Tap Handle #732: Moon Under Water

November 01, 2019

Tap Handle #732: Moon Under Water - Tranquility IPA

Tap size: 10.25"
Rarity: less than 10 seen
Mounting: 3/8" ferrule on 5/16" anchor bolt

I was able to acquire this tap thanks to one of my club members and Anne Farmer, one of the owners of Moon Under Water Pub and Brewery. Produced to commemorate the 50th anniversary (July 2019) of NASA's Apollo 11 mission which resulted in Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon, it's very impressive, not only in design but also in stability...this tap has some serious weight to it. An astronaut holds a large sign where a label can be placed (I have taken a photo of the 2 labels I received, to the right). This feature allows the tap to be used for all their beer varieties. The name of the brewery appears as a decal on a raised section on the base of the tap. On the astronaut's backpack are the words: "One small step for man One great beer for mankind". Below the backpack are some moon rocks that add a nice finishing touch. The bluish color scheme is pretty striking and I had to use a special filter on my camera to capture it properly. I've only seen a few of these hit the secondary market.

On July 16, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a journey to the Moon and into history. Four days later, while Collins orbited the Moon in the command module, Armstrong and Aldrin landed Apollo 11’s lunar module, Eagle, on the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility, becoming the first humans to set foot on the lunar surface. In July 2019, NASA commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission with a series of activities that included interviews with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins; hosting the Apollo 50 Festival, a free three-day event on the National Mall in Washington; dedication of Postal Service commemorative stamps; TV broadcasts; ringing the closing bell on Wall Street; a concert at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington; and several other events.

Click through to read more about Moon Under Water Pub and Brewery, their Tranquility IPA, and to see more photos of this out-of-this-world tap...

Moon Under Water Pub and Brewery was founded in 2012 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada by Clay Potter, Chelsea Walker, Steve Ash (Potter's stepfather) and Anne Farmer (Potter's mother). The four owners purchased a brewery and brewpub that came up for sale. Potter, the brewmaster, had earned a degree in genetics, but was working as an assistant at Lighthouse Brewing. He left the country to study brewing at Heriot Watt University in Scotland, and while there, he and his new wife spent a lot of time visiting European bars and breweries. He even did an internship at Bitburger Brewery in Germany that gave him a love for German-style brewing. Once he returned to Victoria, he worked for Driftwood and Turning Point breweries, but dreamed of opening his own brewery and updating the German styles he had fallen in love with. When a small Victoria brewpub with a German brewhouse came up for sale, Potter’s entire family joined the venture. The name of the brewery comes from a 1946 essay written by George Orwell, in which he described 10 attributes that defined the perfect pub.

The brewery shared a small commercial property with a beauty supply store, in a light industrial area across the road from a gravel depot. While attractive to local workers as a lunch spot, evenings are a more challenging scenario. The brewpub serves hand made food that incorporates their beers in most of their dishes, and hosts events such as music bingo and guest taps from other breweries. There are 5 core beers that are available at all times, as well as seasonal offerings. In 2013, as part of a fundraising and awareness campaign for Broken Promises Animal Rescue, Moon Under Water released two “beers” made especially for dogs. The two beverages - Beef & Barley Dunkel and Chicken & Peanut Pilsner - were non-alcoholic with no carbonation or hops, featuring barley, beef and chicken stock as well as glucosamine and salmon oil for a healthy coat and joints. In 2015, Walker championed a new beer called Hip as Funk that was dedicated to "bad-ass women in the craft beer industry". It was designed for women who like what they like and showed that women could be portrayed non-sexually in the alcohol industry.

By 2017 Potter had begun developing the brewery's Kettle Sours and Crows Nest series. They celebrated their 5 year anniversary with a fund raiser of $1100 for the Victoria Humane Society. They also had been interested in adding space, and when the beauty supply store adjacent to the brewpub closed, Moon Under Water took advantage of the opportunity to expand. The newly-acquired space will feature a distillery as well as a minor-friendly lounge area with local art for sale. The lounge will eventually transition to a tasting room for beers and spirits. The extra space will also have a large walk-in cooler for storage, which will in turn free up space for two new tanks in the main area. New tanks will mean more volume, more room for experimentation, and most importantly, more seasonal brews. But as late as 2018 the brewery's plans had been stymied by antiquated city parking laws and government bureaucracy, which required the brewery to provide a higher ratio of parking spots to patrons due to the expansion.

Moon Under Water's Tranquility IPA is a 1990s West Coast style IPA, a Canadian IPA for Canadian craft beer connoisseurs. Citrusy, resinous, and piney, it’s not arrogant or off-balanced, just unfiltered and dry-hopped...a throwback to the pioneers of craft. This beer has been retired.