The Museum Turns 13 Years Old, Part 3: ATH Awards

It's time for the 5th annual Amazing Tap Handles Awards!

Previous Tap Handle of the Year Award Winners

2020: Heavy Metal Brewing

2021: Straight to Ale Monkeynaut

2022: Conynham Brewing

2023: Shiner TexHex IPA

This year's fifth annual Awards required one of the following: the tap made its first appearance in social media or on my Top Acquisitions post, or was first available for sale (through the brewery or on the secondary market), in 2024. I made a list of taps that I knew of that fit that criteria and then selected winners from that pool...although, as in previous years, I'm certain there are taps out there that I'm unaware of.

I decided to do something different this year by asking a "guest panel" to provide their top 10 picks for the year....these are people that I discuss taps with on a regular basis. By ranking the taps, each one gets a score from 10 to 1, with the #1 ranked tap receiving 10 points, the #2 ranked tap receiving 9 points, and so on. This was done for each panelist, and then the scores were totaled up for each tap individually, so that the 3 highest scoring taps received Gold, the next 3 Silver, and the next 3 after that, Bronze. The "Tap of the Year" - otherwise known as "Best In Show" - was the tap with the highest score out of all the taps.

Then, like the previous 2 years, I awarded 9 medals and a "Tap of the Year" of my own choosing. It was a very difficult decision this year due to a large number of quality taps, with Bronze and Silver winners being worthy of Gold, and any of the Gold medalists very worthy of claiming the Tap of the Year honor. That's what makes all these panelist choices so interesting! Although many more taps were eligible, the taps below represent the main contenders and scored the highest among the panelists:

Carnival Cruise Lines Tiki Frog

Gristmeisters

Paperback

Old Style Hot Dog

Old Style World's Largest Six Pack

Liability Mortal Wombat

Pabst Cats

Pabst Brewski

La Debauche "Madonna"

Bron Yr Aur Beaver Deceiver Cream Ale

Quidi Vidi Day Boil

Nine Locks Fathom DIPA

Breckenridge DIAle

Red Dog Saloon Red Dog

Moddy Brew Last Bite

Here are the Top 10 Taps of 2024 from the panelists:

Finally, the medals results:

Taps receiving Honorable Mention: Pabst Brewski, Moddy Brew Last Bite, Liability Mortal Wombat, Gristmeisters, Okanagan Pale Ale clete, Destihl Dead Head, Liability boombox, New England Hemp Farm Pa's Pilsner

Many thanks for the panelists agreeing to participate in this endeavor, it was fun to do something a little different this year. I can't argue with the panel's results, I was tempted to pick those same taps myself. I've always said that tap handles are works of art, and as the old saying goes, art is subjective. Let me know in the comments what your choices would be...