Beer tap handles for the Olde Brick House brewery

Tap handles should be comfortable, sturdy, and attractive to look at. They should also represent something, be it a specific beer, a brewery, a bar or restaraunt, or a private homebrewer's label. I think I've accomplished those goals with these two custom-made tap handles.

These were made as a Christmas gift. The recipient is a homebrewer, and names his label "Olde Brick House Brewery" after the colonial red brick building he calls home. That set the theme for both taps, and I sketched out some ideas on my notepad.

One handle would be reminescent of brick, with a flat circle on top showing a large hop bud carved in relief.

The second tap handle has a little brick house, carved in the round, and painted red with a green door. Both handles are fixed with a brass ferrule in order to attach them to the tap system.

This was a great project, and one that I'm proud to have completed.

Custom Beer Tap Handle

I love custom orders, especially ones that give me a challenge. Some friends asked me to carve a tap handle for their brother-in-law, a beer hobbyist with a home tap system. Never having made one before and being wholly unfamiliar with how a tap handle attaches to a tap, I said "You bet!"



My friends specified that they wanted the name "Williams" painted on, but other than that I was free to carve whatever.

After some pencil sketches on paper, I selected a piece of wood and cut out the general shape with a coping saw. I envisioned a simple chair leg spindle for the body, with a frothy mug perched on top. Somewhere along the line the plan expanded to include a flat shield and a hop bud.









I opted to leave it mostly unpainted, preferring to let the wood speak for itself. I gave it four hand-rubbed coats of linseed oil and sanded it between each coat with finer and finer sandpaper. Finally it was buffed with a cotton cloth. The name on the shield was applied with acrylic paints and sealed with a few coats of spray shellac.

The brass ferrule is from Kegworks.com, as is the combination metal/wood screw with which to attach it. They have a nice selection of hardware for tap systems.