Tap Handle #354: Crispin - Original Super Premium Hard Cider

Tap size:  10.25"

Rarity:  Uncommon
Mounting:  internal 3/8" nut

I'd seen this tap for a few years but never acquired it, because there was always something else I wanted more. However, when I received it as part of a group purchase, that worked out pretty well. It's basically a bunch of ice cubes stacked on top of one another, as Crispin was made to be served over ice. The front and back are almost identical to each other, with only slight sculptural differences found in the ice cubes. This is true for the sides as well. The clear lucite ice cubes are nicely done. This tap is fairly easy to find, as well as being inexpensive.

Click through to read more about Crispin and to see more photos of this cool tap...

Crispin was founded in 2008 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Joe Heron. In 2003, Heron was the Senior Vice President of Novartis Medical Nutrition when he and his wife, Lesley Heron, founded NutriSoda. The Herons sold Nutrisoda to PepsiAmericas, the second largest Pepsi bottler in the world, in 2006. Heron began to look for a new project and settled on cider, which he believed wasn't being done properly by other companies, calling them "too sweet".

In 2010, Heron acquired Fox Barrel Cider, including its cidery in Colfax, California, and moved Crispin's operations there. The company grew approximately 200 percent in 2011, outpacing the overall cider category’s 26 percent growth during the same period, and became the No. 3 producer of cider in the U.S. In 2012 Crispin (along with Fox Barrel) was acquired by 10th & Blake, the craft and import division of MillerCoors, although Crispin is run as an independent division. Crispin sources apples from Laos and Utah, uses pure apple juice, and does not have preservatives or added malt, distilled spirit, or grape alcohol. Three to five apple varieties are used in their main line, mainly Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and Washington. A number of ciders are finished with a specialty sweetener or produced with a particular strain of yeast. Crispin has 4 classic varieties, as well as an import, an organic, and several reserve and barrel aged varieties.

Crispin Original is a refreshing natural hard apple cider that is crisp over ice. A classically styled, but untraditional hard apple cider, it is fruit forward, with a fresh, crunchy apple nose and a deliciously creamy, refreshingly crisp mouth feel. Recommended food pairings are spicy foods. Weighted average on ratebeer.com is 2.88 out of 5.

Crispin Offical Website

Source Material

Wikipedia

MillerCoors website

Heavy Table