Meet Beth, Utah’s first tiny tap truck, rolling to an event near you

What has three wheels and four taps? Utah’s first tiny tap truck, and her name is Beth.

Husband-and-wife team Tyson and Dyllan Guthrie were inspired during COVID-19 to start their business, The Rolling Taps, after seeing a similar beverage truck in Atlanta, Tyson Guthrie said. Like the one in Georgia, the Guthries also built theirs around a vintage Piaggio Ape (pronounced “ah-pay”), a three-wheeled commercial vehicle, imported from Italy.

After spending the better part of a year building the structure on the vehicle that holds the taps, a 12-bottle wine fridge, counter space and everything else, the Guthries started booking Beth for events, where the truck can dispense virtually any cold beverage (alcoholic or nonalcoholic) for guests to enjoy.

Now, a year after completing the buildout of their truck, The Rolling Taps are a popular fixture at weddings, birthdays and other events. At Gardner Village’s WitchFest last weekend, they served root beer and other nonalcoholic beverages, including the Hocus Pocus Potion — garnished with a gummy eyeball — to kids wearing witch hats.

Guthrie said this first year in business has been about getting discovered and convincing people that the tap truck isn’t a “foreign, scary, weird thing.”

Trucks like Beth are a rarity in Utah, but they aren’t so unexpected in more densely populated places like California, Seattle and New York, Guthrie said. “To have something like this in the state of Utah has been a real treat for people to have as an option,” he said.

Beth is born

Most Piaggio Apes look like three-wheeled scooters with cabs and flatbeds. In fact, Vespa scooters are made by the same company.

Piaggio Apes are often refurbished and customized by entrepreneurs and food truck owners, so no two are alike, Tyson Guthrie said.

In its previous life, the Guthries’ 30-year-old Ape was used at an Italian vineyard to haul grapes to and from the winery; its small size was perfect for taking tight turns around rows of grapevines, Guthrie said.

It took about nine months for the vehicle to be shipped to the United States, and once it arrived in 2020, “that’s when the real work started,” he said.

The Guthries had a vision of what they wanted their truck to look like and what features they wanted it to have, Tyson Guthrie said, and they teamed up with a hot rod shop owner in California to build it to their specifications. “The buildout was real old school,” he said, with the couple sketching out their ideas.

The process was a lot of trial and error. Guthrie said they bought tile that ending up being too heavy for proper weight distribution, so they had to buy new, thinner tile. And once it came time to paint the metal shell, the body shop painted it the wrong color and had to redo it, he said. Plus, the Guthries had to figure out how to maximize the small amount of space they had to work with.

“It was just a game of trying to figure out how we could make our design come to life and also be functioning,” he said. “And so that’s why a lot of it took so long, was just trying to get it all fine-tuned.”

Since it’s customary for Ape owners to name them, the Guthries named their truck after the sassy Beth Dutton, a main character on the Western TV drama “Yellowstone.”

Complete with The Rolling Taps’ logo hand-painted on the door, Beth was finished in August 2022, and the Guthries’ first event was held a month later. This year, The Rolling Taps have been booked every weekend and some weeknights since May.

‘Creating an experience’

Beth is an entirely self-contained beverage truck, with draft machines that keep all of the drinks ice-cold, Tyson Guthrie said. All Beth needs to run is an extension cord, but even that isn’t a must-have; if the truck is parked out in a field, for example, and there’s no generator, it just needs ice to keep everything cool.

The Guthries haul Beth to events using an enclosed cargo trailer, then drive it the short distance to the designated party spot.

Guests are welcome to dispense their own beverage from the truck — as long as it’s nonalcoholic. For safety reasons, anytime alcohol is involved, the Guthries bring in a licensed bartending service to dispense or pour it, Guthrie said.

Options for beverages range from soda and cold-brew coffee to mocktails, beer, wine and more. For a mimosa bar, you could have orange juice on tap, then have prosecco or Champagne in the wine fridge to add to it, Guthrie said. For cocktails, everything but the alcohol would be on tap, then a bartender would add the alcohol afterward.

Guthrie said the feedback they’ve gotten has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

“People love the interactive experience; we love the opportunities where kids can pour their own drinks,” he said. “And we can have a cute aesthetic for the bride and groom to take photos in, so they’ll get in the cab and they’ll take photos with the truck and take videos of them pouring their own drink.”

Guthrie said Beth is an event “centerpiece,” not just a truck with taps on it.

“It’s just been really fun to see people have fun with it,” Guthrie said. “It’s not just delivering a drink. ... It’s creating an experience.”

The Rolling Taps’ season lasts from spring through fall. For information about booking Beth for events, visit TheRollingTaps.com. Follow Beth on Instagram @therollingtaps.