Food & Wine

Sergio’s: An unlikely temple of beer in Shelbyville

By Robin Garr, LouisvllleHotBytes.com

Sergio’s World Beers might seem an unlikely place to enjoy a quality imported or artisanal beer with a casual dinner, and frankly, it’s in a rather unlikely location.

Housed in a blue metal building that somewhat resembles a service station, Sergio’s faces U.s. 60 on the west side of Shelbyville, county seat of Shelby County, a jurisdiction that has permitted alcohol sales only in recent years.

Yet this decidedly modest dining room and bar offers a massive selection, featuring more than 726 beers from 49 countries, including no less than 155 beers from Belgium, 63 from Germany, 55 from England and 280 from the U.S.A. And that was last week. Chances are that owner Sergio Ribenboim has added a few more goodies to the list by now.

It’s easy enough to find, whether you head straight out Shelbyville Road from Louisville, through Middletown, Eastwood and Simpsonville to Shelbyville or, perhaps more quickly, go out 1-64 to the first Shelbyville exit, KY 55; go north a mile or so to US 60, turn left, and you’ll see Sergio’s blue building in a couple of blocks on your right.

The decor of Sergio’s is unusual, to say the least. The walls are painted as bright blue as a desert sky, but you can’t see much of the wall behind an exuberant display of auto license plates (reportedly one from every state), several hundred beer tap handles and a collection of at least 100 full-size flags of many nations, hanging on the wall and stretched out across the ceiling. It could make a good bar betting game to identify all the flags. From my seat I could see Venezuela, Canada and, Brazil on a wall; above were flags of Korea, Cuba or was it Puerto Rico? And a big cross: Denmark, Norway or Sweden? I’m not sure.

At the back of the large dining room is a smaller room containing the beer bar, loaded with an amazing display of bottles representing the 700-plus varieties available (plus a smaller selection on draught).

Heavy trestle tables are furnished with leatherette metal dinette chairs. The floor is concrete, the windows large plate glass. It looks a lot like a beer joint, because that’s what it is. It’s clean and well-kept, but just a little—okay, a lot — on the idiosyncratically wacky side.

Ribenboim, a widely traveled Brazilian who boasts perfect English, serves tables and can discourse at length on any of the beers and any of the dishes on the menu.

Every table gets a big bowl of crisp fried tortilla triangles with thick hot salsa in a flask and dishes of fine homemade pico de gallo.

Beers come out in pint glasses on neat coasters We limited ourselves to single pints considering the long drive home, but a robust India Pale Me, from Dogfish Head brewery of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, was mighty fine.

The menu is mostly Mexican — and pretty good Mexican at that. Just for variety, a few Italian, Greek and American dishes are included as well, pits the specialty of the house, a Philly cheese steak.

Shelby County’s strict liquor laws, prompt Sergio’s to require that you buy something to eat with every beer: To hold their beer license, 70 percent of the restaurant’s sales must be in food.

Indeed. Fare begins as low as $1 for a pretzel or $2 for chips and dip, and virtually every dish on the menu is under 12 bucks.

We went Mexican with Came Asada ($10), two thin- sliced pieces of skirt steak rubbed with an aromatic spice mix atop sauteed strips of onions and green peppers, My wife’s choice, Carnitas ($10), featured chunks of firm, flavorful pork topped with raw white onion cut into thick strips, Both dishes came with well-made refried beans, fine Mexican rice and lettuce and tomatoes.

Good food, good beer and friendly service offer three good reasons to make the trip to Shelbyville, and all that came for a thrifty $29.68 plus a $6.32 tip.