The 12 Best Beer Faucets [2023]: Guide to How to Choose a Beer Tap Faucet for Homebrewing

One of the single greatest upgrades that homebrewers tend to make as they get more into the hobby of brewing beer is switching from bottling beer to kegging it (if you’re unsure about whether to make the switch, click here to learn about the pros and cons of each). As you begin to keg your beer instead of bottling it, you’ll need a lot of new equipment. While you can buy a premade draft beer system or kegerator that includes all of the components needed to serve your kegged homebrew, many home brewers opt to build their own keg systems, whether they make a traditional kegerator or keezer. 

If you want to learn a bit more about kegs and kegging, check out our Ultimate Guide to Beer Kegs and our guide to how long beer lasts in a keg for helpful tips and tricks!

Whether you’re going to build your own keezer or simply upgrade the equipment on a kegerator, one of the main components that you will need to purchase is a beer faucet. Like most home brewing and beer products, there are a ton of options out there, each with its own characteristics, pros, cons, and prices. To make it easier for you, we put together this guide to how to choose a faucet, and recommend some of the best ones on the market today.

First, we’ll discuss some of the basics of the different beer faucets and the important factors you should consider when choosing one. After that, we’ll provide a list of our favorite ones so that you can make an informed decision on which kind of faucet to buy. 

What is a Beer Faucet?

Beer faucets, often referred to as beer taps or simply taps, are an important part of draft beer systems. The faucet is the external, visible portion of the draft system that is used to dispense the beer from the keg. The faucet is an essential component of beer dispensing systems that allows you to control the dispense of the beer and pour it perfectly into a glass.

Interested in learning how to pour the perfect pint of beer? Check out our guide to how to pour beer out of a keg!

Anatomy of a Beer Faucet

Beer faucets work by using a level to open and close a valve to control the flow of beer. While there are a few types of valves (forward and rear sealing) that we discuss later in this article, they all work similarly. As the lever is pulled forward, the valve opens, releasing the seal and allowing the beer to flow from the spout. As the lever is pushed backward, the valve is closed and seals, stopping the flow of beer. 

The major components of a standard rear-closing beer faucet are:

1. The tap handle, which attaches to the faucet and is used to control the lever. The threading is designed to work with all standard tap handles.
2. The lever collar, which holds the faucet lever in place and is used to secure the tap handle in the correct position.
3. The lever bonnet and friction washer, which ensure that the lever pulls forward and backward properly.
4. The ball washer, which seals the faucet.lever so that beer cannot leak from the lever assembly.
5. The lever, which moves the shaft forwards and backwards to open and close the valve. 
6. The faucet body, which includes the spout that the beer flows from as well as a housing for all of the other components of the faucet. 
7. The shaft assembly, which is the internal component that the lever moves forward and backward to control the flow of the beer. It includes the valve shaft itself, the food grade rubber washer that seals the valve to stop the flow of beer, and a nut that connects the two together.

Types of Beer Faucets

There are three main types of beer faucets: Standard (North American), European, and Stout/Nitro. While they all operate largely the same way, there are a few differences to be aware of when choosing a beer faucet.

Standard North American Beer Faucets

Standard beer faucets are the type of faucet you’re probably picturing in your head. Standard beer taps are the most common type of beer faucet, and are widely used in commercial settings as well as by homebrewers. 

They are available in both rear sealing (most inexpensive faucets, like those widely sold on Amazon), and forward sealing (more premium brands, like Perlick, Intertap, and NukaTap). We discuss the differences between forward and rear sealing beer faucets later in this article.

Standard faucets come in several sizes, shapes, and finishes. They can also include or not include a flow control valve, self-closing mechanism, and other features. They are designed to connect to either a draft beer tower or a shank, depending on the configuration of your kegerator.

European Beer Faucets

European beer faucets are not very different from standard faucets, but look a bit different. European faucets have a long, skinny spout that is designed to reduce the amount of foam produced while pouring the beer.

