Tap #815: Rogue Ales - Artisan Lager

January 19, 2024

Tap #815: Rogue Ales - Artisan Lager

Tap size: 11.5"

Rarity: 50 or less seen, beer retired, tap no longer produced, hand-made

Mounting: 3/8" large ferrule

I intended to profile this Rogue Artisan Lager Statue of Liberty tap as far back as 2017, but it fell off my radar after I misplaced it, until I recently happened to re-discover it. This is 1 of 5 taps that Rogue Brewing commissioned in the late 1990s. All 5 of the taps in this series feature a common base that resembles a barrel, with the brewery's name on it in large, red sculpted letters. At the top of the barrel, on both the front and the back, is a place to attach a label. An oversized ferrule at the bottom finishes the look and adds to an already substantial weight.

The top pieces attach to the barrel by means of a threaded rod; the rod is glued to the ferrule at one end, extends up through the center of the barrel, and threads into an internal nut in the topper. By pushing the topper into the slot in the barrel and holding it in place, you then tighten the ferrule, which attaches both the ferrule and the topper to the barrel. This means that only the tops of the tap were unique and could be attached to any available base.

In addition to this Statue of Liberty topper that was used for Rogue's Artisan Ale, there was a "Fisherman" for their Wild Irish Rogue, a Santa Claus figure for their Santa Select, a "Shakespeare" figure for their Shakespeare Stout, and of course the iconic Dead Guy. Every figure in the series holds a mug of beer. Only the Shakespeare and Dead Guy taps continued to be made in this style by a new manufacturer in the mid-2000s, although the tops and bases became fixed and not interchangeable. The easy way to tell an interchangeable tap from not (most of the time) was that the beer mug was colored yellow; however, Shakespeare continued to use the yellow mug, so for that one you have to look for blue colored sunglasses and brown hair/beard (non-interchangeable versions had black sunglasses and black hair/beard), among other subtle differences. Even then there's no guarantee of success if someone glued or epoxied the top to the base.

These interchangeable versions of the tap sell for very high prices, regardless of the topper. One of the reasons is that many collectors were only able to get the toppers or had severely damaged bases, and to this day they are seeking bases in decent condition for their toppers. I did this exact thing myself, purchasing a Dead Guy tap with the yellow mug just so I could have the base, which I attached to my Santa topper. A dead giveaway is often a label for a different beer attached, for instance the Fisherman topper with a "Dead Guy Ale" label attached to the barrel base.

The other reason these taps are expensive is that they simply have a very high appeal to collectors for their sculpting, styling and scarcity; in the early 2010s these were considered "grail" taps. I never felt the need to have the interchangeable version of the Dead Guy and Shakespeare versions, when I already have the non-interchangeable versions that are profiled here on the site (profile #29 and #513, respectively).

I've seen about 15 of these Rogue Artisan Lager Statue of Liberty taps appear on the secondary market over the years that included the base, and another 4-5 that consisted of only the topper, but it's possible that some of these were the same tap changing hands. Condition can have a big impact on price, although it's usually the barrel that takes the brunt of the damage. Typically, the prices range from $150 - $400. The last one to appear at the time of this writing was almost a year ago, and sold for $330 plus shipping.

For more about Rogue Ales, see this post.

Rogue's Artisan Lager was a Vienna style lager, light bronze in color, medium-bodied, with a malt aroma, a slight malt sweetness and clean hop bitterness, and a silky sweet finish. This beer was retired in 2000.