Michelob ULTRA is a beer brand for fit and active people who still LOVE beer. The Michelob ULTRA Resistance Tap reimagines the beer tap for fit beer drinkers. That meant building a tap that could deliver 200 pounds of resistance with every beer poured. No easy feat. When users walk up to the beer tap, it looks normal, but they don’t realize it’s a fitness test until they start trying to pour their beer. Once it was built, we brought the tap into bars across the country for experiential activations, which allowed consumers to experience both MU’s product and our purpose in a single and totally novel activation.

The Resistance Tap generates its resistance through an adjustable gas pneumatic system. This allows the tap’s resistance level to be customized easily and quickly.

All the traditional mechanical components for the tap system were redesigned and reinforced to withstand the increased force load. High-grade, high tensile-strength steel was used to ensure nothing would snap or break, potentially injuring a user. The tap handle was especially important in this regard; it had to be hand-milled from a single piece of steel and attached to the rest of the valve mechanics with a custom-built mount.

Despite all the mechanical and engineering adaptations that make the Resistance Tap possible, the tap needed to function and present itself EXACTLY like any other beer tap.

We hope to hammer home that the fit can have some fun. Our long-term goal is for consumers to interact with MU’s brand in a more hands-on way, and get Michelob ULTRA on tap in more bars across America. Since introducing the program, the brand has been put on tap in more than 2500 bars across the US. And along with other activities, the program has helped the brand grow sales at 22%.