Product Review: The Keg Cap Tap

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I've had a kegerator for about a year now and the benefits of having draft beer available at home are pretty good. I can have half a pint if that's all I want. I can take a growler to a party to share with friends. It's nice to have around. I made my own out of a dorm-fridge left over from our office move, and so while assembling the parts, one of the issues I ran into was the tap handle. Sure, the short black plastic job that came with the faucet worked, but part of the fun of having a kegerator is enjoying the way it looks and being proud of the find craft beer you have on tap. Being a resourceful guy, I bought a standard tap handle on eBay, sanded it down, repainted it black and now have a nice handle with a badge area, which I can print a label for using a Photoshop template I setup. It looks nice, but it was a lot of work upfront and even now to design and print the labels.

Enter the Keg Cap Tap™. It's a pretty simple, but very clever idea: the plastic caps that come on kegs to protect the bung (no laughing!) likely already has a nice label on it identifying the beer, so you just peel this off and it snaps securely onto the Keg Cap Tap™ and prominently displays what's on tap. This is so much simpler than printing your own labels, I can't even begin to tell you. This is especially true if you change kegs often.

What about homebrew or kegs without good caps on them you ask? I had the same question. Turns out you can also order blank caps in various colors which you can write on (or print your own labels) or KegCapTap.com will custom print labels for you with your design on them. Problem solved.

So how does it work? I was a little skeptical at first, but it seemed like such a simpler solution to what I had been doing I had to try it. First impression: this is a well-made, high-quality product. The feel is very sturdy and properly weighted with a very nice aluminum finish. It fit easily on my faucet without any fussing. The caps they provided fit snugly and stayed on without a hint of falling off, but still were easy enough to get off when I wanted them to. I tried the 4" model and the height made it easy to pull forward and get a good clean quick opening of the faucet for a nice pour.

I did have a few minor issues. First, it was a bit of an issue to get the cap to face perfectly forward (or backward depending on your setup). I'm not sure if this is an issue with my faucet though as I've had that issue with other handles where I wanted the label to face forward. It's like I need a small spacer in there. The other concern was the versatility of the blank caps. The caps are about a buck each, so I'd hope to reuse them. I was reluctant to write on them directly with a Sharpie as I don't think it would come off (good for during use, but not good for after use). I guess you could print round labels yourself and just stack them up if need be. A dry-erase version that stays on during use but wipes clean only when you want it to is likely an invention not yet made.

Overall, this is a product we highly recommend and is a great solution for home kegerators.

The Keg Cap Tap™ is available at www.kegcaptap.com for $24.95 and up.

Disclosure: The makers of the Keg Cap Tap™ sent us a sample handle and serveral branded and blank covers to review. We are not affiliated with the makers of the Keg Cap Tap™ and the opinions expressed here are our own.