As a homebrewer I’ve often been bored with the boring old tap handles that are available. Don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty cool options out there, just none that excite my creative side.
If you have more than one tap, you have a couple of options. You can put a piece of tape on the handle or possibly get one with a chalkboard on it, but to me my handwriting sucks so it ends up looking pretty tacky.
Matt & Jonathan Logue over at Switch Taps had an incredibly simple, yet innovative idea when they started to tackle this problem. Their idea turned into a very cool interchangeable system that works with both tap handles and growlers alike so you won’t be left wondering what beer was in what growler or keg.
It’s pretty simple really. The system comes with a handle that screws into normal beer faucets as well as another one that acts as a stopper for your growlers. On the top there are plates with different beer styles that you can interchange to help you know what’s pouring.
Currently they offer six styles (IPA, pilsners, wheat, stout, lager and ale), but keep an eye out as they’ll be adding more in the near future. The simple design looks pretty cool and turns your homebrew up a notch. If you have a beer that you have a logo for, you can order a custom made face plate and bam, your homebrew is looking much more professional already.
It’s still a new product, but I can imagine a world where breweries sold face plates to attach to the system so you can nicely label your growlers or kegerator with some professional beers.
I got the ale and lager face plates to start and was pretty impressed with how durable they felt. Another added benefit I noticed was that they put a magnet on them so you can stick them on your beer fridge.
Check out the video below and then head on over to their website to see what they have to offer.
It is quite a cool way of customizing the bottle and a good way to impress your friends. But I think it would be waay cooler to be able to customize the label of the tap with your own text, eg: don’t touch or Milk ;)). A good branding idea would also to make it fully customizable this way they could attract bars and pubs.
Anyway a cool bottle bling to have !
Pretty nifty. I’m good at remembering what’s in which tap on my keezer but my guests aren’t always the same. Some of them like to mix beers so it’s no good when they try to mix a stout with a cider.