Keg Taps

One topic that is often overlooked when discussing keg taps is the question of whether to own or to rent. My opinion follows the logic of the same question when applied to a man's tuxedo. Sure, renting one costs about one hundred dollars instead of five hundred dollars, but there's a time in your life when you're going to be attending a lot of weddings, so why not invest in one up front and save over the long term?

For tuxedos and weddings, this time is your late twenties and early thirties, but that doesn't mean you can't use a tuxedo for more than weddings, and well into middle age. For keg taps, the same logic follows, so long as you take care of your equipment.

Keg Taps--The Costs of Ownership

Thankfully, keg taps are much cheaper than tuxedos. You can own a simple bronco pump or picnic style keg tap for as little as thirty dollars, and even a higher quality, vertical standing Sankey pump with a real faucet and tap handle, which goes for under a hundred dollars. Of course, we're talking about keg taps for portable kegs, not the taps and faucet units used for stationary refrigeration units, with towers and all the rest. You don't have the option of renting those, or at least I haven't seen it yet.

To rent a keg tap is less, sure, as little as ten or twenty dollars. But guess what? You must put down a deposit too. The same goes for a keg, a keg bucket, and all the rest. In the long run, if you're going to be drinking a lot of beer, it just makes sense to invest in a tap you can call your own. Just don't blame me if all that beer drinking gives you a beer belly and you outgrow that tux. . .hey, maybe you should rent that tuxedo after all. It all depends on your priorities.