For original and flavorful beers (as well as an impressive guest-beer list) in the thriving Uptown scene, take in your next happy hour at Vine Street Pub, the one-year-old offshoot of Boulder’s Mountain Sun and Southern Sun. Deals include $2.75 pints and $8.25 pitchers daily from 4-6 p.m., and Monday through Saturday 10 p.m.-close.

The drafts change regularly, from the popular amber-bodied Colorado Kind Ale, dry hopped with whole flower and cascade hops, to the recently offered Colorado Kölsch from Steamworks Brewing Company, which our server called a “lawn-mowing beer.”

Vine Street is a good spot for conversations, celebrations, or even a game of Scrabble. For solo drinkers, the spacious bar provides plenty of seats for a closer look at the unicorn mural and the 20 beers on tap.

The friendly servers here rotate jobs, so your server might also be your cook, bartender, or manager in the same day. And if you find yourself here for dinner, don’t be intimidated by the wait: Vine Street supplies complementary 8-ounce glasses of brews until your table is ready.

The pub will soon add a back brewery room, for which zoning is in the process of being approved. Look for construction to begin in 2010, with the hopes of brewing on-site within a year and a half.

1700 Vine St., 303-388-2337