With our unfiltered, unpasteurized beers, it is possible to cheat and just rack it into a corny and turn on the gas. After a week or so, it becomes extremely difficult to notice any difference. The most authentic taste will come from containers that are vented to the air as they are served. For parties, this technique works well, although the beer is usually gone before this effect is noticeable. This is an unsuitable arrangement, however, for beer to be kept for more than a few days.
Hand pumps are glorious, but they are bulky and very expensive.
You also need to vent the keg by either loosening the gas fitting or hooking up a gas disconnect with no hose attached. If you want to serve only a part of the beer in this manner, connect the gas line to a regulator set at the lowest possible setting, just a pound or two of pressure. All manner of gadgets and gizmos can be used to recreate the effects of sparklers and hand pumps. A sparkler sprays the beer into the glass, releasing much of the gas as it does, giving you a lovely waterfall of foam like a well-poured Guinness. Such devices can consist of nothing more than a capped tube with a number of tiny holes drilled in the end, attached to your tap.