Bearded Brewery and Tap-A-Draft

I wanted to take a minute to give a bit of information about my system. I know when I started out home brewing I was always curious about what other home brewers had for setups and there always seemed to be a pretty steep curve between the basic kit you start off with and the all-grain systems that are displayed in magazines and on the web.
For starters, I'm a stove top brewer who has been partial mashing for about a year. I like the flexibility it gives me, the room it takes up (or doesn't) and the extra steps/toys incorporated into it. I don't really have plans at this point to make the leap into all-grain. I'm sure that there are benefits to it, but I'm pretty happy with the beer I make and don't feel like I'm cheating myself or the legions of Bearded Brewing fans (that's a joke), by not moving into all-grain. I can mess around with different specialty grains, base malts and have been happy with the turn out. I also still make extract beers, and have been perfectly happy with that as well. In fact two of my most popular beers, Inky's White and Whitefish Cranberry Wheat, are extract recipes.
Last year for Christmas I asked for a mini-draft system. I originally got the mini kegs, but after several uses, I switched to the 1 1/2 gallon plastic vessels. The mini kegs always exploded when I tapped them and they seemed to lose carbonation quickly. I think this is because there's a piece that connects the dispenser through a rubber bung to the keg, and its not very secure. So instead I've been very happy with the plastic bottles and the tap-a-draft dispenser. I don't have the money or room currently to go to a kegging system, and this satisfies that need. Plus its nice because I can bottle half the batch to give away and have some on tap. Also, I never like drinking one beer style for too long, so its nice to be able to have a small amount on tap, and still have enough other beers. For those on a budget, I'd recommend the TAD system and I've had no problems with it.

Salud!
-The Bearded Brewer