The main reason for differentiating between standard and European beer faucets in this article is that European faucets often have a different size or different threads, which can make them incompatible with some draft towers or shanks. If you’re shopping for a faucet and you’re in North America, it is a good idea to consider the ability to connect your new faucet to your other components.

Stout/Nitro Beer Faucets

Stout/Nitro faucets function a bit differently from standard faucets. They are not technically rear or forward sealing, and instead the handle pulls the shank up to open the valve and dispense the beer. 

A stout beer faucet is designed specifically to dispense nitro beers like stouts using a nitrogen draft system. These faucets have a skinnier spout and are designed to pour beer much slower and reduce the amount of foam produced. Stout taps also often use a creamer function, which forces the beer through small holes in a restrictor plate, which produces tiny bubbles that produce a creamy, smooth head. 

Stainless Steel vs Chrome Plated Beer Faucets

You should also consider the material of the faucet when choosing which one to buy. Beer faucets most commonly come in one of two primary finishes: chrome-plated brass and stainless steel.

Most inexpensive faucets are made from brass and coated in a chrome finish, which gives them an attractive mirror shine. While chrome-plated brass faucets often work well enough for the average homebrewer, there are a few disadvantages that are worth noting. Because the chrome is just a coating, it will wear and chip over time, which will eventually expose the beer to the brass finish. Direct contact with brass can alter the taste of your beer. 

Brass is also a softer metal than stainless steel, which means that consistent use will break a brass faucet before it will break a steel one. You will likely find yourself replacing a chrome faucet much sooner than you would have to replace a stainless steel one, making them a potentially more expensive faucet in the long run. 

Premium beer faucets, and even some less expensive ones, are usually produced from stainless steel. Stainless steel faucets tend to look a bit nicer than cheap chrome faucets (see the list of our favorite faucets on the market right now to see the difference). They also last much longer than chrome faucets because there is no finish to wear off, and they take a lot longer to break down. Most importantly, stainless steel faucets will never affect the flavor or aroma of your beer. 

Overall, if you can afford to spend a little bit more on them, we recommend buying stainless steel beer faucets, even though they come at a higher price. They are the best choice for any homebrewer who plans to use them to pour a lot of beer for a long time.

Flow Control Beer Faucets

Flow control faucets include an additional integrated flow valve that allows the pourer to adjust the flow rate and ultimately speed of the pour of the beer. Flow control beer faucets are not always necessary, but they are great for when you have different types of beer running from the same Co2 regulator. They allow you to have a smooth flow of any style without the need for additional beer lines, regulators, and Co2 tanks.

Self-Closing Beer Faucets

Self closing faucets have a spring-loaded shaft that automatically moves the shaft into the closed position when the tap handle is released. While slightly inconvenient in the sense that you cannot leave the tap open without holding the handle, self-closing faucets prevent the accidental loss of beer. Any homebrewer who has walked in on a giant puddle of beer, and empty keg, and an empty Co2 tank will tell you that a self-closing faucet is cheap insurance against an accidental spill. We all want to waste less beer!

Some faucets, like Intertap and NukaTap, have an optional self-closing spring that can be added and removed from their faucets to add self-closing functionality. 

Rear vs Forward Sealing Beer Faucets

Rear sealing faucets work by the lever pulling a shank forward and backward that seals and unseals the faucet and allows the beer to flow. The major issue that rear sealing faucets have is that when the valve is closed after dispensing beer, there is still a faucet full of beer that must drain from the faucet after it is closed. This means that the faucet body has beer residue that dries in the faucet after use. 

Rear sealing faucets are less expensive that forward sealing faucets, but the fact that beer residue remains in the faucet can cause a few problems. First, the residue is sticky, which can cause the faucet to stick closed and be difficult to operate. Second, the beer residue creates a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, which can cause infections that ruin the flavor of your beer. These infections can even travel backwards into your beer lines, connectors, and even your kegs. 

