Little Red Barn Brewing, Winsted CT
22 November 2024
I wasn’t aware of this little brewpub until I was looking on Google Maps for somewhere to visit in this general area of Connecticut and there it was! The building doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the inside is rather interesting and I’ll add info about it from the back of their beer list at the bottom of this post for anyone who might be interested.
If you zoom in on the photo of the bar, you’ll see the sign on my table’s napkin dispenser advertising the axe-throwing opportunity in the back of the building!
They have 20 taps running, an amazing number for a small spot. 17 are beers, 2 are ciders, and 1 is a hard seltzer. I started with the four beers in this flight, described left to right:
8-Ender Amber – Red Ale, 6.5% – This is described as a hoppy amber ale and it was brewed for their friends at the Norfolk Curling Club. There’s definitely the expected strong malt backbone, but the hoppiness took me a bit by surprise. It was good, but I don’t think I’d want a pint.
Everyman’s Porter – American Porter, 5.6% – There’s no stout on the beer list but there are two porters. This was my favorite of the flight, a brilliant example of the best of the porter style, robust yet easy to drink.
Take It Easy – Session IPA, 5% – After tasting all four beers, I drank this one and the next one first and second before heading to the Red and the Porter. This is a pleasant, mild IPA and would go down well (and quickly!) on a hot day, but it was definitely the least flavorful of the four.
Repp City – NEIPA, 5.5% – This one was brewed to celebrate the 55th birthday of their longtime employee, Chris Repp, and it was hopped exactly to his taste. It was good, but possibly my least favorite of the four if only because it didn’t have anything to make it truly stand out.
As with the taps, the food menu is surprisingly large. I was tempted by a pastrami Reuben special but ordered the Chili Cheese Dogs instead. They’re different than I’d ever had before, but not in a bad way, although the buns were too soggy from (I assume) the chili. If you zoom in, you can see that there are actual chunks of beef in that chili! The dogs are all-beef and high quality, and in fact had more flavor in them than in the rest of the ingredients combined. I had expected the chili to taste more like, well, chili, but it was so mild as to almost be tasteless
The fries, though were amazing. The closest thing I can relate them to is Truffle Fries.
I finished off with a pint, the Black Sheep Black IPA at 6.5%. It was almost as robust as the Everyman’s Porter with a wonderful roasted flavor balancing the hops of the IPA. Yum!
As promised, here is information from the back side of the menu about certain parts of the building, just because I thought it was really interesting. They even give credit to the craftsmen that did the work along with their phone numbers and emails. That’s some kind of community pride at work!
Bar Frame – This is perhaps one of our favorite features; the frame is made from old doors from the Colebrook River. After the flood of 1955, a reservoir system was created to prevent flooding. When the Army Corps of Engineers dammed the review to create the reservoir, the homes had to be removed, and our bar frame is made from doors from those very homes. One door closes, another door opens.
Bar Top – This amazing creation is made from reclaimed chestnut wood from our community. The perimeter stock came from a home in Norfolk CT.
Counter / Shelf – The long counter that faces the Mad River was created from a Norway Spruce tree that once lived in Sandisfield MA. We should nickname the counter “The Natural.” The vertical posts and braces are made from reclaimed barn wood from northeastern Connecticut.
Viewing Area – The viewing area is made from two horse rails from a barn in Colebrook CT and the gorgeous wood rail came from a barn in Sandisfield MA.
Tap Handles – You’ll notice that a few of the tap handles are made from chisels. These instruments of creation were made in this very building when Winsted Edge Tool Works operated in this space approximately 1860 to 1950. If you look carefully at the tap handles, you’ll see them stamped, “Winsted Edge Tool Works, Winsted CT.” Beer and chisels … present and past all coming together at the LRB.
Barn Roof – Outlining the roof line of the barn are reddish/white gable end rafters made from floor joists that came from a home in Norfolk CT. The red tins that circle around the barn came from an actual little red barn in Sandisfield MA.
The Tables – The tables were carefully crafted out of wide hemlock planks that were once the floor planks from the Little Red School House, Winchester Center. The round table in the center of the room is masterfully made from an old church window. To our knowledge (which is a bit limited), this is the only table of its kind in existence.