A man wielding a metal pipe attacked a truckload of beer being delivered to a west side grocery store Friday afternoon, destroying about $2,000 worth of suds, police and witnesses said.

While whacking at the cases of canned beer, the attacker scolded the deliverymen for bringing what he called poison into his neighborhood.

Not everyone walking past Mid-Town Groceries at the time agreed with the man's characterization of the beer.

Several passers-by helped themselves to some of the cases of beer as a deliveryman tried to talk the man into putting the pipe down.

"He beat on the beer for about a half hour," said Nirmal Singh, owner of Mid-Town at N. 27th and W. Wells streets.

"Then he got tired and sat down against the wall and waited for the police," Singh said. "He was breathing hard."

Police said the incident began about 3 p.m. when the 32-year-old man approached the deliverymen and ordered them to stop the delivery.

When they ignored him, the man began swinging a metal pipe, estimated by Singh to be several feet long and about 2 inches in diameter, to smash cases of canned beer stacked on several hand trucks in front of the store.

"The guy just started busting up the beer," Singh said. "It was all over the place.

"Everybody was stopping their cars to watch, wondering what was going on."

It took the deliverymen several hours to clean up after the battered cans of brew. The smell of yeast still hung over the entrance of the store Friday evening.

Police said several people stole beer from the truck. The attacker was in custody Friday night.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here," said Singh, who has operated the store about 13 years and estimated the product loss at about $2,000.

"No robberies, no nothing until this."