Twin Barns Brewery is Opening!!
 

Opens this Tuesday 7/16!!!

https://www.facebook.com/events/2433928110169607/

Can’t wait! Cheers

Hooray for Twin Barns ...... any chance they'll be getting either a mechanical ride-em bull, or a ping pong table ...... for those of us who are not really into beer or restaurant food, in general ..... but like the ride-em bull and ping pong?

When you go to Walmart you can ride the noodles up and down the Iles. :D

That was a good one! :D creates a vivid picture of him!

I was going to say FLL could sit there and fantasize about the Swedish sun tan team and Hooter’s girls! (While drinking a glass of water)

Opens Today
 

Twin Barns Brewing opens for business today, July 16.

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news...ticle-nav-next

Great news. I plan to visit next weekend. If anyone anyone does go please provide a review.


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Drove by around 1:00...
 

Parking lot was crowded. Obviously a great attendance.

Stopped by around 3:00. Crowd still good, but obviously thinned out.

Had the Lake Cruiser Double IPA and the Sandbar Blonde ale...Both excellent.

The owners were friendly, as was the staff and guests. Everyone having a good time.

I was told the food service got a little behind during the "bulge". I didn't try the food. It looked good going by.

The barn is spacey with big beams, lots of wood, long tables and I'm sure can hold lots of people. No TV's (at least yet). Outdoor seating is being built.

Since Mayhews moved their crematorium operation somewhere else, there are no odoriferous annoyances to taint one's palate.

I'm curious as to other's experiences...

..... blessed be the spirit!
 

....someone said the crematory oven got a long lease inside a storage locker at the self storage biz a couple miles down route-104, there. Just knowing my last earthly event was happening inside a self-storage locker would keep me from dying.

Naming a new brew .... 'Burning Spirit' beer brew ...... could hit the spot for a seasonal autumn special beer .... to remember that crematory next door ... that's no longer here. Everyone ..... please raise up your glass of Burning Spirit ..... blessed be the spirit!

The owners of TBB...
 

Told me they were thinking of naming a brew after the crematorium, and Mayhews was contemplating building a "stairway-to-Heaven" from the funeral home, up the hill, to the brewery. I asked if they were serious, and got raised eyebrows in response.

Time answers many questions...

I'm excited! Does anyone know if they have A/C in said barn? Seems relevant given the temperatures this weekend...

(I'm also curious if they have tasters or just pints, but who am I kidding, we're going to try them all anyway.)

My Expectations may have been a little too high
 

Four of us stopped by for lunch. There was a pretty good crowd which didn’t surprise me because there’s been a lot of anticipation for the opening of this brewery.

Two of us had the IPA and one of us had the blonde. I was one of the IPA drinkers, and thought it taste remarkably similar to Long Trail IPA. So for fans of Long Trail IPA... good news. Me on the other hand, I’ve been spoiled by Stone Face and Concord Brewing Safe space IPA. That being said, I’ve never met a beer I didn’t like, so I drank it.

The food side of operations fell a bit short of my expectations. We sat at a table with a view into the very small kitchen. I question whether a kitchen this size can handle the number of seats they intend to max out at. I could see on display that their sauces are simply bottled sauces and their strategy is to feature prepared foods (likely by SISCO). This should help ensure a level of consistency for them however, not a level of quality I am comfortable with to support their pricing for a counter service on paper plates experience.

We ordered three pizzas and one burger. The pictures below are of my wife’s pizza which was $9, and my burger which is $14.

All in all we all agreed that the experience was somewhat average. I wish them well.

Great review from someone in the business. Thanks. Not to hijack the thread but how are you making out with the distillery?

It would drive me nuts if I went out to eat, ordered a burger, and got some no-name bag of regular potato chips as a side instead of french fries...

These chips seem to be the Wachusett brand which are good and sold everywhere!
That said...”NO FRIES...CHIPS!”

Not a restaurant...
 

Straight from the owner's mouth in the Laconia Daily Sun yesterday:

Bruce Walton, one of the owners of Twin Barns, said...even though they serve food, he doesn’t even consider it a restaurant at all. “This is a taproom" said co-owner Dave Picarillo.

Later in the article the writer states that "they also wanted to make food the supporting cast to the real star of the show: the beer."

