TAP, set up by the guys behind the heaving Thirsty beer bottle shops, and WWWConcepts Group – it’s responsible for bars like Bartini and Mariko’s – takes a lobby-like space at the re-awakened Capitol Piazza in City Hall.
This is the craft beer scene’s most visible-in-the-city draft bar, and probably one of its most chilled-out yet. John ‘Johnny’ Christensen, previously group beverage manager at Brewerkz, leads a Cicerone Beer Server-certified team, who are helpful with their 20-tap and bottled beer selection and are accredited to serve it in clean glasses to boot.
The beer list is dominated by American labels – like Lost Coast, Strand Brewing and Modern Times – that Thirsty’s distribution outfit, The Drinkery, manages to procure. It translates into big flavours, bitter zings from the hops, and innovations like the Watermelon Wheat by Lost Coast Brewery ($5/taster, $8.50/half pint, $15/American pint). The bottle range ($14-$45) is a wider portfolio, with big-in-the-US breweries like Blue Moon, Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, Green Flash and Dogfish Head at the ready to heal any hop cravings.
Surrounding TAP’s long, open bar and seating are food spots like 1933, Dazzling Cafe and Japanese yakitori ZAKU (in the works). Settle in here, though, if you’re after warming bowls of chicken leg stew with olive oil-softened garlic bulbs ($18), and platters of sausage ($16/$38) and cold cuts ($16/$38).
These add up to a spot that’s serious about spreading the craft beer gospel, but TAP’s found itself a hidden location that lends a vibe not dissimilar to a transient Scandinavian airport terminal bar. It seems to have struggled to gain geek appeal, so let’s hope it manages to do better for a craft-curious public.