Tuesday 1st of November 2011 12:30:40 PM

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Visited the relatively new Barrel House recently, which was really hard to find. It's actually "past" Wal-Mart on the right side, not really directly "behind Wal-Mart" as the single sign says in front of the Office Depot lot (wrong way if you see that sign). Directions on their site should get you there. They really could use better street signage though.

Building signage was great, we definitely knew we were in the right place from out front. The barrel house had a big red sign, and a sandwich board on the sidewalk leading to the patio (six tables with red umbrellas outside) and entrance. Inside the open industrial space, you see racks and racks of barrels, and a long blonde wood bar in the back of the seating area. tables and chairs along the sides, a row of barrel tables standing in the center. Assorted people were bringing growlers in, and there was a good sized diverse crowd for a friday afternoon. There was a longbearded guy scooting around on a forklift outside, and a pallet of kegs inside the door.

A to-go cooler was hidden on the side past the bar, and restrooms were at the towards the back where the drywall is. Some large mural cutout beer signs hung on the corrugated metal walls. Music was good, though the sound seemed to cut out during each song (annoying for the bartenders i'm sure).

24 house taps is pretty damn impressive. One was a guest tap (High Water No Boundary, brewed at Drakes), and a water tap also. A good mix of barrel aged stuff, year round, seasonals, etc. The highlight was Alpha Session, which I had a 2nd pour of, and later a gravity-poured pint at Beer Revolution. Barrel aged BW was good, boozy at 10%. Most of the barrel stuff was all higher abv, not as appealing on a warm sunny day, but fall is on its way.

Service was friendly and timely, they had two bartenders working, and they also looked to be bussing tables. A few little snacks were available, but it's byo for food.

Overall a great visit here, i'd drop by again to try some more of their beers, which were all of good quality.

Friday 8th of January 2010 11:59:30 AM

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This was an interesting place. It is located in a warehouse behind a Walmart and some other big building. Their typical tasting days are on Thursday and Fridays. I think we were there on a Tuesday. We saw some people in one area basically screwing around so we told them we were here for beer. They showed us where the tasting area was, it was a small room with a bunch of taps behind a little half wall.
They seemed to have a few different IPA's so we skipped those since we don't care for them. They had a Red, Stout, Blonde, and a hef. Of those my fav. was the Blonde, my wife liked the Stout. We ended up buying a bottle of the stout and a 6 of the blonde. The bathroom was located around the corner where you had to walk into part of the brewing area, I'm glad I did because as soon as you walk through the first door you can smell the brewing process (which I love the smell of). Other than that there was some fun out back that we missed, apparently things were being broken. But the people working there all seemed very laid back and easy going. They seemed to enjoy their jobs.