In short, this isn't fine dining, nor is it intended to be. It's a taproom, not a restaurant. If you're looking for a superior dining experience then Lago, Camp, Lakehouse, Giuseppes, etc are less than a mile down the road. If you're looking for great beer in a fun atmosphere this is the place.

If you want people to drink lots of beer you serve hot wings, the hotter the better. It's a no brainer!

Along with peanuts and salty popcorn :)

Food at TBB...
 

The owner told me that serving food is required by the State of NH for any establishment that serves alcohol.

Now that is an interesting law. So in New Hampshire there are no "bars" like in Boston or NY that strictly serve beverages?

There are a Variety of licenses. I actually do not have a restaurant or lounge license. I have a recreation license because of the golf course. I therefore do not have to sell any food at all. Fact is if I didn’t sell food, the golf course would have gone out of business along time ago.

And actually if his receipts don’t balance with a certain percentage of food, they can take away his brewery license.

You can get a some sort of "nightclub" license and not have to serve food. It is based on capacity. I think it has to over 400 or maybe 500 people. Not sure if allows you to be open every day either. The Big House in the Weirs has such a license.

Woodsy

I hope this is a low percentage. Interesting though, I have never been but does Hermit Winery have to sell food because you can purchase glasses of wine there?

That’s a good question. They didn’t sell food when they first opened but then they opened up the little deli for sandwiches and snacks. I don’t know whether that was imposed upon them by the liquor Commissioner or if they just thought it was good business expansion. Food is key for alcohol sales. Even those bars or clubs mentioned in the big city will have a gallon jar of pickled eggs or something.

A distillery does not have to serve food but there are restrictions on how much alcohol can be served on location.

Twin barns
 

Their menu for food and beer looks pretty good. I'll be trying it this weekend or early next weekend while on vacation. I'll post my thoughts after that.

That is an extremely complicated set of rules imposed by the NH Liquor Commissioner. You would think there would be a much easier set of rules if break it down to the type of establishment and limit the choices. Bar, restaurant, recreation or distillery/winery

Twin Barns Brewery & Indoor Water Park!
 

With seven acres of mostly flat land on the Rt-3 Daniel Webster Hgwy, centrally located in Meredith, wouldn't it be nice for Twin Barns to build an indoor, heated, year 'round water park that puts something like 500,000-gallons of 80-degree water to work, 6-days/week. Closed on Mondays for water park maintenance.

What a groovy combination ..... a water park ..... and Twin Barns beer & eats(?). Meredith has lots of water, lots of potential indoor water park customers ...... just need some big money to get it designed, approved, and built.

Build an indoor heated water park and people will pay to use it. Meredith has a long winter ..... a water park is basically like a giant hot tub, but not as hot ...... maybe 80-degrees, water temp .... w/ water slides.

There is a real genuine indoor water park, recently built, in North Conway, NH, so's it can be done ..... KAHUNA LAGUNA ...... is not impossible. Seven acres flat land is same size as Fenway Park in Boston.

Terrible idea for Meredith but maybe Fun Spot would be a good place for it.

I will not bite on his nonsensical dribble [emoji4]


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I should have put the sarcastic smile on that one.:D

Ok, if an indoor water park is such a far fetched proposal for Meredith, there's already two similar indoor water parks, the Kahuna Laguna in North Conway, NH, and the https://jaypeakresort.com/waterpark/waterpark in northern Vermont.

What on Earth does this have to do with the brewery in Meredith?

This is just what he does to troll people on here. He likes to inject his own whimsical thoughts into a thread and see if people will bite.

Twin Barns includes seven acres of flat land there, on the Route 3-Daniel Webster Highway, that has been used for storing about 50 motorboats in the off season.

Looking at the insides of the Twin Barns, it is similar to the insides of a ski area, base lodge. Was thinking how building an indoor water park on the seven acre lot, there, next door, could be a successful, go-to, indoor activity for the lakes region.

Beer, pizza, and a 40,000 sq ft, indoor, year 'round, 84-degree water park ...... what's not to like?

That's actually pretty common around the country depending on the license and is why most places like that have a hot dog steamer so they don't have to cook anything.

dust
 

Will stop in when they hot top the parking lot

Twin Barns
 

No surprise there since the master brewer was lured away from Long Trail.

