Tap-a-lam!

The Hop Shop owner Mel Wood was sitting on the South Hill pub’s sunny patio one day last summer when she noticed a food truck driving by.

“I thought, what an awesome industry that’s become. Wouldn’t it be great to take the Hop Shop on the road?” she recalls.

Now she is with The Tap Mobile, a traveling beer truck that will pour at both private and public events – the first of its kind in Washington.

With eight taps, plus bottled beer and wines, Wood says, “It will be the Hop Shop on wheels.”

A kickoff event Friday to celebrate both the project launch and the Hop Shop’s fifth anniversary will feature the Tap Mobile in action in the parking lot plus live music and the Couple of Chefs food truck. 

The Tap Mobile – affectionately nicknamed Black Betty – is a black-and-red 1982 Mini Blackbird bus that formerly served as a shaved ice truck in Portland. “She runs like a dream,” Wood says.

Wood and two employees flew to Portland in December to pick it up, and drove it home the same day, through wind storms.

“It was an adventure,” she says. “We didn’t have a stereo, so we sang ‘Black Betty, bam-a-lam’ all the way home at the top of our lungs.”

Now, after some sprucing up inside – including hop vines painted along the lower edges of the roof – Betty is ready to roll.

“Our goal is to take craft beer on the road, specifically Spokane craft beer,” says Wood. “We have some awesome craft breweries in this town. They put the Hop Shop on the map, why not return the favor?”

The Tap Mobile will be available for weddings, parties and other private events within 100 miles. Wood also plans to do some public events like concerts at The Gorge or Oktoberfest in Leavenworth.

Customers can choose which beers and wines they want from a menu, and get to keep anything not consumed during their event. Sandwiches will be available as well.

Standard rental packages range from $2,400 for four kegs and six wines to $4,800 for all eight taps and 18 wines, with customized options available. For more information call (509) 342-9436 or email thetapmobile@hotmail.com.