Tap Handle #727: Ghostface

September 13, 2019

Tap Handle #727: Ghostface

Tap size: 11"
Rarity: less than 10 seen
Mounting: internal 3/8" nut

This tap is so cool! A big thanks to one of my club members and Mike Cuddy of Ghostface Brewing for hooking me up with this tap and adding it to the Museum. It features a skeletal arm that holds a round disc (which resembles a hockey puck a bit), which in turn bears the name and logo of the brewery (and the words "spooky good"). The tap is not variety specific and is used for all of the brewery's beers (I have chosen to profile their Tempted Angel Belgian Dubbel). The spotty bronze/metallic coloration of the bones are a really unique touch and enhances the cool factor. I have not seen these on the secondary market.

Click through to read more about Ghostface Brewing, their Tempted Angel Belgian Dubbel, and to see more photos of this scary good tap...

Ghostface Brewing was founded in Mooresville, North Carolina in 2016 by Mike and Suzy Cuddy. Mike had been homebrewing in the couple's basement for several years. Pleased with the popularity of his beverages among friends and neighbors, Mike proposed opening a brewery to Suzy, who reacted enthusiastically. It was a long process to get the brewery operating, but eventually it opened in a 2,500 square foot building featuring an industrial theme. Using reclaimed brick from other parts of the building, the bar and walls are primarily concrete while tables and chairs are metal. Two large wooden communal tables are featured in the center with standing bar table tops toward the back, and there is a lounge area up front where guests can play a round of checkers. There's also an outdoor patio. Ghostface Brewing offers more than just beer, and is family and kid friendly. They also serve wine, cider, house-made mead, food, and craft soda for the children. On the weekends they have live music for guests to enjoy. The brewery houses a wood fired oven, which is operated every night by Davidson Pizza Company. There are 16 taps in the bar, all of which feature Ghostface brews, guest ciders and the house mead.

Through their “buy a brick, build a brewery” fundraiser, Ghostface was able to have their guests be a part of their history. Two to three lines of text were etched into a name plate and physically installed onto a brick in the tap room, where it will remain in the brewery forever. From the start, Mike and Suzy had big plans for Ghostface, starting with bottling their core beers for local distribution. They also purchased another section of their building, adding 1,000 square feet and another walk-in cooler, allowing them to double their output in 2017. By 2018 the brewery grew more by adding a second location less than a mile from the original site. The inability to make enough beer to sell outside the taproom - due to growing demand and not enough space in the original location - was causing Ghostface to lose out on distribution opportunities. The new location was formerly Easy Eddie’s Motorcycle Shop, which had previously suffered some fire damage.

The new location allowed for growth with about 2,300 square feet, nearly double the amount of taproom space as the original location, and features a rustic barnyard style alongside Ghostface’s signature skull logo and color palette. In addition to the motorcycle shop the building had once been a bank, and the old bank vault was re-purposed as a beer cooler. Couches and a relaxed seating environment create a unique and different feel for the second location. An outdoor patio, half-covered and featuring a fire pit, provides outdoor seating with a view toward historic downtown. An additional 3,000 square feet of backroom space - the major selling point for Mike - will allow for production brewing and canning, allowing Ghostface Brewing to expand their future distribution across Mooresville and beyond.

The brewery rotates their beers on a regular basis, but always has a core selection available daily. They always try to have something malty, hoppy, dark and light on tap at all times. They also offer gluten-reduced beers for Celiac and gluten-sensitive customers. Many of their beers are brewed with a special enzyme that removes almost all traces of gluten from the beer and routinely tests below 10PPM (considered safe for Celiacs by the FDA). The reason behind the focus on gluten-reduced offerings is that Suzy has a gluten sensitivity and she loves beer!

Tempted Angel is Ghostface Brewing's rendition of the classic Belgian Dubbel in which they add complexity to the brew by adding wildflower honey and enough bitterness for balance. Dark fruit and spicy aromatics from Belgian Abbey yeast meld nicely with caramel and toffee flavors from Munich and Chocolate Malts.