Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Chris Dilla's Bocktown Beer and Grill in North Fayette features a "Beer Library" -- a 22-foot cooler with 400-plus "titles."

By Bob Batz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The statistics -- craft beer sales up 11 percent in the first half of the year, according to the Brewers Association -- are reflected in the golden, amber and chocolate brown hues of brews being poured at more and more places.

	Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Tim Santoro is opening Barleys & Hops, a bottle and six-pack shop in the South Park Shops, which he says will feature 800 beers. Click photo for larger image.

Already serving and holding its grand opening starting Dec. 15 at the Pointe at North Fayette is the Bocktown Beer and Grill. Like its offbeat name, and its slogan, "The Place to Beer," the grill puts the emphasis on brews. In addition to a fine selection of 16 draft beers, it showcases more than 400 different bottles, available as singles and mixed six-packs, in a 22-foot-long, 8-foot-deep walk-in cooler.

They call it "the Beer Library."

"I wanted to do it right," says owner Chris Dilla. The 41-year-old resident of Beaver County started "researching" and pushing better beer a decade ago when she was a bar manager at Amel's Restaurant in Baldwin Township. She's since worked at other restaurants, including the Wooden Angel, and as a beer salesperson. She knows her stuff.

She's looking forward to helping more people get to know and appreciate it by holding regular tastings and other educational events, plus beer festivals. She's even talking about eventually organizing "beer bus trips" to visit craft brewers.

She's particularly sweet on Pennsylvania brewers, which is why their wares fill two of the nine sections of her library shelves. She says, "I want to represent local and regional craft breweries first."

But there also are sections devoted to seasonal brews, other American craft brews as well as imports, plus "malternatives."

She plans to post photos on the Bocktown Web site so people literally can see what brews she has on file -- a "cooler cam."You won't see many mainstream beers, but behind the bar -- built to look like old barrister bookcases -- they stock all the standards, as well as a full array of cocktails and wines.

Still, she says, she didn't want hers to just be a good place to drink, and so she hired her former Amel's colleague (and most recently, Pittsburgh Bottleshop Cafe cook) "Chef Scotty" Templeton. He and her husband, John, did much of the renovation of this former Rotelli's restaurant.

The menu includes a lot of beer, too, from Penn Pilsner-steamed shrimp to Penn Dark-roasted beef.

The regular placemat menu runs from snacks, soup and salads through sandwiches and " 'burghers" -- with no item costing more than $10, and with lots of local touches, including Smallman Street Deli pickles.

Ms. Dilla is hoping that'll appeal to out-of-towners from the airport and nearby hotels as well as local customers. The chef will also do daily specials.

But, from the moment customers walk in, they'll know they're in what she aims to be "a beer boutique." The bottles in the library won't be priced via tags but on more discreet lists.

To encourage designated drivers, she'll offer them free nonalcohol beers and soft drinks.

For some, just the sight of the "Beer Library" is intoxicating. As workers put on finishing touches for last week's "soft opening," a man stepped in the front door and said simply, "Wow."

Bocktown -- a name she took from a road near her home in Raccoon, Beaver County -- is in Pool City Plaza, across from Target, at 690 Chauvet Drive. Hours are 11 a.m-midnight Sun.-Thurs. and 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Fri.-Sat. For more , visit www.bocktown.com or call 412-788-2333.

Another beer business, which is to open around Christmas, aims to offer more brews than any other in the region.

Barley's & Hops Bottleshop is opening in the South Park Shops on Route 88. The business is a partnership between Ray Messmer and Tim Santoro, who's one of the partners in the Market Square Ale House (upstairs) and the Pittsburgh Cigar Bar (downstairs) on Market Square.

Mr. Santoro says Barley's & Hops will carry 800 different American and imported beers. He plans to work with a local distributor to drive to Eastern Pennsylvania and get beers that aren't available in this region.

He's already planning nearly 60 beers just from Germany.

Their breweries will all be marked on a large map in the shop's lounge, which also will hold a shelf of beer books. Customers also can do research on a computer, which will list the beers on a database that's searchable by name, country, even alcohol percentage.

"People like me want to know," says Mr. Santoro, a self-described beer geek who lives in Pleasant Hills. Other beer-geeky touches are to include barrel tables, customer-personalized chalices and weekly tastings. As he puts it, "I want to be about the beer."

It'll also serve food, from cheese and meat platters to sandwiches, including several wursts.

Barley's & Hops Web site is www.barleysandhops.com.; the phone will be 412-854-4ALE.