Forward sealing faucets, like most of the faucets we discuss below in our list of the best faucets available, avoid this problem by sealing the faucet in the front of the body rather than the rear of the body. This means that the only place that beer residue remains after pouring is the spout, which is easily cleaned after use, providing a more sanitary option than rear sealing. Forward sealing faucets are a bit more expensive than rear sealing faucets, but these benefits are well worth the additional cost.

Creamer Beer Faucets

Creamer beer faucets force the beer through tiny holes in a restrictor plate in the faucet, which creates a dense, creamy head that is ideal for stouts and other beers dispensed with nitrogen. Stout faucets, which are designed to be used with nitrogen or mixed beer gas, are generally creamer faucets by default.

Some standard beer faucets, like the Perlick 690SS, include a creamer feature where pushing the handle backwards instead of pulling it forwards pushes the beer through the small holes in the restrictor plate, producing a dense head of foam. This feature provides an easy way for the pourer to add the perfect amount of head to any style of beer without having to use a creamer-style faucet, which would produce too much foam for many beer styles dispensed with Co2.

The Best Standard Beer Faucets

Now that we have looked at all of the considerations you should make when choosing a beer faucet, here is a list of our favorite beer faucets on the market right now, and why we like each. For each faucet, we’ll provide the approximate price, material, features, and any other important information. 

Here is a quick reference guide that you can download (for free!) to help you shop for a new beer faucet. It provides the most important information about each faucet, and provides helpful links to the best place to buy each one at the lowest price. Want to learn more about each faucet? Keep reading below the download for a detailed description of each. 

Perlick 630SS – Perlick Forward Sealing Stainless Steel Draft Beer Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $64.99
• Material: Stainless Steel
• Forward Sealing
• No Flow Control
• No Self-Closing
• No Creamer
• No Interchangeable Parts

Perlick makes some of the highest quality beer faucets on the market today. Until fairly recently, Perlick faucets did not have much competition and were considered to be the best faucet made. While they are not the only great option anymore, they are still great faucets and a popular choice among homebrewers and professionals that will provide you with smooth operation and many years of use with any amount of beer.

Perlick’s standard beer faucet, the 630SS, is an excellent stainless steel faucet that features a forward sealing design. Because of the forward sealing design and high-quality stainless steel construction, this faucet can stand up to a lot of abuse without breaking or getting gummed up. Coming in at $64.99, it’s a but more expensive than some of the cheaper chrome faucets below, but the increase in quality justifies the price and then some.

The 630SS does not feature a flow control mechanism or creamer, but Perlick produces other faucets in this product line that do. Keep reading to find the right Perlick faucet for you based on your needs.

Perlick 650SS – Perlick Forward Sealing Flow Control Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $89.99
• Material: Stainless Steel
• Forward Sealing
• Flow Control
• No Self-Closing
• No Creamer
• No Interchangeable Parts

The Perlick 650SS is an upgraded version of the 630SS, but includes an integrated flow control valve. The flow control valve allows you to perfectly dial in the flow of the beer, which helps you produce less foam on certain styles and ensures you have the perfect pour every time.

Like the 630SS, the Perlick Flow Control Faucet features 304 stainless steel construction and a forward sealing design to ensure that the faucet never gets stuck or gummed up, and also reduces the ability for bacteria to ruin your beer. Overall, this is a great faucet, and the flow control valve is worth the upgrade, even at $89.99.

Perlick 690SS – Perlick Forward Sealing Flow Control Faucet with Push-Back Creamer

The Highlights:

• Price: $104.99
• Material: Stainless Steel
• Forward Sealing
• Flow Control
• No Self-Closing
• Creamer
• No Interchangeable Parts

If you’re looking for the ultimate control over your pour, check out the Perlick 690SS. Like the 630SS and 650SS, this amazing faucet features 304 stainless steel construction and an incredibly well-designed forward sealing mechanism. It features an integrated flow-control valve like the 650SS, but also includes a creamer function to achieve the perfect amount of foamy head. The creamer works by pushing backwards on the tap handle, which forces the beer through tiny holes in a restrictor plate to produce foam.

