Under normal circumstances, about 10% of all the beer consumed in the U.S. flows from kegs, through draft lines and into pitchers and glasses at bars, restaurants, brewery taprooms and other venues using a combination of physics and chemistry.
Few people understand draft system wizardry better than Neil Witte, so who better than the Master Cicerone and draft expert to ascertain the quality of draft service at on-premise retailers?
Witte recently unveiled TapStar, a certification process for sellers of draft beer.
After drying up virtually overnight in a drought that lasted for eight weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down bars and restaurants, draft sales are beginning to claw their way back, accounting for 2% of total beer sales between Weeks 21-30, according to National Beer Wholesalers Association chief economist Lester Jones.
With a months-long pause in draft service at on-premise venues, the potential for some of the biggest offenders of sub-par draft beer experiences — unclean draft lines and out-of-code beer — to leave customers with literal bad tastes in their mouths is high.
“There’s a myriad of things that can take really great beer and essentially ruin it right at the last possible minute,” Witte said. “I’ve been battling these things and working with retailers on these issues for 20 years now.”
Witte believes he is best positioned to drive the certification program as an independent consultant with nothing to push other than the ideal service conditions for draft beer. A brewery couldn’t initiate a similar program, he said.
“Despite your best efforts, it’s going to be perceived as you’re just trying to sell your beer,” Witte said.
Prior to launching his consulting company, Craft Quality Solutions, in 2017, Witte worked for almost 20 years as the field quality manager at Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, Missouri. That role took him to bars and restaurants across the country. Witte is the lead trainer for the Cicerone Certification Program and was the Brewers Association’s quality ambassador, until the national trade group slashed much of the ambassador program in budget cuts due to the pandemic.
Through the new TapStar program, Witte assesses accounts based on a multi-point inspection developed with one goal: to ensure consumers receive the freshest and best tasting pint of beer possible. Among the qualifications to be a TapStar certified account are biweekly line cleaning, beer clean glassware and fresh kegs. Practices that disqualify bars and restaurants include using an incorrect gas blend, air compressors and, on most occasions, frosted glasses.
Like many other business ventures dreamed up before the novel coronavirus changed almost every aspect of American life, Witte has had to make changes to TapStar’s business model.
“I was literally three or four weeks away from launching, I was looking at an early or mid-April launch. I had it all planned out,” he said. “I had 20 accounts here in Kansas City that agreed to be early adopting accounts as a paid model. And then COVID hit, so obviously everything shut down, so that scuttled those plans.”
What was planned as a paid service is now available free of charge only to establishments in and around Witte’s hometown. Qualifying accounts are listed on TapStar’s website; so far, 10 bars and brewery taprooms have earned the seal of approval.
The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic may force the permanent closure of thousands of bars and restaurants. According to a late-July survey by Yelp, the restaurant industry makes up the highest total of business closures
“Of the all closed restaurants in July, 15,770 have permanently closed (60%), accounting for 2,956 more permanent closures, a 23% increase since June 15,” Yelp reported. “Meanwhile, bars and nightlife, an industry 6X smaller than restaurants, have endured an especially high closure rate, with 5,454 total business closures, 2,429 (44%) of which are permanent closures.”
Launching a service aimed at such businesses in this climate may seem imprudent. But, as consumers return to drinking and dining outside their homes, an establishment’s TapStar certification may make them feel confident that their dollars won’t be wasted on a subpar product.
“The potential for quality issues right now at retail is huge, because there’s a ton of systems that haven’t been taken care of — a lot of them have — but there’s a bunch of them that haven’t,” Witte said. “And there’s a whole bunch of really old beer out there that people are trying to unload.”
TapStar’s primary target audience is on-premise establishments, but consumers are nearly as important, because they need to know and appreciate the TapStar name for a certification to prove valuable to an account.
“I’ve got branding, I’ve got the plan in place, and plenty of people who are starting to open back up who need all the help they can get,” Witte said. “I can certify places that have taken care of their system and aren’t pouring out-of-code beer, that are still doing all the right things. And then try and promote those businesses with beer drinkers in the Kansas City area.”
Once the hospitality industry is able to reopen more broadly and establishments regain some stability, Witte sees TapStar expanding to more cities and growing to work with draft line cleaning companies and wholesalers’ draft departments.
“But that’s all, like, pipe dream stuff right now,” he said. “I’m pretty laser focused on the granular level of things. What I’m doing is really small, but I’ve got big visions.”