#63 – BARRIER BREWING COMPANY BEERS

For the third year in a row, I’m going to attempt to eat every single item on Time Out New York’s annual 100 Best Dishes list. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100. Let the gluttony continue…

I could have checked this list item off a while back, but I was waiting until all the pieces fell into place. Time Out mentions a few specific styles from Barrier Brewery, but their beers as a whole make the list. Now it would be a separate adventure to taste every single beer they brew (especially considering they do 26 styles and they’re constantly changing), but I’ve done the best I could by visiting the brewery itself in the past and sampling others across the city.

TONY specifically mentions 61 Local as a great place to get these beers. They don’t elaborate, but I know from the Neighborhood Eats tour that 61 Local’s owner Dave Liatti is friends with Barrier brewmasters Craig and Evan from their days all working together at Sixpoint. So 61 Local will always have a Barrier beer on tap.

Except Barrier just moved in to a bigger space in Oceanside, New York (my parent’s hometown, FYI) so production was halted for a few months. It’s now back up and while I’ve been to 61 Local and I’ve tasted Barrier’s beers, this is the first time I’m doing them together!

I came to 61 Local for an Urban Oyster staff meeting and was ecstatic to see Barrier’s Ruckus IPA on tap. Since I have the best job in the world, I ordered one to enjoy with the meeting (this is encouraged with my boss!)

The Ruckus IPA was their very first beer brewed on the bigger, badder system. It’s a pretty standard India Pale Ale with loads of piney bitter hops and a nice balance of sweet malt and peaches. The alcohol was on the higher side, but it was still drinkable and not overwhelming.

And as I mentioned, this is just one of many beers that Barrier brews and when I visited the guys out at the old brewery in Long Island, I was amazed at their high production and creativity. With that many beers on the roster, you’d think quality would get compromised. Not so here. Time Out mentioned a few and I’m also going to give a nod to some of my favorites – the Cairn Scotch Ale, the Oil City Black IPA, and the Unimperial IPA. No question that this is an exciting brewery to pay attention to.

Would Barrier Brewing Company’s Beers make my Top 100 of the year? If they were located in NYC proper, I’d single out one of my favorites and absolutely put it up there. That being said, they get a 9 out of 10 because they’re one of the best breweries in the NYC area.

Is Barrier Brewery’s Ruckus IPA the best beer in NY? It’s a standard IPA with a nice balance of bitter hops and malts. Not overwhelming, but nothing overly special. It gets a solid 8 out of 10 for me.