The anticipated opening of Barley Brothers was a big deal in our family.  As many of you, my devoted readers know, J1 has been working hard to complete his Brewmaster Certification which I am pleased to announce, he has!  J1 is a passionate man and when he is not thinking about his gorgeous wife and beautiful new baby, he is focussed upon every thing about beer (unless his beloved Giants are playing).  He let us know when the invitations to the “dry” runs were posted on Facebook and we all marked down the date.  J1 ensured that we were in the parking lot a half an hour before the doors opened so that we would be first through the doors.  We achieved this, and settled into an enormous booth where he could survey the happenings at the bar and greet all the other beer enthusiasts that he suggested drop in that evening.

I love what is happening in the beer industry right now and when J1 suggests something that he knows that I will like, I appreciate the taste.  But after I have one, I am ready to go back to my libation of choice-red wine.  So I am not even going to attempt to comment about the Bad Batch, Fort Garry Pumpkin, BR Scottish Heavy, Bulwark, Island Larger, BR Life of Chai, Humulus, Noche, Portage & Main or Brocton IPA that arrived at our table that evening.   You can go to Untappd to read everything you might need to know about our choices.

I will leave the beer tasting to the experts and talk about something that I am an aficionado of-the food.  The anticipation for me was that Noel of Hermanoes, Corrientes and Carnavale was opening another establishment where I could enjoy his delectable fare.  The sausage platter seemed a fitting choice with our beer selections and we appreciated the differences in the variety of sausages and the potato salad.  The style served was my preference: vinegary and savoury especially because of the inclusion of bacon.  D prefers the mayonnaise and hard boiled egg potato salad version and so I rarely make this style at home. Yum.

The hot pretzel was fun but at $9, I would not likely indulge again.

The Perogies were excellent.  Once again the inclusion of sautéed bacon really made the dish.

We loved the peppercorns in the gravy of the poutine and the cheese curds (when we discovered the nuggets), were authentic but the fries were a bit of a bust especially when compared to the excellent poutine offerings at other establishments in the city.

I will note that because this was one of the inaugural runs for the kitchen and the staff there was a 50% Grand Opening discount on our food.  With the discount, I think that the value quotient was intact.  When I go back, as the guys in my family consistently do, I might be more discerning about service levels and food quality now that they have had a couple of months to work out the kinks.  I really hope that this concept succeeds and takes off and wish them no ill well.

Kath’s quote:

“He that eateth well drinketh well,
he that drinketh well sleepeth well,
he that sleepeth well sinneth not,
he that sinneth not goeth straight through Purgatory to Paradise.”

William Lithgow (1582-1645)

Love-that is all.

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