BROOKLYN’S BARCADE BRINGS GAMING TO SPECIALTY BREWS

The original BARCADE in Brooklyn’s hipster Williamsburg section brought arcade gaming to endlessly rotating American craft draughts in 2004. A caliginous North Side bar with a grimy dive feel and rustic furnishings, Barcade’s a genuine one-of-a-kind novel idea promoted mostly by Jersey-bred co-owner Paul Kermizian. Just around the corner from international beer haven, Spuyten Duyvil, this dank brick-walled industrial space has an enclosed front patio walkway that offers patrons the chance to take a break…

BARCADE EXPANDS TO JERSEY CITY AND BEYOND…

-John Fortunato

Barcade introduced one of the best original concepts for a craft beer bar during 2004. Its five owners, led by hands-on entrepreneur Paul Kermizian, wanted to re-invigorate the homey recreational experience of drinking beers with close pals while playing vintage arcade games. The novel whim would prove to be the coolest idea for an urban pub common city folk would like to hang out at, much like Kermizian’s Brooklyn apartment…

ATWOOD’S TAVERN, CAMBRIDGE, MA.

Just past the heart of Cambridge five miles west of Boston, ATWOOD’S TAVERN has the cozily rustic feel of an Olde English pub with its wood furnishings, low ceilings, bottle cellar, rear dining space and superb beer selection. A heavily rotated batch of draughts delights both neighborhood brew hounds and curious outsiders. My wife and I sat dead center at the left bar during a two-hour mid-December 2011 stopover.

Copious salads, burgers and sandwiches dot…

On tap at Atwood’s Tavern, interestingly deviant Imperial India Pale Lager (aged longer than its well-known India Pale Ale variety) brought faded kiwi, mango and passion fruit tropicalia to a more pronounced piney grapefruit-peeled bittering. Incessant white-peppered spicing seasoned the less intricately detailed pineapple, red grape and peach regalia filtering through the backend of this uncommon dry-hopped strong lager.

Gritty mocha nutty obsidian-hued full body relies on intense hop-roasted oats toasting to engage prominent coffee-stained black chocolate richness, deepening the wood-burnt walnut char and subsidiary vanilla bean jab. Honey-glazed hazelnut sweetness, chocolate-caked cocoa powdering and pine-sapped maple gradually contrast the coarsely bitter end.

Well-balanced mocha-nutty German alt, positioned as traditional brown ale circa 2011, celebrates third anniversary of New England brewery. Perfectly rounded mouthfeel collates dry hop-charred walnut with wood-singed vanilla bean bittering and syrupy maple molasses. Hazelnut and pecan spotted in penetrative dark chocolate backdrop.

Perfectly obvious and totally easygoing fresh-watered pale lager now brewed by macro kings, Anheuser-Busch (but originating in Canada), crystallizes its tingly grassy-hopped spicing with wheat-flaked cereal grains and caramelized crystal malts. A slight metallic tinge edges forth by the fragile sweet-buttered finish.

On tap at Barcade, traditional Czech pils relates well to German dry lager and English ESB styles. Lemon-dried raw honey souring picks up herbal harvest graining, allowing grassy-hopped alfalfa, whey and porridge illusions to infiltrate sourdough bottom.

On tap at Barcade, mellow British-styled winter warmer (aged in bourbon barrels) is a slow sipping medium-bodied digestif. Dry Scotch, sherry and bourbon boozing picks up brown-sugared rye molasses sweetness over dry oaken vanilla satiation. Ancillary fig-date sugaring wavers.

On tap at Barcade, egg-y Challah breaded entry picks up light almond-toasted armagnac, almondine and sherry wining. Dry chocolate spicing lingers in the midst alongside red cherry, molasses and vanilla illusions. Less fruity and hop-fueled than American versions, this English-styled barleywine is more approachable for softer thirsts.

On tap at Barcade, medium-bodied obsidian-hued porter brings beechwood-like smokiness to burnt-toasted dark chocolate, cocoa nibs, and coffee bean influence. Tobacco-charred walnut roast and earthen hop oils deplete initial smoked wood surface.

On tap at Barcade, creamy rum-barrel aged strong ale warms up like the finest cognac or brandy. Rum-spiced pumpkin pie entry stays firm against dark cherry, bruised orange and candied apple opulence. Wintry ginger-cinnamon-allspice-nutmeg conflux sidles molasses-sapped caramelized rye breading. Excellent digestif.