Photo via Barley John’s Brewing Company Facebook
Barley John’s, the acclaimed New Brighton brewpub, has announced plans to distribute beer to on- and off-sale Minnesota establishments in the coming months. Their New Richmond, Wisconsin, brewery is up and running, which is how the until-now-brewpub is allowed to distribute beer in Minnesota.
Owner John Moore and head brewer, Bob McKenzie (formerly 3rd Street, Granite City, Sherlock’s Home) were two of the earliest proponents of craft beer in the Metro. Their beers, once cutting-edge, have matured into classics.
“All of our beers are old-school craft beers, John’s been at it for fifteen years,” says McKenzie. “The IPA is the old British style, before everyone started over-hopping everything. The reason I love barley John’s is because all the beers are way bigger than they should be for their style. Like our Oktoberfest, it’s big, a good 8% beer. We’ll probably have that ready for ABR.”
There’s currently a three-month lag time for breweries ordering 16-ounce cans, so you’ll have to wait until October or November for tallboys of Little Barley (3.5% ABV session ale), Old 8 Porter, 6 Knot IPA, and Wild Brunette (wild rice ale).
The first Metro bar to pour Barley John’s will be Northbound Brewery & Smokehouse, which is hosting a kick-off event today, Aug. 26, from 4–8pm. They will have the four flagships on tap, along with a cask of rye IPA steeped with green tea.
Wisconsin won’t miss out, either. Barley John’s is working on adding distribution in the Badger State in the coming months, and their New Richmond taproom is slated to open to the public by mid-September.
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