How many taps is too many?

As long as their clean, the more the merrier.

 

I was once "wowed" by the number of tap lines. 10- 24 lines seems reasonable to me. The more I learned the more I wondered if an establishment with a high number of tap lines dedicate themselves to truly maintaining and managing the beer and the tap lines. Doing that costs money. In a restaurant I tend to go with tap beers that may have a quick turnover like a Surly Furious (in my area) or I go for a stout/porter. Having said this, I have yet to send a beer back. I expect tap rooms to have clean lines and fresh beer.

 

And fresh. How you can keep 120 taps within reasonable limits kinda staggers me. Do they date the keg? Do they date when it's tapped? Do they monitor the age? Do they pull it off line when it's old? I'd bet very few do all the above, and with 120 taps there's surely more than a few very slow movers. IMO too many to manage, just my opinion.

 

Sounds like you're going to the wrong places. Maybe if you go places and realize the staff is clueless or they don't clean their taps, don't go anymore. I thought that was part of being an adult. Being able to make rational decisions and not blame others for your lack of ability to do so.

 

I also agree the more the merrier. Most of the bars I go to change the beers they have on tap often. It is fairly easy to see if a certain beer is not selling.

 

You should open a bar and run it correctly. There are so many moving pieces to a decent establishment that a seemingly small oversight should be meaningless. Just get a good beer and try to be happy.

 

I voted for 25-40, but would agree that it almost completely depends on how the establishment is operated. Unless the place is dedicated to keeping the kegs rotating in and out while cleaning the lines, etc. then it won't matter if they have 3 taps or 20 taps.

There is a place literally a block from my apartment that has maybe 6 beers on tap at their upstairs bar and the Loose Cannon line (along with most other lines, I'm sure) is clearly not clean based on the taste. That's why it's so hard to come across a "great" beer bar in my opinion. I feel like a percentage of people who want to open a beer bar because it seems to be the trend often overlook the simple things that folks like us are after; simple, tasty, craft beer.

Again, while in an ideal world every beer bar would have lots of taps with fresh beer and clean lines - I would take a bar with 3-6 lines of quality beer and the knowledge that what I'm enjoying is fresh.

 

I have about 20 taps going in my apartment, which I think is fine but my friends and family say is too many.

 

The bar in question is Bailey's Taproom.
In Chicago, I have begun going to Links Taproom, which has a similar software program.
As for how many is too many?, it is difficult. I go to Beer Club Popeye every time I go to Tokyo. It has 70 beers on tap. Have I received an off beer from it? No, never.

 

Yup. Bailey's. Thanx.

 

I did not vote because it all depends on the place. Bars that emphasize beer and have a big crowd of craft drinkers tend to have pretty fresh beer compared to some one with 20+ taps that does not advertise, have the knowledge of, or seek out the craft drinker...............

 

.I frequently go to world of beer by my house with 45 taps or so, honeslty i've never had an issue at all. Probably helps that I typically order what's new anyhow. I'd be more concerned on places that advertise "500 different bottles"..one places sold me a Maine Beer Co Mean Old Tom that was nearly two years old.

 

I've been to bars that have over 100 taps and they actually have a pretty decent list. I will say that I usually am able to pretty quickly decide what beer I initially want. The bar in Rhode Island (Doherty's Ale House) usually has 5 fairly limited/sought after beers on tap at any given time. I imagine that those sell out the quickest and the pretty available stuff lasts a bit longer and you could be taking your chances if you order an IPA or pale.

With that being said, I'm totally fine with a bar that has 10-24 (not sure how you picked these numbers...kind of random) taps or some quality stuff. Only thing is, with 10-24 taps, you definitely won't please everyone.

 

There's a reason for that.

 

Is there such a thing as too many? The bar with the most amount of taps around here has 24, and it seems like so few.

 

Good point. I sound like a crusty old bastard. I should just be thankful that I have a wide range of options in terms of places that serve good beer.

 

The biggest issue with over 15-20 different beers on tap is that it can become intimidating for a lot of people. When given that many options people don't really respond all that well. Consumers get confused. My problem is that I would want to have more than what I could reasonably drink and not be able to make a decision on what I wanted to drink. More often than not, most people would just go into a shell and end up picking whatever they are most familiar with.


I am not really concerned as much about the quality, I trust if you own a bar, and it is successful enough to stay open you know what you are doing.

 

I have to disagree with that. 90 days is pushing to the extreme. especially iif a place is dispensing the beer with a mix of co2 and compressed air (a pretty common practice, especially in places that have a lot of taps). The air in the mix can actually stale the beer pretty efficiently if a keg isn't emptied in a week or less.
I suppose that with the popularity of sixtels with many brewers, the risk is probably lessened to a some degree.

 

I tend not to go to public houses nowadays, so I am rather out of touch, but I would say four or five cask beers (perhaps even less) would suffice. Why anyone would want more is beyond me (I do understand that choice is considered important in America).

 

A local tap room in my town has 50 taps. The town is a smaller, lower middle class, and most definately a blue collar bud light/busch drinking place.

I know for certtain they dont turn the taps over enough. Nice place, but I have had old beer there. Should be better in the summer.