Behind the Tap

The beer wasn't the problem. The bar was.

Every brewery works hard to put a perfect beer in the keg. Then it travels through a cooler, a coupler, a few feet of line, a faucet and a glass, and that's where most beer goes wrong. Bryan Louis has spent thirty years in hospitality, from bartender to beverage director to building premium imported beer brands across a dozen U.S. markets. He is a Level II Certified Cicerone and a certified master draft technician, and this is the playbook he wishes every bar had.

Whether you're a bartender, a bar manager or an owner, you'll learn how to:

• Understand your draft system from keg to faucet: couplers, FOBs, regulators, glycol and long draw
• Hold the cooler at 38°F and keep every line balanced, so beer pours at two ounces a second
• Clean lines every two weeks, take apart every faucet, and hold your line cleaner to the standard
• Serve every beer in a beer-clean glass, and prove it with three simple tests
• Pour the perfect pint, plus the stout, wheat and Czech pours
• Build a beer list that sells, price it right and track your keg yield
• Work with distributors, brewers and reps, and run tap takeovers that pay
• Sell beer: recommend, sample, pour flights and pair beer with food
• Fix foamy, flat, slow and off-tasting beer fast, and know when to call the technician

Packed with real stories, tables, checklists, a troubleshooting guide and a glossary of the language of the tap.

Required reading for every bar that pours draft beer. Keep one behind the bar, and open it before you pick up the phone.

Book Four of Three Feet of Mahogany.