Tap Handle #849: Elk Grove Brewery & Restaurant - Otis Alt Ale

Tap size:  12.5"

Rarity:  10 or less seen, hand-made, brewery closed

Mounting:  3/8" ferrule on 5/16" anchor bolt

Here is the 15th tap to be profiled from the Bill Gibson wing of the Museum. The Otis Alt Ale tap from Elk Grove Restaurant and Brewery, besides having a great design, is also great for another reason: it has a personal connection to two of the brewery's former owners, Mac "Big Mac" McAuley and Jackie Andersen-McAuley. The Otis dog character holds a frothy mug of beer with the brewery's name on it, while sitting on a barrel with the beer name sculpted in raised letters on the front of the barrel, and a "tap" sculpted under that. The beer name also appears on the back of the barrel. The character was modeled after the McAuleys' dog Otis, a long hair Dachshund. Due to the age of the tap (produced in 1999) and how long the brewery has been closed (2008), combined with a small production run, there aren't many of these floating around. This is, however, a tap that exists in both resin and urethane versions, with the resin versions suffering from the cracked/flaking paint issue that has been well-documented for other taps on this site. I can't be 100% sure, but I believe that the tap I'm profiling here is the urethane version. Besides my own tap, I have seen 8 others, with 5 of those being on the secondary market and the other 3 in the hands of collectors. The price has ranged from a low of $80 to a high of $170, with the last one selling in 2022 for $100.

For more about Elk Grove, see this post.

Elk Grove's Otis Alt Ale was a German style amber ale, brewed with imported German hops that lent a distinct hop character not found in many beers. The amber color comes from the use of German-style malts which have a lightly roasted malt flavor. This beer was bitter with a nice “Spalty” nose to it, but to keep the hops from overwhelming the palate, the malt came through as well. The roasty undertones of the Munich and Vienna malts complemented the aggressiveness of the hops very well. Otis Alt was a multiple award winner for the brewery at the Great American Beer Festival, taking Gold in 1999, Silver in 2001, Bronze in 2004, and reclaiming Gold in 2006.

Ratebeer:  3.0 out of 5

Beer Advocate:  no score