While many homebrewers do not have a sufficient need for this feature to justify the jump to $104.99, these are great faucets for anyone who wants to get all of the features in one exceptional piece of equipment.

Intertap Forward Sealing Stainless Steel Beer Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $39.99
• Material: Stainless Steel
• Forward Sealing
• No Flow Control
• Optional Self Closing Spring
• No Creamer
• Interchangeable Parts

If you’re looking for great stainless steel faucets that are feature-packed but a bit more reasonably priced than their Perlick competitors, check out Intertap beer faucets. This Intertap faucet features full stainless steel construction and a forward sealing design, but comes in at only $39.99. 

What makes the Intertap faucet so interesting, though, is the modular design. Intertap faucets have different spouts available that let you change the way you use the faucet, including a standard spout for most beers, a stout spout for dispensing stouts, a growler filler spout for attaching a hose to the end of the tap, and a ball lock spout.

These faucets also have an optional self closing spring that adds the ability to make these faucets self closing for only a couple of dollars more. This modular design makes it easy and inexpensive to purchase replacement parts to maintain these faucets.

Overall, these are excellent beer faucets with very cool features, making them one of the best options for homebrewers!

Intertap Forward Sealing Chrome Plated Beer Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $24.99
• Material: Chrome Plated
• Forward Sealing
• No Flow Control
• Optional Self Closing Spring
• No Creamer
• Interchangeable Parts

If you’re on a tighter budget but want something a bit better than the cheaper Amazon faucets out there, Intertap also makes a chrome plated version of their beer faucet that retails for only $24.99. Like the stainless steel version, it is forward sealing and has a modular design that lets you use different spouts for different uses as well as has an optional self closing spring. 

While we recommend stainless steel faucets due to the issues we identified with chrome plating, this is an excellent faucet for only $24.99!

NukaTap Forward Sealing Stainless Steel Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $39.99
• Material: Stainless Steel
• Forward Sealing NukaShuttle
• No Flow Control
• Optional Self Closing Spring
• No Creamer
• Interchangeable Parts

NukaTap faucets take the high build quality of modular design of the Intertap beer faucets and add a few more awesome features that make these new faucets one of our favorites on the market today.

Like the Intertap faucets, they are compatible with Intertap spout addons, including a standard spout for most beers, a stout spout for dispensing stouts, a growler filler spout for attaching a hose to the end of the tap, and a ball lock spout. 

They are constructed from stainless steel and are forward sealing like Intertap faucets as well, but they have a few important differences. First, they are much lighter than Intertap faucets, and this reduction in thermal mass reduces the foam on the first pour. 

The biggest difference between the NukaTap and other faucets is the proprietary NukaShuttle design. This single-piece shuttle’s “nuke-shaped” design improves the laminar flow of the beer, reducing foaming and allowing high-carbonation beer and even seltzer (here’s how to make your own hard seltzer!) to pour perfectly. The NukaShuttle is also designed to never damage the inside of the faucet body, which can happen in other faucets and increases the likelihood of bacteria growing in the faucet. It is also one of the best forward sealing designs available, which reduces stickiness from beer drying in the faucet body.

The NukaTap is made of stainless steel, but also has a couple of cool cosmetic finish options:

• Matte Black Finish Stealth Bomber Edition – $42.99
• Matte Black Finish Punisher Edition – $42.99

If you’re looking for a high-end faucet at an excellent price, the NukaTap is the perfect faucet for you.

NukaTap Forward Sealing Stainless Steel Flow Control Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $56.99
• Material: Stainless Steel
• Forward Sealing NukaShuttle
• Flow Control
• Optional Self Closing Spring
• No Creamer
• Interchangeable Parts

The Nukatap Forward Sealing Stainless Steel Flow Control Faucet features all of the same awesome features as the Nukatap Forward Sealing Stainless Steel Faucet, but includes an integrated flow control valve to make immediate adjustments to the flow of the beer. This is particularly helpful when using the growler filling spout, because you no longer need to turn down the Co2 and purge the keg to fill a growler without excessive foaming. 

