The large room was decorated with casks painted a gay yellow, bright with varnish, and gleaming with copper taps and hoops.
On the shelves above the bar were liquor bottles, jars of fruit preserved in brandy, and flasks of all shapes.

They completely covered the wall and were reflected in the mirror behind the bar as colorful spots of apple green, pale gold, and soft brown.

The main feature of the establishment, however, was the distilling apparatus.

It was at the rear, behind an oak railing in a glassed-in area.

The customers could watch its functioning, long-necked still-pots, copper worms disappearing underground, a devil's kitchen alluring to drink-sodden work men in search of pleasant dreams.
L'Assommoir was nearly empty at the lunch hour.