We ordered three pizzas and one burger. The pictures below are of my wife’s pizza which was $9, and my burger which is $14.

$14 sounds high for a burger that did not look that great in your photo.

My expectations are much lower now when I try it. So far my favorite taproom, beer is Lone Wolfe. Excellent beer, great variety of beer.

Lone Wolfe is a wonderful taproom. On a sidenote, the owner Graham, came to me about eight months before he opened and applied for a job with me for the winter. He was upfront and told me he was hoping for an opportunity to learn from me and would be leaving me in the spring to open a nano brewery. I gave the job and shared as much knowledge as I could.

There is another excellent taproom in Wolfboro called Burnt Timber. Each are very small operations which I believe is a key strategy in this day of oversaturation in the industry.

Not to change the subject but I went to a restaurant in my home last week that was recommended by my son. The menu was weird so I just ordered what I could recognize, pasta at $16 which wouldn't be enough to fill up my 3 year old grand daughter. My buddy ordered a "wagu" sp? burger and fries which was $24. :eek:
He gave me a bite and I have to admit it was the best tasting burger I ever tasted but $24 is cazy expensive. The wives had fish dishes and multiple glasses of wine. Not my type of place!
They had a book list of available wines but only 4 choices of tap beer, that's it for the beer, no bottles of beer at all. :rolleye1:
I just had to vent since the bill was over $300 and I left still feeling hungry. The place was very busy for a week night.

I tried Burnt Timber. It was good but I liked Lone Wolfe and Kettlehead much better. Much more variety and I liked the beers better.

Looks like the quote in your post may have gotten misassigned. Those are the words of Taz. On another note I’m a little curious how there was a restaurant in your home and you had to wait until your son recommend it to visit? Sorry just feeling a little spunky

If heading toward Tilton, might as well also swing by Cannaberry and visit Canterbury ale works. It is another wonderful small taproom. Rumor has it there’s one opening up in the Wiers and another one opening up in downtown Laconia.

Wagyu burger, I don't even know what that is? :laugh:
My son went there for his anniversary and had the Wagyu steak and said it was great but I didn't feel like eating meat that night.
Anyway, any place that only has 4 choices of beer is off my list of go to's. :D

You not feeling like eat meat? You love your meat! It probably happens about as often as I don’t feel like eating ice cream.

I try to keep my red meat consumption to once or twice a week but Prime Rib is my weakness. :D
I will get into your restaurant at some point even if it's only to drink.

Unsolicited e-mail: how?
 

Today I received an unsolicited e-mail from Twin Barns Brewing.

I live three thousand miles away from them; I haven't been to NH for a couple years and have never had contact with them.

While I'm not upset about the e-mail, I have to wonder how they got my private e-mail address?

My profile does not seem to show my private e-mail, it only allows a PM, and this was not a PM.

The only ones who should have it in NH are my family and of course admin.

In hindsight I believe I clicked a link to view their website: without more, could that have given them the contact info?

I believe “cookies” as they call them, are simply a means to gain personal information from you/us.
That, and thousands of businesses out there sell any information they can make a penny with...including email addresses.

Stopped by today and fairly busy. Beer is good and good variety of types. My favorite is the breakfast stout. Ordered the Bravarian pretzel and it was good for what it is. Overheard one of the ladies pouring beer say that the meat for the burgers comes from the Wine’ing Butcher.
I wish them well and will return when we come up.
Just my .02 worth

Looking at the map it looks like a trudge up hill from town docks. Should be walkable form tying up at docks?

Is a little more than one mile walking distance ....... about 1 1/4-miles.

Is not the easiest or safest place to be walking, from the town docks all the way up to Twin Barns. There's no sidewalk up above Mill St, about 1/3 of the way along, so you is walking up a very busy Route-3, sharing the shoulder side of the road with fast moving cars, big trucks, and motorcycles ..... all usually in a rush to get through that stretch of road to beat the lights.

Having said that, if you really want to walk it, it is doable but not too safe.

I would fuhgitabout walking it ..... and go hit www.giuseppesnh.com Italian restaurant across from the town docks and behind the big waterfall in Mill Falls market place.

I tried it last week
 

I tried it last week with a friend and my son. Similar reviews from all of us.


We tried several types of beers. All were good. Food was mediocre at best.

