Tap Handle #791: South Beach - Light

Tap Size:  13"

Rarity:  less than 10 seen, nanobrewery, contract brewed, fragile

Mounting:  internal 3/8" nut

I had thought the Sail Ale tap in profile #731 would be the last of 4 taps that I would profile from South Beach Brewing. However, it seems the owners really love their bright, colorful and whimsical tap designs, because I now have not just 1, but 2 more South Beach taps to profile! This is the first of the 2 and is simply called South Beach Light. I have had this tap for a while and meant to work up an immediate profile in exchange for receiving it, but somehow it slipped through the cracks. I did award it a bronze medal in the nautical themed category of my 2020 ATH Tap Handle Awards. The tap features a large clam shell on top of a multi-colored auger seashell. Waves are splashing up around the bottom of the auger shell, and the South Beach logo featuring character "Frank Sunatra" appears at the bottom. Down the face of the auger shell appears the word "LIGHT" in sculpted, raised letters. Inside the clam shell is a sculpting that looks like it might be a lifeguard shack. On the back of the clam shell the words "I love right now" appear, where instead of the word "love", a symbol of a heart is used. Since I had not seen this on their previous taps, I decided to see what this new slogan was about. If you want to know it this means, check out this page on the brewery's website. The reason I've listed this tap as fragile, as well as changing some previous South Beach entries to also include that keyword, is because the taps have certain physical features that stick out and are easily broken off. The most commonly damaged features are the oval compass points on Frank Sunatra (see photo below). I have only seen this tap hit the secondary market a couple of times, and it sold for a whopping $188-$250!

Example of fragile spots chipped off

For more about South Beach Brewing, see this post.

South Beach Light is not found on the brewery's website. There is still no entry for the brewery on Ratebeer. Beer Advocate does list the brewery and the beer but there are not enough ratings to provide a score. The one description in the review section says the beer has a smell of "a familiar lager with a bit of pine" and also "Taste is easy with some hop but mostly cracker and malts. A very good easy drinker."