Lewes local Taylor Burton is letting the good times roll with her new mobile bar Tap & Toast, a bartending and beverage service business that brings the party directly to the client.

"The overall vision is to become a trusted name in our community to help celebrate small and big moments, while giving a unique experience," said Burton, who launched the business in early June.

The mobile bar is on a 20-foot Cotner horse trailer that Taylor and her husband, John, purchased from Facebook Marketplace a few months ago.

The two had been throwing around the idea of opening a bar on wheels for a few years before they actually bought the trailer. After getting married in 2019, Taylor wanted to open her own wedding venue, a dream that was quickly sidelined by high land and property costs. That's when they came up with the idea for a mobile bar, which can be used for not only for weddings but also for birthday celebrations, work parties, backyard get-togethers and any other special events. 

The trailer they purchased had previously been used as a bar, so it already had bar tops and two taps for kegs, which made the renovation process relatively easy and quick. Taylor, who works fulltime in the OR at TidalHealth in Berlin, Md., and John, who works as a crane operator, spent just a few weeks painting and cleaning it up, dedicating their evenings and time after work to finishing it.

The final product is minimalistic and clean, with a black painted exterior, white interior walls with black accents, glossy finished-wood countertops, a wood wall panel with a sign that says, "Drinks," and a couple of simple ivy garlands to spruce it up. It also has a generator, so it can function without an external power source, making it equipped to handle various outdoor and remote venues. 

While the business is based in Lewes, since it's mobile, it can be hired for events anywhere in Delaware. It was hired for its first event in early July: a wedding on the beach. Burton drove the trailer right onto the beach, and the clients didn't need to worry about carrying drinks and supplies by hand.

A bar on wheels is "just more fun" than a traditional bar, Burton said. Sand, pavement, grass, dirt, you name it, Burton will do everything she can to get there.  

Delaware liquor laws prohibit mobile bars or other portable alcohol sales businesses from obtaining liquor licenses to sell alcohol directly. Thus, like most other mobile bars, Tap & Toast utilizes a "dry hire" model, where the bar service provides a bartender, portable bar, and nonalcoholic items and bar supplies, but does not provide the alcohol. The event host is responsible for buying and supplying all alcohol, making the mobile service a party rental instead of a retailer.

"If you were to hire me, you would purchase the alcohol, we would set it all up and I would serve it," Burton said.

She said she's also open to serving nonalcoholic beverages like dirty sodas, cider and hot chocolate.

She can provide things like nonalcoholic mixers, napkins, plates, cups, ice and garnishes upon request. If the customer wishes, Burton can also decorate the trailer to match a specific event theme.

"Any specific kind [of product] that you want us to get so that you don't have to worry about it the day of, I'm more than happy to do that," she said.

For Burton, it's all about lightening the load for customers on their big days, whatever those may be. Tap & Toast is there not only to serve drinks, but also to provide the bar supplies and help customers decide what drinks they actually want to serve, how they want the bar to be decorated, and how to actually get the bar to the venue.

She thinks back to her own wedding and how nice it would have been to have one less thing to have to plan.

"It's nice to not have to worry about it anymore, like, 'Someone else is doing that for me,'" she said.

Pricing depends on the number of hours for which services are needed. 

While the business started as a personal investment for Taylor and John stemming from their own wedding, they hope to eventually expand and partner with other local businesses, venues and vendors.

"I want to create an experience that is fun and memorable, that people can look back on years later, just like we had at our wedding," Taylor said.