüTank body is built, so you won't see those values from the maker on this page.

What makes a BrüTank different

Here's the whole idea in one sentence. BrüMate calls the BrüTank the world's only insulated cooler with a removable, self-tapping drink tank. In plain words: a hard cooler with a sealed jug inside, and a tap on the front that pours from that jug. You fill the tank with a drink you made at home, pack the rest of the cooler with ice and food, and pour without lifting the lid.

The hard-cooler page lists the same set of parts on all three sizes:

• Removable drink tank with a built-in tap
• Foam seat top
• Built-in bottle opener
• A handle: a top carry handle on the 20, wheels on the 35 and 55

The maker says the tap tech lets you pack mixed drinks for pouring. Walt's reaction was that he'd finally found a cooler that serves coffee. The maker doesn't say anything about hot drinks in the tank, so I told him no, and he went back to his thermos. That was the right call.

Lineup notes: the BrüTank sizes

BrüTank 20: the compact one

The maker calls the 20-quart the most compact cooler in the BrüTank series. Its tank holds 1 gallon. The hard-cooler page says it keeps ice up to 5 days. It carries by a soft-grip top handle, one-handed, per the maker's page. That page doesn't mention wheels, while the Amazon listing marks the cooler as wheeled, so look at the listing photos before you count on rolling it.

A gallon of iced tea and lunch for two is about right for this size. It's a tailgate cooler, a boat-seat cooler, a "we're only out till three" cooler. The small cooler page covers that size across brands.

BrüTank 35: the middle size on wheels

The 35-quart tank holds 1.8 gallons. The maker says the cooler holds 36 12-ounce cans, or 9 bottles of wine, or 25 lb of ice with the tank installed, and keeps ice up to 7 days, depending on how it's packed. It has all-terrain wheels and a telescoping handle. The maker also says it's 30% lighter and more compact than the original 55-quart BrüTank.

That "25 lb of ice with the tank installed" line is the most useful number on the page. It tells you the tank takes real room. Plan the food around it, not the other way round.

BrüTank 55: the big one

The 55-quart tank holds 2.8 gallons. The maker says the cooler holds 48 12-ounce cans or 12 bottles of wine or liquor, keeps ice up to 7 days, and rolls on all-terrain wheels. It's the size the maker started the series with.

That's a lot of drink in one place. At Hemlock Run we'd spend the first night arguing about what goes in the tank and the second night arguing about who drank it. The large cooler page and the 50 qt cooler page cover that size across brands.

BackTap, on the maker's site

BrüMate's hard-cooler page also lists the BackTap, a pack with a built-in tap that holds 3 gallons, per the maker. It isn't among the listings in the grid on this page right now.

Lineup notes: the MagPack soft coolers

What the MagPack family has in common

The soft-cooler page describes all three MagPacks the same way: a zipperless lid the maker calls the Pivot Magnetic Lid, a leakproof build, and what it calls IceShield technology. The 12 and 24-can product pages add more detail:

• Seals: the maker says 100% leakproof magnetic seals
• Shell: the maker calls it waterproof and puncture-resistant
• Liner: antimicrobial, per the maker
• Cold claim: drinks and snacks cold for 24+ hours, per those pages

A magnetic lid is a one-hand lid. On a cold morning in a ground blind that's worth something, because the other hand is holding the coffee, and the coffee is not negotiable.

MagPack 12, 18 and 24

The difference between them is size and straps. Per the maker:

• MagPack 12: the smallest, with a shoulder strap
• MagPack 18: the middle size, with removable carry straps
• MagPack 24: the largest MagPack, with removable backpack straps

The Amazon listings in the grid mark all three as backpack style, so check the listing photos for the exact strap setup if that's what decides it for you. Twelve cans is lunch for one long sit. Twenty-four is the size for two people and a whole day. The backpack cooler page and the soft cooler page cover those styles across brands.

How to choose within the BrüMate lineup

Size first

Start with how many people and how long. The 20 and the MagPacks are day sizes. The 35 is the weekend size for a small crew. The 55 is for a crowd, or a trip where the cooler is also the bar. Real talk: the number of people who drink from a tap always grows once word gets around camp. Size for the crew you'll actually feed.

Then decide if you want the tap

The tap is the whole point of a BrüTank. If you drink cans, a regular hard cooler of the same size gives you all the room the tank would take. If your camp makes a big jug of something and pours it all day, the tank keeps that drink sealed away from the ice melt and pours it without opening the lid.

Put drinks in the tank and keep the lid shut

My one opinion on this page: if you buy a BrüTank, put the drinks in the tank and keep food under the lid. The reason is checkable. The FDA's outdoor-eating advice is to open a cooler as few times as you can, and to keep drinks and perishable food apart so the food cooler isn't opened every time somebody's thirsty. A tap on the front does that job without a second cooler. The lid only opens at meal times.

Then how it moves

• Wheels: the 35 and 55, per the maker
• One-hand handle: the 20
• Straps: the MagPacks

A full 55-quart cooler isn't something you carry far by hand. Wheels are for the parking lot and the gravel. The last few steps up a porch are still a two-person lift, wheels or not. The cooler with wheels page compares rolling models across brands.

Packing and care for a BrüMate cooler

Pack it for food safety

The FDA says cold food should stay at 40 °F or below, packed with ice or frozen gel packs. Keep raw meat, poultry and seafood securely wrapped, and the FDA notes they can go in frozen so they stay colder longer. On a BrüTank, the tank is a sealed space for the drink. The rest of the box still needs ice.

Clean it the maker's way

BrüMate's care page is written for its products in general, and says to email the maker with cooler-specific questions. Its general advice:

• Remove all accessories before washing
• Wash by hand with a soft cloth or brush and mild dish soap, then air-dry
• Skip citrus or bleach-based cleaners
• Dishwasher only for parts marked dishwasher safe, top rack, heat-dry off
• Never put a BrüMate product in the freezer, which the maker says can ruin it and void the warranty

For the drink tank, that means rinsing and drying it after every trip, with the tap open so it drains. Whatever was in it last weekend should not be in it next season. A jug forgotten until April will remind you.

Store it dry

Let the cooler and the tank dry fully, lids open, before they go back in the garage. Shut one up damp and it grows its own opinions over the winter.

Reading the BrüMate warranty

The warranty page treats drinkware and coolers differently. Coolers, hard and soft, carry a 5-year limited warranty against manufacturing defects. Drinkware carries a limited lifetime warranty. What the cooler part says, in plain words:

• Covered: manufacturing defects, with the maker preferring to repair or replace the affected part rather than the whole cooler
• Not covered: normal wear and tear, scratches and cosmetic damage, accidents, punctures and drops
• Not covered: misuse, improper care, lost parts, unauthorized modifications or third-party parts, and use outside the cooler's purpose
• Who: products bought from BrüMate or an authorized retailer, used as intended
• Proof: a receipt may be asked for, but the maker says order history or photos can also work
• Process: email the maker first, before returning anything; no refunds on warranty claims

So don't drill the lid for a rod holder, and keep the tap with the cooler. "Lost parts" is on the list for a reason.

BrüMate facts

Here's what I could verify on the maker's site and in one business publication:

• Founded: 2016, per the maker's About page
• Based: Denver, Colorado, per Built In Colorado (2020)
• Founder: Dylan Jacob, per Built In Colorado
• Started with: insulated drinkware, per both sources
• Warranty: 5 years limited on coolers, limited lifetime on drinkware

The pages I read don't say where the coolers are made or how the BrüTank body is built, so I left those out.

Fill the tank, pack the box, and leave the lid alone till dinner. That's the one cooler at camp nobody has to stand in front of.