Pet Peeve: Tap Takeovers

I'd bet you'd (I'd) be excited for a Cantillon tap takeover.

 

It's nice with new breweries. Being in Charlotte, there is a new brewery in South Carolina (Legal Remedy) and I was pleased to see a bottle shop do a tap takeover for them. I may not venture into SC often, so it's cool that they came to me!

 

It works in Central PA to help our small brewers get off the ground before their pubs are open. I'm actually impressed at the willingness of bars/restaurants to be open to takeovers for the "little guys."

 

Some folks know how to pull a takeover off well. Others struggle. Good beer helps, with a diverse choice, and a few oddballs thrown into the mix. Straight up everyday beer is an insult to the account and to the largely unsuspecting public. Mostly these events are a big needless kerfuffle, when the truth is most patrons just want their regular beer, or maybe to try something new on occasion. I would bet some of these events might be "spiced" with less than costly goods and/or merchandise.

 

Im not a fan of them. I hate when my local bar does a tap takeover and then for the next week 20 of the 30 tap lines are still pouring beer from that brewery.

 

I don't mind em, here locally they're a nice change of pace, and if I don't like the brewery, I just go to another bar... nice way for me to get some free glasswhaelzzzzz though...

 

Also, 4 handles out of 20 taps is not a "tap takeover." It's more like a tap "Slight incursion." The term has become watered down to mean, "We gave brewery X a couple extra taps because they're giving away shaker glasses and the rep is hanging out."

 

I think he's referring to this little gem of snark.

 

I get what you're saying, but it is sort of questionable that a brewery would set out to do a tap takeover and feature only beers that are widely available. Seems redundant on their part.

 

My only pet peeve is when a "tap takeover" is announced without a list posted beforehand, then I get there and there are only 4 of that brewery's beers on-tap...not really a tap takeover when only a fraction of the establishment's taps are occupied by said brewery when there are 20+ taps. In that case, just say "featured brewery"

 

Damn. Y'all got Asheville beat...on quantity at least

 

I couldn't agree more. This happened to me recently at a bar where a tap takeover had taken place the night before. There were tons of leftovers the night I went (about 20 of the 24 taps), from a brewery I am not a big fan of nonetheless. Definitely was a bummer.

 

Like I mentioned upthread, this is what we call a "Brewers Night". Bar might have 15-20 taps, but the brewery brings in 6-8 beers, does drawings for prizes, brewery folks hang out and chat up their beers. To my eyes, a "Tap Takeover" would mean bringing in enough beers to fill every tap in the joint.

 

No offense but you can't really "demand" what a store/bar and their supplier reps do or don't do on their private premises. You can give them a hard time I guess. I'd probably take a look at the menu, and say "eh, I was going to have a beer, but you have nothing I want" and leave (if they had nothing I wanted). They either will change their model or be hurting for business, in no time.

Otherwise I'd probably just ignore it and have a beer.

 

Well apparently according to the OP, he either went to one or has seen them more than once. Hence my reply.

 

The problem with this is every year, new people get into craft beer. Do we just say "nah, you missed the tap takeover last year, it'll never happen again?" Some people already consider this a lonely hobby. Knocking people out just because they didn't join a certain year could make it even worse.

I personally haven't experienced a tap takeover (I rarely go out to bars, I prefer to get a bottle and sample it in my living room on a recliner), but I must admit, if I walked into a local bar for a rare beer from the tap, I'd be pretty PO'ed if there wasn't some variety. That said, going out for a beer for me is so rare, that I'd still appreciate having something from the tap. The one bar I do go to rotates its selection pretty well, so there is little chance of a tap takeover there anyway.

 

I'm ok with Tap Takeovers. It's no different than visiting a brewery that doesn't bring in any outside beverages, for the most part.

Like most people have said, if you don't like it, don't go.

If it's a new brewery to the market or a brewery without a tap room, I'm fine with it.

I went to a 3F tap takeover last weekend, even though I think they are super overhyped, my cousins wanted to try Zombie Dust, and it's not a frequent beer to pop up around this area. I went about 0.5 mile out of my way for it, had a beer and left because the crowd was so insane.

 

Bell's is notorious for this around SE Michigan. You hear about a Bell's Tap Takeover, and the list is mostly stuff that is common rotation- seasonals, flagships, and then maybe a few "special" ones that are relatively common at the Eccentric Café, and occasionally on tap at savvier beer bars. Not exactly a "yawn" lineup, but nothing mindblowing either.

One local bar does a Brewery "Throwdown" which usually brings some interesting stuff. Breweries compete with one another on overall pints sold in a tournament - they bring 5 different beers each, and in an effort to win, they usually bring at least one unique beer. As they travel deeper into the tournament, they usually bring better stuff. I like it better than a tap takeover, as it brings 10 beers from two different breweries. This year, I believe it's all Michigan breweries, but in the past, the likes of Blue Point, Epic, Dogfish Head have all been involved.

 

A great little "beer bar"/awesome pizza joint does regional tap takeovers. I thought this was a great concept - they had a "San Diego Week" with Alpine, Ballast Point, AleSmith, etc. and CT week with NEBCO, Beer'd, Steady, etc. This concept I like, regular tap takeovers - not so much.