Shop
The Fizzics Waytap, An Affordable Home Beer Tap for the Jetsons
Using sound waves to pour the perfect beer. No CO2 required.
If you’ve heard of the Fizzics Waytap, it’s probably because the portable, home draft systems have been popping up at retailers like Target and Best Buy. You might also be a fan of Shark Tank, the entrepreneurial show where company co-founders Philip Petracca and David McDonald raised $2 million from Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner.
The first Fizzics machines hit the scene in 2015; the smaller, sleeker Waytap debuted just last year. Compared to simply pouring your bottled or canned beer into a glass, the machines use sound waves to make the beer in your fridge taste closer to something you might get on draft at a bar.
We’ll admit, when the package arrived at HQ, we were skeptical. We’ve heard enough ridiculous claims from PR agents (go away, Shake Weight!) to permanently doubt company brand-speak. But after a week playing around with the Waytap, we’ve come to believe that the machine is the real deal.
The Waytap generates sound waves that compact the beer’s natural carbonation into something the company calls Micro-Foam™, which enriches the texture and taste.
The Waytap is about a foot tall and just wider than the base of a 750 ml beer bottle, meaning that it’s small enough to fit on any counter but just large enough to catch attention. And unlike other draft systems which use pumps, carbon dioxide, or nitrogen cartridges, the Waytap uses four AA batteries. Using batteries, the tap system generates sound waves that compact the beer’s natural carbonation into something the company calls Micro-Foam™; according to Fizzics, this foam enriches the texture and taste. (Think of the creamy nitrogen bubbles atop a well-poured Guinness.)
But does it work? During our first experiment, we tried the Waytap with a bottle of Firestone Walker’s Velvet Merlin, a terrific oatmeal stout that we already know and love. Using the button on the front of the machine, we popped off the lid, inserted the attached metal straw into the bottle (unlike the previous iteration, the Waytap only works with smaller format beers), and closed it back up. When we pulled on the handle, the machine delivered a perfect pour. And compared to the same beer poured into a glass, the beer that came out of the Waytap was more aromatic, sweeter, and more effervescent.
The Waytap isn’t simply a fancy method for pouring beer; it’s an entirely new way of enhancing aromatics and flavors.
If Waytap has one challenge, it’s converting consumers who don’t understand its utility. Why use a machine to pour a beer, when you could just overturn a can or bottle above a glass? But the Waytap isn’t simply a fancy method for pouring beer; it’s an entirely new way of enhancing aromatics and flavors. And unlike other kitchen gadgets that gather dust in the pantry, the Waytap is one that you’ll use (if you’re like us) so often that it’ll have a permanent spot next to the fridge.
