The Sharp Edge Beer Emporium

With 50 taps (20 of which recently poured Belgian beers), vintage bottles of Thomas Hardy's Ale dating back into the 1980s, and a dessert menu that includes dessert beers, this is clearly a beer destination. But it's also a neighborhood place where families show up with babes in arms and eat in the dining room to the side, ordering up entrees of Italian food for $9 and less. The dessert menu include a choice of five ice cream balls and tiramisu for $2.95.

The front of the bar is carpeted, and of course that carpet doesn't match the carpet on the floor. The bar itself seats about 15 and there are booths opposite the bar. Wings sell for 25 cents apiece during "happy hour." When we visited, regulars tossed bits of ice at each other while debating the merits of the answer to the Final Jeopardy question on "Jeopardy!" Our server was wearing a Rogue Dead Guy Ale T-shirt and the bartender a Sierra Nevada T-shirt.

October 1997