A new destination in Sunset Park’s Industry City is coming out strong: Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur Tasting Room—a hybrid distillery, bar, and liquor store—is now serving up samples of its namesake liqueur to customers.
Though Barrow’s has been creating their tonic in a production space in Industry City since 2013, the tasting room represents a pivot to brick & mortar for people looking to experience the unique flavor of their spirit in person. Founder Josh Morton told Gothamist that so far his two most popular cocktails are the ginger-based “Frozen Intense Mule” and the “If You Like Ginger Coladas."
The tasting room also sells bottles of the spirit along with over 160 different types of liquors from all over the state of New York. “When we’re open, people can taste any of the products that we have. They’ll get a free taste of our ginger liqueur when they walk in. And then if someone wants to do a flight, they can do a flight,” Morton says. They offer 22 types of Gin, 26 types of Bourbon, 9 Empire Ryes, 12 types of Vodka, 5 different Absinthes... and more.
“Once we started making cocktails, it was very hard for me to pick one gin to work with…[so I thought] ‘Why not just have everybody?’ That became the rationale,” Morton says. Because Barrow’s functions as a tasting room, distillery, and store that sells liquor wholesale, the company does not have a normal liquor license like other New York bars. “You can only serve New York state distilled spirits made with at least 75% New York state product,” he explains. “We can’t technically sell Tequila or Rum because no agave or sugar cane is raised in New York state.” So for a margarita, you’ll have to go somewhere else.
In addition to the tasting and flight programs that feature their own ginger liqueur, Barrow’s is also starting an event series called “Tasting Room Takeovers,” where different distillers will take over their Industry City production space once a month. “We carry all of these different distillers and we often distill here and ultimately want to make [Barrow’s] an educational space about the art of distillers,” Morton says.
The featured distillers will offer tastings while they explain in detail how they work and what, exactly, they do. (There will also be a distillation class so people can learn how to make their own gin.) The next takeover will happen on June 13th and feature Finger Lakes Distilling, which hails from Seneca Lake.
As for food, they've collaborated with businesses right in the Industry City building space, like Li-Lac Chocolates and Blue Marble Ice Cream. “Blue Marble did two different ginger ice creams with our ginger liqueur and used the leftover ginger from our production process too,” Morton says. “I love that we can play on the food side as well.”
Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur Tasting Room is located in Industry City (86 34th Street C134, Sunset Park, Brooklyn)—look for the neon sign beaming "INTENSE"; www.barrowsintense.com. They open at noon every day (full hours here).
