Made by: Hankscraft AJS Random Lake
For 37 years, some of the world’s most iconic wooden and urethane beer tap handles have been handcrafted in Sheboygan County by Hankscraft AJS. The explosion of craft brewing starting in the early 2000s has of course been excellent for business, says Hankscraft AJS President Eric Gruener. But as the country’s largest tap handle manufacturer, making about 500,000 handles per year, Hankscraft AJS also serves the big guys like Molson Coors and Anheuser-Busch. While he expresses a fondness for traditional tap handle styles, Gruener says one of the company’s most difficult, standout projects was an Abraham Lincoln head it made for California-based 21st Amendment Brewery. Does design matter? Absolutely, says Gruener. “Seventy-one percent of [bar and restaurant] customers that are going to have a draft beer say that they’re open to having their mind changed,” he says. “And that is where the handle comes into play.”
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