Barcade Crawl

This past Saturday, some friends and I decided to do something a little crazy. Go to all three Barcade locations (Philadelphia, Jersey City and Brooklyn) in one day. This all came about after I visited Barcade Philly for the first time a few weeks ago and realized it wouldn't be very hard to go to both the Philly and Jersey City locations in one afternoon. After describing my trip and my thought to one Chris O' Leary of Brew York, New York, the gears in his head were immediately turning. A few days later and Chris had already set up a Facebook Event and planned out a whole route entirely utilizing mass transit. Uh oh, we were really doing this.

Chris already has a great recap on his site, so I won't go into it here. But we made it to Jersey City just after 5:00 and Brooklyn at around 9:00. Not too bad really. Obviously Philly was the long haul, but still worth it as it's a great venue. Here are a few photos to add to the mix:


They have a smoker. This means already amazing food is actually smoked amazing food.

If you like this idea but don't feel like taking mass transit, you're in luck. This Saturday 12/10, Barcade and Sixpoint are joining forces for a Barcade Crawl by BUS! A $100 ticket gets you transportation round trip from Brooklyn to all 3 Barcades, 5 oz. pours of all 10 exclusive Sixpoint beers at each location AND food in Philly. That's a pretty great deal AND all proceeds are going to charity. Do it!

Barcade Philadelphia: Now Open!

There are now three (count 'em, 3) Barcades in existence. The original in Williamsburg, Brooklyn just celebrated its 7th Anniversary, Barcade Jersey City just opened its doors this past April and now we have Barcade Philadelphia located in the city's Fishtown section.





For those familiar with Barcade's other two locations, you'll certainly see some similarities upon entering the latest incarnation. One major difference here in Philly is the brickwork throughout the bar. It gives the place way more of a old-school feel to go along with the vintage arcade games.



It already feels like this place has been around forever and it's only been open two weeks.



Founders Breakfast Stout at 12pm on a Sunday? Sure!



One huge plus about this Barcade is its high-top seating. If you find your friends but there's not a seat for you, you can still chat at eye-level. It sounds silly but it makes a difference.



This is a shot looking from the game area back at the bar. the bar actually curves around as you can see, and the part in the foreground is where you pick up your food order. Nice little touch.



There are some amazing games here in Fishtown. I chose to play a little Double Dragon which I don't think I've ever seen in an arcade. Oh, and of course, every Barcade MUST have a Tapper.



Another unique part about the Philly location is the outdoor seating area. Nothing fancy, but a nice space to hang out and get some fresh air while drinking your beer.



There's also a small roped section for smoking.



Speaking of smoking, here's the good kind! Barcade Philly smokes their own sausages and bacon. I think I need to repeat that. Barcade Philly smokes their own sausages and bacon. It smelled AMAZING and if I hadn't come directly from brunch I would have definitely got some.

So there you have it! If you're ever in Philly, check it out. It took me exactly 90 minutes to drive between the Philly and Jersey City locations....hmm...who will be the first person to visit all 3 Barcades in 1 day?

1114 Frankford Avenue (between Girard Avenue and the Delaware Expressway)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
215-634-4400

Barcade Jersey City: December Update

Its been a while since our last check-in with Barcade's new downtown Jersey City location. I decided to walk by on my way home from work yesterday and was happy to find that work on the place is starting to shape up. The photo above was taken through their front door. It looks like we're seeing the beginnings of a bar perhaps? Also, even though it was already mentioned that this Barcade location would also be serving food, I was excited to see that the permit taped to the window listed work being done on a "food prep area". Awesome. One other thing I noticed was another permit stating that nothing would be allowed closer than 5 feet to the curb. I'm assuming this means that there will indeed be outdoor seating available here, which is a great addition.

They've also set up some official websites for you to follow:
http://barcadejerseycity.com/
http://www.facebook.com/barcadejerseycity

It looks like the opening is in sight and I for one cannot wait.

Barcade: Jersey City - JINXED!

Crap. I guess I jinxed it with my post yesterday about the new Barcade location opening on Newark Ave. in Jersey City. Look what I found when I strolled by yesterday!



"NO PERMITS" Uh oh. I'm hoping this is just a little snafu and not a sign of things to come. I've heard that new businesses in JC can get pretty caught up in red tape. Oy.

Barcade: Jersey City

Barcade: Jersey City has been made semi-official in an article in the Jersey City Independent. Since I live 3 blocks away, I figured I'd keep an eye on its development here on the blog. Above is what it looked like as of Wednesday July 14th.

As of now what we know (or think we know):

arcade games
bigger space than Brooklyn
food, probably sandwiches and lighter fair (locally sourced)
sidewalk seating

Even More Barcade Photos

I've just been oozing photos from Barcade lately. With its low lighting and many arcade games, who knew it would be a great beertography spot?





Yet again, I'd like to speculate about the owners of Barcade opening a similar space in Jersey City. I've been scouring the web looking for clues. So far I've found this and this tweet by WiredJC that seemingly got no response. Hmmm.....

