Tap Handle #696: W.G. Barr Beverage Company

August 07, 2018

Tap Handle #696: W.G. Barr Beverage Company - T.W. Pitchers' Snake Bite

Size: 11.75"

Rarity: less than 10 seen

Mounting: internal 3/8" nut

My camera has been fixed and I'm excited to present this Snake Bite tap that's been waiting to be profiled for quite awhile now. This has to be one of the best snake-themed taps ever produced. The detail on the snake is amazing. It is wrapped around a branch that has an apple on top, which represents the fact that Snake Bite has apple cider blended with lager. And check out the fang marks on the apple! A large gear-shaped sign has the name T.W. Pitchers', as well as the name "Snake Bite" and the words "a refreshing blend of lager & crisp apple cider". This tap doesn't appear on the secondary market very often, and when it does it commands a high price.

Click through to read more about T.W. Pitchers' and W.G. Barr Beverage Company, their Snake Bite brew, and to see more photos of this wicked tap...

W.G. Barr Beverage Company was founded in 2013 in San Francisco, California by Wilson Barr and Tommy Hester. The two men met while pitching for Williams College's baseball team in Western Massachusetts. While at school, they found they shared an interest in craft brewing and began planning to start their own beverage company. However, it wasn’t until Barr visited Great Britain that their concept started gaining traction. During his time in the U.K., Barr saw people at pubs ordering round after round of a mixture of lager and cider called Snake Bite. He quickly realized Snake Bite had the potential to be a successful beverage in the United States.

Over the next two years they worked on crafting a business plan, spending many late nights taste testing, researching state and federal alcohol regulations, evaluating potential contract breweries, and assembling a fundraising pitch for initial investors. Barr and Hester launched T.W. Pitchers’ Snake Bite by raising $300,000 from friends and family and contracting with a Wisconsin brewery to produce their recipe and provide canning. The name TW Pitchers' stands for "Tommy and Wilson, pitchers" or "Two Williams pitchers."

By 2014 Snake Bite was being distributed to more than 200 bars and stores in the city, as well as much of Northern California, thanks to their efforts to win over Matagrano, the largest and most-highly respected distributor in the Bay Area. At the time Barr and Hester didn't have any samples ready to present, so they mixed the sample in the backseat of their car as they drove to their meeting with Matagrano, who they managed to impress with their impromptu mix. In addition, Barr and Hester took care in designing the packaging to stand out on shelves in a way that would appeal to men. Instead of a paper wrapper, the logo is painted directly onto the glass, with a sharp-toothed, yellow-eyed snake encircling the bottle. The two men work out of a 1975 Airstream trailer named Rosie (due to the thousands of rivets it has), which was remodeled to function as company headquarters, so there is no brewing facility and they are not open to the public. Currently TW Pitchers' produces 3 year round beers sold on draft and in bottles.

Snake Bite is a refreshing blend of lager and crisp apple cider based on a popular British pub-mixed favorite. It’s similar in taste to a traditional hard cider, but not as sweet. Upon drinking, full-bodied apples hit the pallet first, followed by a splash of tart cranberry and then subtle malt characteristics that provide a clean finish. Recommended food pairings are tacos, burgers, sushi, and fried chicken, but Snake Bite is a delicious complement to any food.