Bailey's Taproom and Upper Lip

By Martin Cizmar

Bailey's is a near-perfect beer bar, constantly humming with 25 fast-rotating taps on an electronic board, ambitious selections, and staff that both gives a damn and knows its beer without being snotty about it. The only problem, in fact, is its own success. Once you find a seat, guard it like your Social Security card. Use the buddy system to keep your table, and have Santeria deliver a burrito across the alleyway. But if it's too packed, you can walk around the corner to the alleyway, where a door leads to a staircase up to a little clubhouse above the fray called the Upper Lip. There's a small collection of high-end bottles and only six taps, all pouring what owner Geoff Phillips and tech manager Nick Rivers want to drink. You can nearly always find a seat.

Entertainment: Watching people check in on Twitter on the digital screen, and then trying to find them in the bar.

213 SW Broadway, 503-295-1004, baileystaproom.com. Noon-midnight daily. Upper Lip: 720 SW Ankeny St., theupperlip.net. 4 pm-close Monday-Saturday.

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