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.