How This Beer Growler Went From Concept to Market GrowlerWerks promises craft beer to-go with carbonated staying power.

Entrepreneurs: GrowlerWerks founders Shawn Huff, Brian Sonnichsen, Evan Rege and Chris Maier created uKeg, a portable, pressurized growler (a container for transporting craft beer and other beverages).

"Aha" moment: The founders—who are based in Portland, Ore. (where else?)—were lovers of craft beer but not of traditional glass growlers, which can let brews go flat, warm and stale, leading to the discarding of limited-edition IPA (the dreaded "drain pour"). The team searched in vain for a pressurized growler that would keep beer fresh and cold.

"I realized there was an opportunity to come out with a distinctive design and to improve the technology so we could offer something that people really need," Huff says.