Barker Brewing

In our continued efforts to find the best BBQ in and about Rochester, we recently visited Barker Brewing in scenic Barker NY. This quaint little town on the edge of Niagara Wine Trail can now boast an equally quaint brewery and BBQ joint.
Barker Brewing is about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes from Rochester NY. Now I know you are probably thinking it’s crazy to drive so far for BBQ let alone a place to drink beer. Trust me, it is worth the trip, more so if you take the scenic drive on Lake Ontario Parkway. It is even more worth the trip on Thursdays when you can get a half rack of ribs for only $ 5.00! They are open Wednesday and Thursday from 3 PM until PM, Friday and Saturday from Noon until 10 PM and Sunday from noon until 8 PM.
But enough about driving and hours. Let’s get to down to the real business at hand — BBQ and Beer. The menu is simple — brisket, ribs, pulled pork. All slow smoked on the premises. Sure, there are also hamburgers and salads, but who drives an hour for those things? They also have some terrific appetizers. We started with the soft pretzel sticks with beer cheese and mustard. They came out of the kitchen hot with an enticing fresh baked bread scent wafting through the air to us. The pretzel sticks and the beer cheese are made fresh on site. They taste wonderful, with a slight aroma of smoke and the beer cheese had just the right tang to enhance the sticks. In addition they have nachos with cheese and pork nachos supreme. Next trip we’ll try the nachos supreme with pulled pork. My mouth is watering already.
We also went for the beer flight. Our choice of 4 of their on site brewed beers. This is a great way to taste a nice variety of what Barker Brewing has to offer for just $ 5. I chose the Three Sisters Stout, Cabin Fever, Dirty Blonde and the Golden Hill Wheat. Hubby changed it up a bit by choosing Niagara Pale Ale and the O’zapt Is Anniversary Ale. It’s hard to say which one I liked the best. The Three Sisters Stout is a milk based stout. It has a wonderful aroma of coffee beans and chocolate and has that typical stout full bodied mouth feel. But it is not as heavy as stouts I’ve tasted in the past. Bill was our personal bartender since we got there early on Friday and there weren’t any other customers. Bill explained Three Sisters isn’t as heavy as other stouts on the market because it is made with milk. This is the sweetest of the tap beers. But not cloyingly sweet and even Hubby liked it — and he dislikes anything overly sweet. The next on the «sweetness scale» is the Cabin Fever. It is a winter ale flavored with cinnamon, orange peel and honey. This is dark ale that has a soft finish with just a hint of sweetness. There is a smokiness to it that enhances the spices and make you want to come back for more. The Dirty Blonde has hints of citrus to it and has a lightness that is very appealing. My favorite part of this blonde is the trace of citrus that starts on the initial sip and continues all the way through to the end. Definitely getting a growler of this for our summer family picnic — possibly two. Golden Hill Wheat is a German style wheat that is said to have «notes of banana and clove.» I don’t know that I actually tasted either of those things but this was a pleasant wheat beer that I would highly recommend. I’m not usually a pale ale girl. They tend to be too hoppy for me and don’t have enough body to please this palate. However, after tasting the Niagara Pale Ale I have changed my tune — at least when I drink beer at Barker Brewing. This was hoppy, but not overly so. It had the perfect combination of malt and hops. It satisfied hubby and me — something that hasn’t ever happened with any other pale ale. As for the O’zapt Is Anniversary Ale, neither of us found much to recommend it. The flavor was alright, it just didn’t have any real zip or reason to order it again. After much discussion and tasting we decided to bring home a growler of the stout.
Okay, so now to the meat of the matter (pun intended) The highlight of the trip was the BBQ. We both got the brisket. As connoisseurs of BBQ and being the lucky taste tester of all of hubbies smoked ribs, brisket and pulled pork, I have fairly high standards when it comes to BBQ. I was impressed. The flavor was rich and smoky. The spice was perfect, allowing the meat to be the star, while still giving a little zing. Adding their homemade sauces enhanced rather than overwhelm the taste of the beef. Each thick slice had a perfect smoke ring and went perfectly with the homemade corn bread, smashed potatoes and the incredible smoked baked beans. Alas, I do have one complaint. The brisket was a little dry. A small addition of the sauce compensated wonderfully but I would have liked the slices to have a bit more juiciness to them. I believe this happened because they don’t smoke their BBQ every day. It simply wouldn’t make sense since they can’t always be sure

Cherry picking nearby. Unilocal pointed us here and very glad they did. Zero frills but food was great and well priced. Soft pretzels were the highlight. Bbq with all the fixings. Loved the beans and corn bread!

Stopped in for a quick flight and a bite to eat. Seemed like a very «locals only» type of bar, which isn’t a bad thing! Sat at the bar and the bartenders were very friendly and attentive. Ordered a flight of their own beer, though they carry various local beer and spirits. Nothing exciting about the beer but it wasn’t bad either. For food we ordered the pretzel sticks that came with «homemade beer cheese» but it was really just cold, semi melted cheese, with horseradish, really gross! Luckily they had BBQ sauce that I used instead and that was delicious! Not bad but we probably wouldn’t come back.

Do you believe in happy accidents? Well I didn’t until the day we found this place. I Never heard of this place, we found it because after Apple picking with the family, we planned to eat dinner at a brewery not far from the orchard but it was packed. So we found this one and wow… just wow. We had about 18 or so people and they accommodated us immediately, for a small place and staff I was very impressed. We started with appetizers, the pretzals with beer cheese were awesome but even better were the pork nachos which came with sides of cheese jalapenos sour cream all that jazz. They had two different BBQ sauces you could use both were incredible, only negative to it was I wish they put more pork (which was smoked to perfection by the way) on it. The dinners were even better! I got the BBQ ribs with a side of baked beans along with smack and cheese. It was awesome, there were definitely some of the best ribs I’ve had, they were smoked perfectly and fell off the bone. Those baked beans were without a doubt the best beans I’ve had. The smack and cheese to be honest, was forgettable. The whole experience was awesome the family already trying to make plans to go back even though it’s way out of the way. Totally worth it!

Really great out of the way place. Awesome people and good BBQ. Beers are lighter flavored and refreshing. Very well brewed.

Barker Brewing is definitely worth the stop! The pulled pork and brisket sandwiches were some of the best we’ve had. Dirty blonde and pale ale were also great. We will definitely go a little out of our way for our next trip to the Buffalo area to stop here for a meal!

The BBQ was great. Their sides also merit mention. The beans are some of the best I had. The beer menu has enough selection to ensure there is something for everyone. This place, although a bit out of the way, is certainly worth the trip.

Friendly staff. Great beer. Great food.

Pulled pork sandwich was bomb. My husband was really into their coleslaw. They had armadillo eggs as a special which were awesome as well.
The beer was decent. I personally liked their Niagara Pale Ale the best. My husband thought the beer was a bit watery.