Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink
  3. Features

Take Your Drinking to New Heights and Serve Suds in Style with a Beer Tower

Beer towers replicate the draft experience on a table top.

In Southeast Asia, it’s not unusual to see barroom tables punctuated by tall cylinders filled with glowing, golden beer. Instead of simply ordering a pint at the counter, these patrons are ordering beer to share, dispensed by a beer tower.

Recommended Videos

Beer towers are an alternative to the traditional pitcher method of dispensing draft beer to a group. The concept is simple. The bartender fills up a beer tower from the tap, which is delivered to the patrons. Guests can then dispense as much, or as little beer as they like at their own pace. While not incredibly common in the US, the popularity of beer towers has spread internationally. You may not be able to find beer towers in your corner pub today, but you can get a jump on the trend and add one to your home bar with these options.

Wildwood-Beer-Tower-2
Wildwood Towers Image used with permission by copyright holder

Wildwood Towers are gorgeous objet d’art sourced from custom components including a hand-turned wooden base. These are tastefully designed beer towers that will blend into many traditional decorating schemes.

If your style is more “atomic age neon” than “rustic artisanal,” BarProducts.com offers a 3 liter beer tower that resembles a rocket about to take flight. With a picnic tap style dispensing mechanism, this model also offers an ice tube to keep the beer cold and even hosts its own multicolored fluorescent light show. 

The-BrewTendeer-Tabletop-Beer-&-Beverage
The BrewTender Tabletop Beer & Beverage Dispenser Image used with permission by copyright holder

Buy Now would fit seamlessly into most contemporary kitchens. The chrome model in particular looks more like a blender than a beer dispenser. The BrewTender holds eighty ounces and, like the rocket tower, includes an ice vault and optional lighting. A Lazy Susan rotating base means that everyone at the table can easily get a pour.

As an upgrade to your home bar, beer towers let your guests serve themselves and provide a novel, conversation-sparking addition to your setup.

Lee Heidel
Lee Heidel is the managing editor of Brew/Drink/Run, a website and podcast that promotes brewing your own beer, consuming the…
Dark rums for whiskey fans
These rums are a great choice for whiskey drinkers
rum bottles

There’s no disputing the appeal of whisk(e)y. Whether it's single malt Scotch whisky, bourbon, rye whiskey, Irish whiskey, or others. There’s something special about this barrel-aged spirit. But it’s not the only aged spirit, and if you’re limiting your sipping to this style, you’re missing out on some other special, flavorful spirit. Especially dark rum.

I’ve spent years imbibing the various forms of whiskey. But every now and then, I branch out and pour myself a glass of dark rum instead. Unsurprisingly, the two spirits have some of the same aromas and flavors. Since both are matured in wood barrels, they impart flavors like caramel, vanilla, dried fruits, and oak (among others). If you don’t already, you should branch out and add dark rum to your aged spirits rotation.

Read more
Gins so good you’ll want to drink them neat
You might want to at least sip these gins before mixing with them
Tanqueray No 10

Gin is one of the only spirits that you see on a shelf, and regardless of the quality, you assume you’re going to take it home and mix it with other ingredients to make a cocktail. To many, the thought of drinking gin neat never even occurs to them. Even if they enjoy the juniper, floral, and botanical aromas and flavors of their favorite gin, they still prefer to mix it with other ingredients to make it more palatable.

But it also shouldn’t surprise you that some people enjoy drinking their gin neat or at least prefer a gin that they could drink neat if they chose to do so. Personally, I am one of those people. I enjoy gin so much that I try my best not to mask its flavors with overpowering ingredients. Sure, I like a good Gin & Tonic from time to time. But it’s definitely going to be heavier on gin than tonic if you know what I mean.

Read more
Woodinville Whiskey takes its single barrel program national
Woodinville is rolling out its hand-picked Single Barrel Cask Strength 7 Year Bourbon and 100% Rye nationally for the first time.
Alcohol, Beverage, Liquor

For years, getting your hands on a Woodinville single barrel meant knowing a guy — a specific retailer, a whiskey club, or a trip to the distillery to bottle one yourself. That's about to change.

Starting July 7, the Washington-based distillery is taking its Single Barrel Cask Strength 7 Year Bourbon and Single Barrel Cask Strength 7 Year 100% Rye national for the first time, both at an MSRP of $69.99.

Read more