Whether you prefer to say your glass is half-empty or half-full, or maybe you just need an ounce, Tap That is the spot for you.
Tap That sells by the ounce. Patrons tap a wristband on a tablet connected to a tap to pick and choose their pours of craft beer, cider, nitro tea or nitro coffee.
“The way the process works is you go in and you get checked in with your ID and a credit card to open your tab, and you get a bracelet that has a limit on how many ounces you can drink and usually we follow the same limit as all the breweries, which is a three-beer limit,” Tap That owner Huy Nguyen said. “Basically, after that, you get a glass and we have a whole wall of taps and tablets. In front, there’s a tablet that is tied to each tap, so you would walk up to it and if you want to drink it then you would tap your bracelet to the tablet and it lights up green and then you hand your glass to the bartender and let them know how much you want them to pour and you get charged based on the ounces.”
Tap That features 36 offerings on tap, including local craft beers and specialty beers from Bosque Brewing Company, Boxing Bear Brewing Co., Canteen Brewhouse, Marble Brewery, La Cumbre Brewing Co., Red Door Brewing Co., Santa Fe Brewing Co., Sierra Blanca Brewing Co., Starr Brothers Brewing Co., Steel Bender Brewyard and Tractor Brewing Co. There also are cider offerings as well as nitro coffee and nitro tea. There also are plans to offer wines and later expand to Rio Rancho and Santa Fe.
Taps go from light to dark, ranging from pilsners, wheat beers, pale ales to brown ales and stouts. Offerings vary in price but are consistent with what breweries charge at their locations. The possibilities are endless for patrons who choose to mix and match selections.
“You have the flexibility and full control of your ounces to try everything on that wall, or you can get a half here, half there,” Nguyen said. “You can mix beers. A lot of people are doing a lot of crazy beer fusion stuff where they’re mixing different beers together and it’s coming out really good. You know, we have cider on tap, so they’re mixing beer with cider. We also have a nitro coffee and a nitro tea from Helping Hands – they’re a local brew here that makes tea and coffee. People are mixing some of the coffee taps with like a stout or mixing a tea with a cider or a tea with an Elephants on Parade (a fruit beer by Bosque Brewing).”
Asian fusion bites and other creative culinary creations are made in Tap That’s full kitchen. Some offerings include fried avocado and Korean bulgogi fries, which are fresh-cut fries topped with Korean bulgogi meat. Tap That recently offered a bite for your pup with a hormone-free freshly roasted rib-eye bone for $1. Tap That’s two patios are dog-friendly.
“We’re trying different food,” Nguyen said. “My vision was a place where there are all kinds of different breweries in one house. Some people love Marble or Tractor or Bosque. Here you can get everything. We work with the breweries to get their more popular items and carry some of their specials.”
