We Have How Many Beers on Tap?!

We thought that 8 tap lines would be plenty. Back in late 2013 and early 2014, when we were creating the layout and plans for the brewery and taproom, the brewing industry felt a whole lot different. Breweries each had 3-5 year-round beers and would cycle through seasonal offerings to round those out. At the time, installing 8 tap lines seemed like plenty. We had four for Wheatstone Bridge, Flip Switch IPA, Ampere Amber, and Short Circuit Stout (the four beers we considered our flagships when we opened) and four more that we could rotate temporary beers through.

That was 4+ years ago, back when we were the only production brewery in downtown Saint Paul and just the fourth brewery in the Saintly City overall. Things, as you likely know, have changed quite a bit.

In late August, we completed the installation on 8 additional tap lines, bringing our total up to 16 taps and meaning we now have more beer on tap than any other downtown Saint Paul brewery. This expansion allows us to achieve a few different goals we had laid out for ourselves for 2018, including expanding our hop-forward lineup (by the end of this month, we’ll have 5-6 different hoppy beers on tap, compared to just 1 for a majority of past years) while still offering a wide variety of beers to appeal to different palates. Having 16 taps means we can brew more unique beer styles all while still offering a core lineup of familiar options. We can tap 3-4 IPAs, a pale ale, a wheat beer or two, a pilsner and a kolsch, and still have room for new styles (sours anyone?). We’ve always said we wanted our taproom to be a place for beer nerds and non-nerds alike, and expanding our beer menu truly makes that possible.

Of course, a milestone like this means we need to celebrate. On Saturday, September 29th we’re throwing a Sweet 16 Taps Party to show off this fancy new upgrade. Sweet 16 party attire is encouraged (if you aim for high school prom attire, you’re pretty much nailing it) and we’ll have our robot photo station set up so you can capture the memories with our beloved mascot. We’ll have a wide variety of beer styles on tap, including favorites like Wheatstone Bridge and Tiny Circuit Coffee Stout, seasonal offerings like Schottky Pumpkin and Funkenfest Oktoberfest, rare favorites like Irish Cream Stout, and new infusions like Arnold Palmer Parity Pilsner and Mimosa Brut IPA. We’ll also be surprise releasing some cask beers throughout the day, meaning at any point we could have 18+ different beers on tap (depending on how thirsty you are, of course).

We’ll also be hosting a Sweet 16-style beer tournament, with the best selling beers in each match up each hour moving onto the next round. The winning beer will be available in pints for just $3 for an hour after the tournament ends, because every champion deserves a proper victory lap. Then, in the evening we’ll have live music from the “unofficial mayor of Saint Paul,” Martin Devaney, from 7-9pm. Slow dancing is totally optional (he is the unofficial mayor -- check his twitter profile-- so no mandates), but we like to think it’ll happen. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of spaces to sit too since we recently added 5 new high top tables with barstools!

Lastly, we couldn’t have done any of this without our Robot Collective members. We launched this member program and mug club specifically to make taproom improvements like this possible, and if it wasn’t for their excitement in joining, we’d still be waiting to slowly raise the funds for this type of upgrade. Members of this unique program get a ton of incredible benefits, including free beer, growler discounts, free taproom rentals, a free members-only t-shirt, and a whole lot more. Learn more about joining the Robot Collective here. From all of us at Tin Whiskers, thank you Robot Collective!