Brian Smith carved the beer taps for Boston's newest brewery, Trillium, in Fort Point Channel. Read a Q&A with Smith, who has been woodcrafting for years.

Years ago, Central Waters had its tap handles hand-carved and painted by a 90-year-old man from Wausau, But as business boomed, it needed to find a company that could make the handles more quickly ...

Vote for your favorite tap handle at the bottom of this story Arlington’s Skookum Brewery uses a carved wooden bear claw. Bothell’s Decibel Brewing recycles old microphones.

Inside the factory at AJS Tap Handles, a worker uses a table saw to cut planks of wood. Some handles are carved. Others are molded out of enamel, polyurethane or metal, and are often hand-painted.

Supik & Co. turns out tap handles for the Brewer’s Art, Raven beer, DuClaw and Stillwater Artisanal Ales, among other Maryland breweries.

A tip to know: The higher collectible tap handles are the Bakelite ball (round) tap handles made from 1933 to the 1950s. They are about the size of a baseball and have the names of the older beer ...