Beer - A
Wings - D- (not fried, luke warm at best, not much flavor)
Pretzel - B+ (Could easily be an A with some better dipping flavors. Warm butter is not what I was looking for)
Burgers - C- (Bland burger on a nice roll. No BACON available. May have once been a tasy burger but all the flavor was cooked out of it. it is wining butcher ground beef. Looked like quality but was very bland.


I was hoping for a nice addition to my restaurant list. It isn't. It is a beer place that seems to serve food as a requirement. No frier so wings are baked and no fries. Just a bag of chips. Tiny kitchen that seemed to only have one person working. Food was slow to come out and appetizers came the same time as our entrees. Nice atmosphere and people playing board games. I didn't mind the shared tables as I get more social after a few beers. Beer is good but I'm not sure it is worth going back for more. I'll give it a few months and see if they decide to take their food seriously. If not, I doubt I would go back.

Quote from owners “we are required by law to sell food”.


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We went on Saturday night. Split tasters so we tried all the beers, and everyone agreed the limited edition Peaches in Palmers Town was the best of the bunch. Then we ordered food... yeah, the entire thing broke down. Friend who got two appetizers got those fairly quickly (the buffalo cheese dip thing was probably the best thing we ordered), but then we waited almost an hour for two sandwiches and a mac and cheese! :eek: When inquiring around the half hour mark, we were told the mac and cheese was the holdup- never heard why. Then when I remarked on the wait when paying our tab- not in a trying to weasel out of paying way, just an FYI way- I got a defensive "we've only been open three weeks, and a second kitchen worker starts next week" and not even a sorry. That was weird.

I mean, I liked the barn and the beer, and assuming it's open in winter I think it'll be a perfect apres ski spot after Gunstock for us. But yeah, they really need to sort out that kitchen, I think we'll stick with Hobbs Tavern for our beer and dinner needs until they do.

I don’t know who was so curt with you while making your exit, but i definitely would email the owner and tell him. Of course that’s presupposing that it wasn’t the owner. [emoji12]


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Women
 

No Wine ,No Drinks ,pretty much telling 80% of women u do not want them there

It's a brewery...
 

It's a brewery...do you go to a winery for the beer?

I think a brewery/restaurant, as it needs to be in NH, should at least have a minimal bar stocked for other libations besides their own beer.

As been discussed above, I believe if they sold wine or hard liquor it would require a different or additional license

Not to hijack the thread, but I wonder how the quality of NH microbrews compares to that of the rest of the country, esp. PDX, the heart of the "microbrew revolution?"

As someone who tries as many different beers as possible (I keep track on an app called Untappd, and have over a thousand unique beers logged after a few years), NH definitely has a solid selection as a state- Lakes Region is frankly pretty empty for microbreweries though, whereas the rest of the state is much more saturated. My partner and I went down to Portsmouth to give you an idea for a night and pub crawled to four breweries just by walking, and there was also a tap house with a hundred local beers on tap. Wolfeboro is the exception though with two microbreweries- I prefer Lone Wolfe (though there and Burnt Timber both sell beer for takeaway if you don't want to drink it there).

As for taste/varieties, I think the best thing in this region are the New England IPAs. IPAs got a reputation from out West in particular for being super bitter so a lot of people think they don't like them (and I don't like that kind either!), which is basically a great way to mask your mistakes in a batch when starting out. But the NE IPAs are not like that at all- they're hazy, some hops and not bitter (closer to a wheat beer than the traditional IPA), and probably my favorite variety these days. Sours are also popular, and can hit the spot on a hot day, but I'd say that's a national trend over a regional one.

I'm gonna stop now before I sound like an alcoholic. :laugh:

Exactly, I was hoping to take my wife but she doesn't drink beer. I'm not sure how that's going to go over.:eek:

I always thought beer and wine were sold under the same license and just hard liquor required a special license. :confused:

I’m pretty sure it’s different since they are a brewery.


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Twin Barns has decent pub grub. And, a pretty good selection of brews. Love that they expanded outdoors. Hopefully things will be better in the upcoming Spring.

Went there this past weekend. Good grub, good beer, great vibe.

Palmer’s Town IPA was good.


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Love their pizza. Grabbed a growler. Loved the beer.

Welcome to the Forum!
 

Thanks for your insight on all that is beer!

Have you been driving around all day sampling? :laugh: