Taps: How many is too many?

Its completely dependent on how much business they have. One bar with 100+ taps might/could have regular turn-around and offer fresher stuff than a place with less than 20 taps that doesnt do much business.

Some places seemingly jump all over the numbers game and advertise having so many and yet when you visit, only 60% of the taps are actually flowing. The places that do good business usually are aware of what has been hanging around and they do discounts on growler fills and such to help it move.

 

My avatar is a picture of the wall of taps at Popeye Beer Club in Tokyo. They have nearly 100 taps. Even the bartender said it was overkill. But it's nice to have that selection. As far as freshness - I would imagine the majority of the taps are sixtels.


I think 15 - 40 is good for any craft bar.

 

"Some places seemingly jump all over the numbers game and advertise having so many and yet when you visit, only 60% of the taps are actually flowing."

FWIW, I would prefer for a bar to have 60% of the taps flowing if all of those beers are fresh (i.e., not 'off') vs. having 100% flowing but with x% of those taps serving beer that has gone 'off'.

Cheers!

 

One of my favorite places, and the place that really turned me onto craft beer, is Taco Mac. Unfortunately they don't make it this far north. My motto is... the more the better.

 

I agree with you but to consistently advertise having so many lines when only a fraction of them are pouring at any given time is quite a gimmick. If I have to choose between 2 places; id rather know upfront that say place A has 26 taps that are constantly flowing. Instead of selecting place B based off advertising 40 taps but go there only to find 26 of them are actually being utilized.

Its a trivial thing I suppose.

 

In your scenario Bar A has 26 fresh beers on tap and Bar B has 26 fresh beers on tap. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Cheers!

 

the # of taps to me is less important than the variety of styles on tap.

I'd rather go to a bar that has 20 taps that are a wide variety of styles, rather than one with 30 taps but 20 of them are an IPA.

 

Not a question of freshness but, it depends on what is in the taps in the first place.
A local place advertises 120 beers on tap and a good portion of them are....
Bud, Bud Light, Bud Ice, Bud Lime, Miller, Miller Light ... I think they even have "Bud Light Ice Draft Dry"

 

I would say somewhere between 20-30 is ideal. My favorite local beer bar (Holy Grale, Louisville, KY) usually splits the middle and has around 25 or so offerings on tap any given night, depending on whether or not a keg kicks early in the night. Not only is the beer always fresh, but having that range of taps allows for a nice variety - choice is the spice of life, after all. When you go, you can always find something new, something unique, and often something rare on the draft menu, and it hits across all styles of beers - from big, barrel-aged stouts to some of the craziest Belgian sours and everything in between. IMO, 25 or so taps is enough to cover a wide enough swath that there will be at least 2 or 3 beers that will appeal to most customers, and if they are looking for something a bit different, then that's where you clean up with your bottle list.

 

If you have a well curated tap list, 10-15 is more than enough for me. When you advertise that you have 50 and 45 of them are garbage, you are just playing a numbers game.

 

As long as the selection is good and beer is fresh I don't care if they have 10 taps or 100.

 

Dont forget many taps these days are sixtels, so thats only 2 cases of beer per tap. You can also do what Flying Saucer does, if a beer is on for more than say 21 days, it goes on special blowout pricing to move it out.

Personally, I find 4 at home is enough for me and about 20 at a good bar works for most.

 

If the beer is of ample body and ABV freshness shouldn't be a concern for a while. O2 exposure is always going to be a concern if the tap is turned on and off constantly. 70+ is a bit excessive for a smaller place but for a well advertised establishment that gets a lot of turnover in their supply and customers 70+ could be a major selling point.

 

I think 30- 40 is ideal. It's enough to give a wide variety of styles at once, while still allowing the bar to have some depth in certain styles.

 

I routinely go to the place with 12 taps rather than the place with 100. Assuming decent stewardship and selection, I don't think you're gaining much by going over 30.

 

It's all about quality over quanity for me

 

When you run out of wall space, stop.

 

It really depends on who's making the decisions about which beers to pour. 15-20 can work very well if well chosen and staff is up to speed on what's pouring. Sheer numbers means nothing.

 

A local bar has 100 taps. I've never had a bad beer yet, and they've been in business over a year. You can have a lot if you have good quality control in place.


The current list, if anyone is curious:

http://media.wix.com/ugd/b9191d_8e2ec722ff3245e387e002ee03aac512.pdf