Tap Handle #855: Post Road Tavern (Perry's Majestic/Brooklyn Brewing)

5/14/2025 04:40:00 pm

Tap Handle #855: Post Road Tavern (Perry's Majestic/Brooklyn Brewing)

Tap size: 14.75"

Rarity: 25 or less seen, hand-made, fragile, brewery closed

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

resin sculpted sign

I first became aware of this tap around 2014 when one popped up on the secondary market, although the tap dates all the way back to the mid-1990's, around the time that the brewery was winning medals at the Great American Beer Festival. The first one on the secondary market actually appeared around 2009. When seeing the tap in person, you are immediately struck by the immense size, at nearly 15" tall! It's also quite weighty in the hand. Photos found online make it seem as if this is a standard 10-11" tap, but in reality this thing is massive. It features an English diplomat from the American Colonial period, harkening back to the days when riders on horseback stopped at taverns along the Post Road between Boston and New York, to eat and quench their thirst with English-style ales. The diplomat sits atop a white base, with the name of the brewery in raised white lettering on a sculpted red ribbon. Below that is an oval area to place the label for the beer variety, and towards the bottom is another red ribbon with the words "classic tavern ales", also in raised white lettering. It's definitely an impressive tap. The older resin version featured a sculpted sign that screwed on to the front, similar to that found on other early taps such as Devil Mountain or Peckerhead (see photo inset right), while later urethane versions used a paper label. The resin version suffers from the infamous shrinking resin issue which causes cracking and peeling paint, and they are fragile due to the diplomat's left hand breaking off easily. The urethane version does not have these issues. About 14-15 of these have showed up on the secondary market over the years, the majority of which were resin; the urethane version is much harder to find. The price has ranged from $60-$150, with the last one (at the time of this writing) selling in 2024 for $125.

Post Road Brewing Company was founded in 1989 by A.J. Moran, a liquor store owner in Framingham, Massachusetts, and his cousin Larry Bastien, a fire dispatcher from Newbury, Massachusetts. Both were home brewers looking for flavorful ales, and with the encouragement of friends and family, they decided to sell their beers commercially. They named their company for the Boston Post Road, the first postal route in America, linking New York City and Boston since 1673. The Post Road was known for having the finest taverns filled with excellent English style ales, thus Moran and Bastien opened the Post Road Tavern to serve their beers.

Lacking the capital to purchase and install brewing equipment, they decided to have their beer contract brewed by Catamount Brewing. Moran and Bastien re-created 4 of their homebrewing recipes at Catamount: Pale Ale, IPA, Snow Shoe Brown, and Light Dinner Ale. Pumpkin Ale was added later as a fall seasonal. Due to the quality of Catamount's brewing process, Post Road developed a solid reputation among the early craft drinkers in the area. Post Road Pale Ale, their signature beer, won a silver medal at the 1989 Great American Beer Festival, and bronze medals in 1994 and 1995. However, by 1997, a downturn in the market had negatively impacted Post Road, and with their contract brewer Catamount having struggles of their own, Moran decided to sell. Post Road was purchased by Perry's Majestic Beer Inc. in Delaware, which was producing Perry's Majestic Beer for Riverosa Company, a public holding company that was licensing the Perry's Majestic name from Frankenmuth Brewing. Moran stayed on as brand manager.

Unfortunately, the Riverosa Company folded in late 1997, and Perry's Majestic was left brewing a contract beer that no longer had a customer. Looking to divest all of their beer brands, in 1998 Perry's Majestic sold the Post Road brand to Brooklyn Brewing. Post Road had needed deeper resources and long-term institutional support in order to maintain and enhance its niche, and Brooklyn was impressed by the brand's reputation and history. Once again, Moran remained as brand manager. Eventually, Moran moved on, and Brooklyn retired all of Post Road's beers except for Post Road Pumpkin Ale, which is still brewed today as a seasonal beer by Brooklyn. Perry's Majestic ceased all brewing operations in 1999, renaming the company to Phlo and switching production to non-alcoholic beverages. This allowed them to cease paying for licensing the Perry's Majestic name, with the brand reverting back to Frankenmuth for production until the mid to late 2000's, when it was finally retired.

No description of Post Road Pale Ale could be found. Take the BeerAdvocate rating with a grain of salt...the ratings reflect the Brooklyn Brewing period, not the Catamount Brewing and Perry's Majestic periods. This distinction is notable because Post Road Pale Ale won a silver medal at the 1989 Great American Beer Festival, and bronze medals in 1994 and 1995 under Catamount's production, and would likely have been rated higher back then. Also, some of the rating descriptions referred to drinking a pumpkin ale, which the Pale Ale was most certainly not. Clearly some reviewers have mixed up their Post Road beer reviews.