BarnYard Beer

No Longer In Business

Had to have a beer from this brewery to keep all of Kansas covered. On my third visit I scored! On my first two visits they were out of beer. They only brew in 50 gallon batches. The bartender was very interested on how I had heard of the place and what I thought of their beer. The only beer available on my visit was their red ale. Which was pretty decent. You have to enter through the pool hall. For a full picture read the other reviews.

Visited with beastiefan2k - this place is all fucked up and shit - okay, so first of all, it is located on a side street behind a pool hall, so unless you know exactly where it is, you will have a hard time finding it - so you pull up behind the pool hall and notice a large banner that says "Barnyard Brewing" - underneath said banner, you see what you assume to be the entrance to the brewery - there is a doormat, a picnic table and even a bucket right by the door for disposing of cigarette butts - however, do not expect to be able to enter the brewery through this door, dear friend - oh heavens no - you will find it locked - no, fellow beer traveller, you must go around to the pool hall if you want barnyard beers (confusing, I know) - anyway, the pool hall itself if your typical, windowless, dingy Midwestern pool hall - when you enter the pool hall, you will not see any barnyard beers on tap - just a few macro tap handles - unless you have the gumption to ask the bartender, "hey, where’s the barnyard beer," you will be drinking Bud - so, okay, get this - when you order the barnyard beer, they actually have to walk way into the back where I am assuming the "brewery" is housed in order to fetch the beer for you - on my visit, there was one beer available (a mediocre porter) that was definitely not worth all the clandestine bullshit we had to go through to get it - according to the bartender, they do actually open the brewery itself on occasion for "special events" (perhaps when they get TWO BEERS on tap!), but I think you need to know a guy that knows a guy that can teach you the password and secret handshake in order to actually get in there - anyway, like I said, it’s all fucked up and shit.

Wow, what a place. The BarnYard door was closed, so I went into the pool hall, which is a place for drinking, not for playing pool. Staff went the extra mile by going into the BarnYard section to fetch me a porter and an amber, both of which were very solid beers. Would like to see them expand just a bit, and I’d love to return to see the equipment, and catch some music at night. The daytime crowd was very friendly, and very colorful. Main bar had $1.50 domestics, $3 Tallgrass cans. Plus a handful of micros, enough to be in the RB database in its own right. Food was a bag of pretzels someone left on the bar.

OK - you go here for one reason, to try BarnYard beers. As mentioned by Eugene, the brewery is located (conspicuously) in the Pool Room, located behind the Merc. I had never been in this place before yesterday afternoon, and it is certainly an authentic pool room. You walk in, and the dimly lit space a big, and full of pool table. A 6 seat bar sits in front of you, and this is where between 2-6 BarnYard beers will be on. When I visited, they only had the Porter and Dunkel on, though it sounds like generally they have more variety. The crowd was vendors doing deliveries, the elderly, and the unemployable (it was 2 o’clock in the afternoon). The service was really good, the bartender was enthusiastic to tell the BarnYard story, and was sincerely interested in how I learned about the beers, and what I thought of them. I’ll go back to try new beers, I suppose, but if BarnYard gets additional distribution, I may never see the Pool Room again.

58 = ★½ (Local place tickers only)

I only use the total score, not the component parts.

It is located in the Pool Room, a pool hall behind the Merc store. The brewery is housed in the kitchen and they have 3 beers on tap at the bar. These are alongside the 3 Bud taps. The pool hall is a trip, stripped down-25 cent games-locals only, kind of a place. History channel on the TV, rarely used ladies room, no natural sun light, that is what you got in store. All the BYbeers are $3 a shaker. I wish them luck. Its an easy enough stop if you are in Lawrence, 5 minute drive from either 23rd or Free State. Its worth a visit just for the experience of the pool hall. "You have face like bear."