• Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
• Three Penny Taproom

Three Penny Taproom has a got a good, global thing going in downtown Montpelier. The 24-tap bar offers a selection of brews from around the world — none of which is Budweiser. And the in-house entertainment is football — the sport Americans call soccer. Patrons who get out of line are reprimanded with red cards, and during the World Cup, the doors opened before the first kickoff, regardless of how late staffers turned in the night before.

The menu — offered on a clipboard — changes with the whims of the chef, but it always features tacos on Friday, a collaboration with the owners' Waitsfield restaurant, the Mad Taco. To help people create pleasant pairings, a complementary beer is listed with each menu item.

Suds include famed craft brews such as Maine's Allagash Curieux and Delirium Tremens from Belgium, plus Vermont originals such as Hill Farmstead's Ephraim and Trapp Family Helles Lager. Don't like what's on draft? There are more than 50 bottled beers to choose from, and, for hops haters, vino and cocktail options.

Three Penny is like a European bar in another way, too: It seems as if everybody in the place already knows each other. Happily, it's a sign of the joint's supreme sociability. Guaranteed you'll leave this intimate watering hole with more friends than you came in with.

This article was originally published in 7 Nights: The Seven Days Guide to Vermont Restaurants & Bars in April 2011.