For $56.99, this is an incredible feature-packed, high quality faucet at an extremely reasonable price.

Inexpensive Standard Beer Faucets on Amazon

The Highlights:

• Price: Approximately $15-$10
• Material: Stainless Steel or Chrome Plated
• Rear Sealing
• No Flow Control
• No Self Closing
• No Creamer
• No Interchangeable Parts

If you’re looking for an inexpensive option that still features 304 stainless steel construction, there are a few good options on Amazon with free one-day or two-day prime shipping. While these faucets do not include any of the features that the above faucets do, these inexpensive rear-sealing faucets are a good option for anyone who needs to add several taps or is on a tight budget. 

If you’re looking for an inexpensive option on Amazon, here are a few good options for a good faucet at a low price:

• Bev Rite Stainless Steel Beer Tap Faucet – $27.50
• FERRODAY Stainless Steel Beer Tap Faucet – $19.99
• MRbrew Stainless Steel Beer Tap Faucet – $19.99
• Draft Warehouse DW2201 Chrome Draft Beer Faucet – $14.95

Best Stout/Nitro Faucets

Stout faucets are designed to dispense using a nitrogen draft system. These faucets have a smaller spout and are designed to pour beer much slower and reduce the amount of foam produced. Nitro taps also often use a creamer function, which forces the beer through small holes in a restrictor plate, which produces tiny bubbles that produce a creamy, smooth head. 

Here are a few pics for the best option when choosing a Stout Faucet:

Intertap Stainless Steel Stout Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $45.99
• Material: Stainless Steel
• Forward Sealing
• No Flow Control
• Optional Self Closing Spring
• Creamer
• Interchangeable Parts

Intertap’s Stainless Steel Stout Faucet is a great and affordable option for dispensing stouts, cold brew coffee, and other beers dispensed with Nitrogen beer gas. This faucet can even be used with standard Co2, which makes it a bit more flexible than some of the other options. The narrow spout included with this faucet has a creamer disc that forces the beer through to create a thick, creamy head and a smooth pour.

Like all Intertap faucets, this is a high-end stainless steel faucet with a forward sealing design. It is also modular, meaning you can use additional spouts to fill growlers and for other applications. 

MoreBeer Nitro Tap Stout Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $45.99
• Material: Chrome Plated
• No Flow Control
• Not Self Closing
• Creamer
• No Interchangeable Parts

MoreBeer’s Nitro Stout Faucet is a more traditional vertical stout faucet that can be used with straight Co2 or a Nitrogen beer gas mixture. When used properly with beer gas, this creamer faucet is the perfect way to serve stouts. It features a 5-hole restrictor plate that creates that delicious creamy head desired with strouts like Guinness. This faucet is well made, but it is brass with a shiny chrome finish, so be cautious of the finish chipping or wearing away and exposing your beer to the brass, which can alter the flavor or aroma of the beer. 

MoreBeer Stainless Steel Nitro Tap Stout Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $89.99
• Material: Stainless Steel
• No Flow Control
• Not Self Closing
• Creamer
• No Interchangeable Parts

Similar to the MoreBeer Nitro Tap Stout Faucet above, this faucet is a traditional vertical stout faucet intended to be used with a Nitrogen beer gas mixture. The built-in restrictor plate creates that delicious creamy head desired with strouts like Guinness using a slow pour. The primary difference between this faucet and the faucet above is the all stainless steel construction, which is a worthwhile upgrade from the chrome version.

MRbrew Stainless Steel Stout Faucet

The Highlights:

• Price: $50.95
• Material: Stainless Steel
• No Flow Control
• Not Self Closing
• Creamer
• No Interchangeable Parts

If you’re looking for an inexpensive Amazon option for a stout faucet, check out the MRbrew Stainless Steel Stout Faucet. At under $50, it’s a great price for a stainless steel stout faucet. It features a pull-forward pour and a push-back creamer with an integrated restrictor plate to get the perfect pour every time. This makes it easy to serve stouts like Guinness like a pro!

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