Tap Spacing on a Draft Beer Tower: How to Spec It Right

Tap spacing looks like a detail until the first Friday rush. Handles that clash, glasses that don't fit under the faucet, two bartenders fighting for the same twelve inches of bar — all of it traces back to a number that was decided before the tower was ever built. Here's how to get that number right.

The standard — and when to break it

Industry-standard tap spacing runs 3 to 4 inches on center (center of one faucet shank to the center of the next). At Fût Mauricie we build most commercial towers between 3½ and 4 inches, and every tower is made to order — so the real question isn't "what's standard," it's "what does your bar need?"

3 in — compact. Maximum taps in minimum bar space. Works with standard faucets and straight handles, but oversized or novelty handles will touch. Best for high-tap-count walls where space is the constraint.
3½–4 in — the sweet spot. Room for branded handles, comfortable pouring, clean visual rhythm. This is what we recommend for most bars, restaurants and taprooms.
4½ in and up — statement spacing. When the tower is the centerpiece and every tap gets its own stage. Common on brewery flagship installs and premium 6in-diameter towers.

Four things that decide your spacing

1. Handle width

Standard tap handles are about 1–1½ inches wide, but branded handles — the ones breweries actually ship — routinely run 2–3 inches, sometimes with figurines on top. Measure your widest expected handle, add clearance for a hand to grab it mid-pour, and remember handles get swapped every time a line changes. Spec for the widest handle you'll ever mount, not the ones you have today.

2. Glassware and drip tray alignment

Your faucet spacing sets the rhythm of everything below it: the drip tray length, the glass rinser position, and whether a 23 cm Teku glass fits where a shaker pint used to. A properly spec'd system aligns tower, tray, and rinser as one unit — which is why we build drip trays matched to the tower rather than leaving you to puzzle-fit catalog parts.

3. Service flow

Count your bartenders, not just your taps. Two staff pouring simultaneously need roughly two feet of separation to work without collisions — on a 20-tap wall, that can matter more than an extra tap. Wider spacing also keeps sight lines open so customers can read the tap list.

4. What's under the counter

Every faucet has a shank, a beer line, and — on glycol systems — cooling lines running behind it. Tight spacing on a high-tap-count tower concentrates a lot of hardware in a small footprint; the tower's internal layout has to be engineered for it. This is where made-to-order beats catalog: we route lines for your exact configuration instead of forcing your bar to fit a stock shell.

How to measure before you order

Available bar length — total run where the tower will sit, minus workstations, POS, and sinks.
Tap count — what you pour today, plus honest growth. (A duo or expansion-ready tower is cheaper than a second tower later.)
Widest handle — measure it, don't guess.
Counter depth and cut-out constraints — especially for recessed drip trays and pass-thru towers.

Quick sanity check: tap count × spacing + end margins = tower width. Twelve taps at 4 in spans roughly 48–52 inches — make sure that fits before falling in love with a design.

Or just tell us the space you have

Every Fût Mauricie tower ships with dimensioned spec sheets per tap count — pick your tap count on any product page and download the exact drawing. And if you'd rather start from your bar instead of a catalog: send us your measurements and tap count through our quote form — there's a field for faucet spacing — and you'll get a 3D rendering, full specs, and pricing within 24 business hours. Built in 5–15 business days, lifetime warranty on welds.

Installers: our trade program includes volume pricing from 16% to 30% and spec-accurate drawings you can install against.