Bottleworks in Wallingford is cool, dim, and lined with beer. Eight mismatched display fridges—some open-air, some glass-doored—hum with contentment about their contents: more than 900 kinds of beer. Amid bottles with literature about their cellaring temperature and rarities like a three-liter Samichlaus for $135, the beer that draws the eye sits chilling on a shelf in a little paper sack. It's hand labeled "Pabst Blue Ribbon 40 oz! Grip it & sip it!" It costs $1.99.

The Who plays, not especially loud. The worn hardwood floor wears worn Oriental carpets; displays are made from weathered crates. Decor consists of beer flags, beer signs, beer mirrors, beer neon, and beer-related murals. High up on one wall, a woman with garlands in her hair is depicted pouring beer into a man's mouth. He looks like a hungry baby bird, and she floats in the sky with various beer-brand mascots—a pink elephant, a Belgian cousin of the yellow Teletubby, a toucan, and many more for beer freaks to identify. The man at the counter doesn't know who the lady is supposed to be, nor can he explain a diorama atop a fridge in the corner: a miniature Alp, a beach ball, and two fake crows standing on a small bale of hay. Bottleworks, its wares and its mysteries: part retail, part heaven.

A tasting of the latest releases from Shmaltz Brewing Company—makers of kosher beers Genesis Ale and Messiah Bold—is in progress. The four new Coney Island lagers are notable for labels featuring drawings of female performers from the Circus Sideshow there: the buxom sword-swallower and the likewise albino-python handler, with the phallic sword and python in provocative positions. Sword Swallower is dry hopped, full-bodied, and tastes darker than it is; the Python is a highly carbonated, love-it-or-hate-it affair, made with a holiday-candle combination of ginger, orange peel, coriander, and crushed fennel. The beer named for a male performer—the Human Blockhead—is a seasonal one that won't be available until January. The label shows him hammering a nail up his nose in a nonsexual manner.

The Shmaltz beer rep says that some Coney Island lager proceeds go to support the nonprofit Sideshow theater company and Coney Island Museum. She's noticed that in general, West Coast beer drinkers love hops, while back East, they like it maltier. There's desultory discussion of the dark, hot experience of the Circus Sideshow's human curiosities; the unrelated boardwalk game Shoot the Freak, wherein players shoot paintballs at a person in a dirty padded suit who runs around in a pit, hiding behind broken-down appliances; and the neck-jerking action of the famous Cyclone roller coaster, best encountered after a few loosening-up beers.

Bottleworks, 1710 N 45th St, 633-BIER.

bethany@thestranger.com