Mixing things up on the go

Rich Palzewic

Staff

August 4, 2025

NORTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN – Growing up in Wisconsin’s Northwoods, Scott Moline said what started as a dream more than three years ago has turned into reality with the opening of Sugar Maple Taps.

Based in Phelps, Moline said Sugar Maple Taps is a premier mobile bar service offering a high-end bartending experience, particularly popular for weddings and special events.

“I worked with an engineer to have the Sugar Maple Taps trailer completely built from scratch,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any other one like it in the Midwest, and I don’t know if there is one out there like the design I have.”

Moline said together with his fiancée and business partner, Courtney Hoffmann, Sugar Maple Taps travels to a variety of events throughout the state.

Two different rentals

Moline said Sugar Maple Taps has two different styles of rental available.

“We consider ourselves a dry hire rental – more for weddings, private parties, corporate events or any other celebration that needs a bartending service,” he said. “We cater more toward the open bar style events, because that follows Wisconsin liquor laws.”

To comply with the laws, once a customer books Sugar Maple Taps for their event, Moline said he will work on a “grocery list” of alcoholic items for a client to purchase.

“We show up with our trailer and provide every single nonalcoholic item, cups, garnishes, mixtures, sodas and everything else,” he said. “With that, we can also provide the bartending service. To follow Wisconsin state laws, we don’t provide the liquor – the client has to purchase all the alcohol, so that’s why I put together a list for them.”

From there, Moline said the alcohol is stocked on the shelves in the trailer.

“After their event, we cap all of the unused alcohol and give it back to the client,” he said. “We also carry general and liquor liability insurance for our events, but we do not, at those style of events, sell the liquor directly to the customer. Wisconsin makes you have a liquor license to do that.”

Separate from that, Moline said Sugar Maple Taps will also rent the entire trailer to clients.

“A golf course is a good example,” he said. “They might want to use the trailer as a halfway point at the turn and sell liquor. Then they can use their liquor, their garnishes, all their stuff. I’ve also got Starlink [satellite internet] on the roof so they can connect to a POS [point of sale] system.”

Moline said some restaurants have rented the trailer for larger events.

“They usually set up a tent or something outside,” he said. “We also offer a tent, and then you can have a covered area to sell your liquor in.”

Moline said Wisconsin liquor laws will see some changes beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

“Stuff changes quickly in Wisconsin, so that’s why we came up with this idea,” he said.

Moline said there are plenty of beautiful properties in the Northwoods – and around the state – where an outdoor wedding could utilize the trailer.

“If you have a lake house property where you want your wedding and want to skip the venue cost, then you only have to hire a bartending service like ours, our trailer, a food caterer, live music – if you’d like – and then a tent company,” he said. “I think we are a very good alternative to cut out the high cost of a wedding venue.”

Additional information

Moline said Sugar Maple Taps will travel anywhere in the State of Wisconsin – and offer 50 free round-trip miles.

“After those 50 round-trip miles, there is an extra fuel charge,” he said. “We also have a late-night service charge, where if you’re further than two hours away from our home base and your event goes past 11 p.m., we charge a fee for that. If you want our bartending services, that comes with four standard hours. If you want to do eight hours, for example, you can add on additional hours.”

Moline said traveling to Green Bay for Packers games is also on the docket.

“I’m a huge Packers fan,” he said. “We did a grand opening right next to the stadium [last fall]. I hope to get there as much as possible. That type of bartending is a lot more fun when you’re cheering for a touchdown or a blocked field goal and everybody is happy. Those are cool events to bartend at.”

What’s in a name?

Moline said there are three reasons he named the business Sugar Maple Taps.

For starters, he said he lives off Sugar Maple Road in Phelps.

“Secondly, we tap sugar maple trees in Phelps to produce our own maple syrup, which is used in our unique specialty cocktails as a sweetener, adding a local touch to our offerings,” he said. “We have tons of maple trees in the area, but more specifically, sugar maple trees. During the whole process [of starting Sugar Maple Taps], I started to learn how to produce maple syrup. I wanted that incorporated into the business.”

Moline said sugar maple sap has a higher sugar percentage than other maple trees.

“When you’re tapping the trees, it’s a little less water to boil out to create the actual pure maple syrup,” he said.

The final reason why Moline called it Sugar Maple Taps is a nod to an old tree that once stood on Afterglow Lake Resort, his parents’ family business.

“There was a massive tree on the Afterglow property that was a sugar maple tree, and we had that cut down because it was dying,” he said. “We’re using the wood from that sugar maple tree for the bar top inside the trailer. I had it milled, and that is currently getting kiln dried.”

How it all started

Moline, who graduated from Northland Pines High School in Eagle River, said he has close to 10 years of bartending experience – initially starting in the industry as a side gig to earn extra money.

“I’ve also taken a few mixology classes here and there,” he said. “The whole bartending thing came up as a side gig and turned into a larger passion.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Moline said he noticed a few bartending trailers popping up around the country.

“I saw some of these trailers in New York, Florida, etc. during that time, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is a super cool idea – I could do this, and I’m already a bartender,’” he said. “I was looking at the next step in a business, and it was either running a restaurant or doing something like this, which was very unique.”

After chatting with several friends and other business owners, Moline said they all thought opening a mobile bar service was a good idea.

“Three and a half years ago, I started putting pen to paper, wrote an entire business plan and did a ton of research,” he said. “After about a year of writing a business plan, I finally felt confident. From there, I went to my local bank and started talking to them about my business plan.”

After completing a bit more work to satisfy the bank, Moline said he was approved for financing and things took off from there.

“I started working with a company out of Carol Stream, Illinois, called Advantage Trailer,” he said. “I drew up the blueprints of my ideal wish list for the trailer and then worked with the engineer on everything – like down to the millimeter.”

Moline said work on the trailer began in March of 2024.

“It was finished later that year in October,” he said. “The folks at Advantage Trailer let me come down four or five times during the process to check on the build. It was a very cool process to work hand in hand on a custom-built trailer.”

Features of the trailer

Moline said he compares the trailer’s offerings to those of a rolling food truck – but serving as a bar.

He said the trailer is powered by a generator.

In addition to the Starlink internet and tent rental, other features included in the trailer, Moline said, are:

• A four-tap kegerator system (includes CO₂) – which allows clients to serve cold beer or other beverages on tap
• A 55-inch Samsung 4K Smart TV – allowing customers to stream the big game live and/or enhance their viewing experience
• Bose Surround Sound – which Moline said provides crystal-clear audio

“At our 100-person Packers party, everybody was able to easily hear what was going on and hear the plays, hear the hikes, etc. [thanks to the surround sound capabilities],” Moline said.

For more information on Sugar Maple Taps, visit its Facebook page.