The Upper Lip: Loose Lips Take Sips

THE UPPER LIP

People are the only problem with Bailey's Taproom. First, there are always far too many of them crammed into the Southwest Broadway beer bar. Second, many of those people are techbros. So I listened closely when, on a packed Thursday night, a regular disclosed the existence of The Upper Lip (720 SW Ankeny St., baileystaproom.com/the-upper-lip), the bar's second-floor event space, which recently opened as a bar of its own Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 10 pm. To get there, you must walk around the corner from Bailey's—you aren't allowed to carry your glass of beer—to a door marked with a bottle and up a flight of stairs, where you'll find a room just as large as the first floor, six well-chosen taps and a massive case of bottles, including a 2008 Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout for $11. There's a short bar, a long table for groups, a digital tap list, a bartender, a few high-top tables set on barrels and, on our visit, Mr. Bailey himself, drinking with a buddy and enjoying the view down Broadway. As beer bars go, it's probably even better than Bailey's downstairs. Don't tell the techbros.

WWeek 2015

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