Beer Bars Are Good: Barcade and Matt Torrey's

Matt Torrey's - a new beer bar on Bushwick Ave. in East Williamsburg. Quite a few rotating craft taps, including Brooklyn Brewery Dark Matter when I was there this past Thursday.



The bar that has emerged as my most frequented is Barcade. They have almost weekly (excellent) events and its a great space. PLUS, arcade games! Above is from the aftermath of the Sierra Nevada event, L to R the Fritz & Ken 30th Anniversary Stout, Crystal Wheat and the 2004 Bigfoot.



Another of the Fritz & Ken.



Not only do they have great beer, but they have clever advertising as well.



Rumor has it on the interwebs that Barcade has been looking into expanding into Jersey City. This is excellent news for me since I just moved there. All I've heard so far is that its going to be a bigger space. Does anyone have any further info?

Smuttynose Night at Barcade

I've been falling a bit behind on my postings lately, so I'll just briefly share these few photos from Thursday January 14th, Smuttynose Night at Barcade in Brooklyn, NY.



Here was the beer list that eve:

Baltic Porter - 8.7% ABV - Baltic style Porter
"oak aged" Big A IPA - 9.2% - Imperial IPA, aged in oak at brewery
Farmhouse Ale - 7.5% - Belgian style Farmhouse Ale
Imperial Stout - 10.0% - Russian style Imperial Stout
IPA - 6.9% - "finest kind", served on cask
Maibock - 6.2% - German style Helles Bock
Strawberry Weisse - 3.0% - German Berliner Weissbier
Terminator G-Bock 2008 - 9.5% - Doppelbock, aged one year
"oak aged" Terminator G-Bock 2008 - 9.5% - Doppelbock, aged in oak at the brewery
Tripel - 9.0% - Belgian style Tripel
Wheat Wine - 10.7% - strong Ale brewed with wheat
Woodward Ale - 5.0% - crisp Ale with hints of Curacao orange



The first and by far most interesting beer I had was the Oak Aged Terminator G-Bock from 2008. I don't think I'd ever had a oak aged doppelbock before, but the oak added a perfect woodiness to what was already a very good beer.



And of course, I left behind a few of my "business cards" aka pieces of thin cardboard i printed a few words on. They're super-informative aren't they? Don't they just want to make you make beertography your home page? heh.

Cask Beer Out of a Pumpkin at Barcade's 5th Anniversary Party

Last night was Barcade's 5th Anniversary Party and they spared no beer-expense! Check out what they featured on tap (I've bolded the ones I had):

Allagash Burnham Road - 8.0% ABV - Smoked ale
Avery Sixteen - 7.7% - anniversary Saison
Brooklyn Manhattan Project - 8.5%
Bruery Autumn Maple - 10.5% - Belgian strong ale
Chelsea Tsar's Revenge 2008 - 9.7%
Coney Island "dry hopped" Sword Swallower (cask) - 6.8%
Dogfish Head Theobroma - 10.0%
Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout (served from a pumpkin cask) - 6.8%
Goose Island barrel-aged Imperial Brown - 9.0% - Old Ale
Kelso Newtown Kriek - 4.5% - Local Lambic
Left Hand St. Vrain - 9.0% - Belgian Tripel
McNeill's Organic IPA - 7.5%
Rogue Sequicentennial (cask) - 6.3% - brewed for the 150th anniversary of Oregon
Roosterfish Nut Brown - 5.6%
Sierra Nevada Estate - 6.8%
Sixpoint Hops of Love
Sixpoint Oktoberfest
St. Somewhere Pays du Soleil - 8.0% - Belgian Dark Ale
Victory V-12 - 12.0% - Belgian Quad
Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin - 8.0% - Double Pumpkin Ale

That's a lot of delicious beer. But easily the most interesting thing on the list is the Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout served directly out of a freakin' pumpkin! Here the guys are tapping it:



First of all it's interesting to make a Pumpkin Stout, as most pumpkin infused beers are usually lighter fare. But to add in the idea of having it sit in a pumpkin. Let's just say I want to go pumpkin picking and start doing this for our homebrew.

Here are a few other photos of the evening:

TONIGHT! Vintage Beer Night at Barcade

Tonight's looking pretty good right about now. Barcade in Williamsburg was recently declared by head brewer of Victory Brewing Company to be the best beer bar in the country. And tonight they're showing why:

Hello,

Please join us at Barcade this Thursday, June 18th as we clear out our deep storage and serve kegs we've been aging for years. These strong ales should be nice and tasty by now. On tap:

2004 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot - 9.6% ABV - Barleywine
2005 Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout - 10.6% - dark chocolate
2005 Flying Dog Gonzo - 7.8% - Imperial Porter
2006 Great Divide Yeti - 9.5% - Imperial Stout
2007 Southern Tier Choklat - 11.0% - chocolate Imperial Stout
2007 North Coast Old Rasputin - 9.0% - Imperial Stout
2007 Allagash Four - 10.0% - Belgian Quadruple Ale
2008 Chelsea Imperial Mild - 10.9% - Barleywine
2008 Dogfish Head Immort Ale - 11.0% - American Strong Ale


Hope to see you there,

Barcade
388 Union Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718-302-6464
www.barcadebrooklyn.com