Tap Handle #647: Twisted X

May 17, 2017

Tap Handle #647: Twisted X

Tap size: 12.25"
Rarity: 50 or less seen, tap retired?
Mounting: internal 3/8" nut

Although this tap is very much in the style of a toy-on-a-stick, the inexpensive price and the Mexican Day of the Dead styling of a skull in a sombrero was too good to pass up. It also came with some great labels, and I've chosen to profile the beer variety based on which label is my favorite: Chupahopra. There is room for a label on both the front and the back of the tap. As is normal for dark colored taps, fingerprints and dust will show up quite easily. I was told that this style of tap is no longer in production, but I have been unable to verify that. If so, I imagine these will be harder to find in the years to come.

Click through to read more about Twisted X Brewing, their Chupahopra IPA, and to see more photos of this stylish tap...

Twisted X Brewing was founded in Cedar Park, Texas in 2009 by Shane Bordeau and Jim Sampson. Both men had worked for a tech company while drinking Mexican beers after work and dabbling in home brewing. When the company they worked for was bought out, they decided to take a chance on their dream of opening a microbrewery, focusing on a variation of the style of beer they preferred called Tex-Mex. After being denied by investors due to lack of large-scale brewing experience, they purchased a 3-barrel system and rented a little 900 square foot warehouse. Required by regulations to either sell their brew in multiple retail outlets as a production brewery or out of a self-owned brewpub, the partners opted for the retail sales. Retailing was more attractive because owning a brewpub restricted sales to only the brewpub, with no option for retail. Other breweries such as Real Ale and Uncle Billy's helped them get established and develop recipes, which they brewed on their small 3bbl pilot system, and Twisted X released their first beer in 2011.

By 2013 increased demand led them to move to a larger location, a 10,000 square foot building in Dripping Springs, Texas, which increased their production from 3 bbls to 30 bbls. After a new set of tanks arrived, they were able to produce 58 bbls. They kept the smaller 3 bbl pilot system from the original brewery to make small batch and experimental brews to be sold in the new tap room. The building has a definite barn style look, complete with a metal roof. The facilities also include a new bottling line, where 12 ounce bottles of their four flagship brews were bottled, along with special 22 ounce bombers, which they used for the Senor Viejo Imperial Black Lager aged in Tequila barrels. Their Tex-Mex beers contain a corn component, although their corn content is less than that found in imports from Mexico. Other unique offerings include a dark lager aged in whiskey barrels, a salsa with a touch of ghost pepper, a Mexican-style coca-cola, and Michelada - a light beer that contains tomato juice, lime juice, salt or celery salt, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce and is garnished with a lime.

Twisted X offers local farmers their post-processing grains, which can be fed to livestock. And a restaurant in Austin buys jalapenos from the brewery after they have been used to make Fuego; after the restaurant deep fries them, they put them on a burger. Since the brewery's tasting room cannot serve food, customers are encouraged to bring their own to the tasting room, or to take advantage of onsite food trucks, while sitting inside or at outdoor picnic tables. The tasting room also features flat screen TVs for watching sporting events, live music during specific times, and brewery merchandise for sale. Twisted X beers can be found in bars and restaurants in the Austin area, as well as in several retail outlets. In the future, the brewery plans to add a distillery to the premises.

Chupahopra is a full flavored IPA with a pronounced hoppy finish that is created by adding Amarillo hops at the end of fermentation. This ale is the only ale in the brewery's main production lineup. The name Chupahopra is a play on the Tex Mex folk legend Chupacabra.