Beer tower

A beer tower is a fun device used to serve beer, also called a portable beer tap, tabletop beer dispenser, triton dispenser, or beer giraffe. You can find these in bars, pubs, and restaurants. It lets a whole group of friends pour their own beer without needing to ask for each drink separately.

Beer towers come in many sizes, often holding two to three times more beer than a normal pitcher, which usually holds about 48 to 60 U.S. fluid ounces (about 1.4 to 1.8 liters).

Older models looked like a tall plastic tube about four feet high, connected to a beer tap at the bottom. Newer versions might have several taps so many people can get a drink at the same time.

To keep the beer cold, these devices often use ice or special cold packs. Sometimes the cold parts are inside, and other times they are outside to make cleaning easier. The way the beer comes out is usually simple, working like a smaller version of a regular beer tap or a special pouring system.

History

The first versions of what we now call a beer tower were known as portable keg taps or picnic taps. They were mainly used at outdoor events like picnics and were much bigger than today’s beer towers. People would pump air into the beer container by hand, and this would create pressure that pushed the beer out through a tap. Another type used lager beer barrels that stood upright, letting gravity naturally flow the beer out, which is how modern beer towers work.

Usage

Beer towers are fun tools used in bars and clubs to serve drinks. They are popular in places like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. In Australia, they started showing up in bars around 2012, beginning in Queensland.

In the United States, some rules were made in March 2011. Officials in Boston decided that bars needed special permission to use beer towers for serving drinks.

In India, people have been using self-service tabletop beer dispensers since at least 2017.