Sunset Park’s liquor scene has gotten Intense.
A new liquor tasting room officially opened in Industry City last weekend. Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur Tasting Room has been quietly pouring cocktails and offering samples for the last six months, but the opening party on May 2 has allowed them to really spice things up, said the company’s founder.
“We believe in not doing it fast, but doing it right,” said Josh Morton, who started making the spicy yellow spirit in his Manhattan apartment before moving to Industry City in 2013.
The newly opened tasting room menu includes nine cocktails, each of which showcases Morton’s signature spicy liquid. Prices range from $8–$14, including an Intense Old Fashioned, a brain-freezing Frozen Intense Mule, and a creamy drink called If you like Ginger Coladas.
Customers can buy bottles of the Intense Ginger Liqueur at the bar — and bottles of any other liquor in the place, said Morton.
“We have 160 New York spirits, and you can sample any bottle and buy it right here,” he said. “We’re halfway between a bar and a liquor store.”
All of the spirits served in the Tasting Room are made from grains grown in New York state — which means no rum or tequila, since the Empire State does not support sugar cane or agave plants.
The Tasting Room also offers a wide variety of tasting flights, so you can sip your way through all nine Empire Rye whiskeys, or sample five different varieties of gins — flights are available in “beginner” and “advanced” versions. The samplers can help people to discover new spirits, saod Morton.
“You’re drinking, and it’s fun, and you’re also learning about what you’re drinking,” he said.
Barrow’s versatile liqueur also appears in a few dessert items, including a ginger ice cream from Blue Marble, and ginger-stuffed truffles from Li-Lac Chocolates — both companies located in Industry City. The ginger maven also has plans to team up with other distilleries and food producers, he said.
“Our stuff works with everything, so we’re very collaborative,” said Morton.
The distillery has been producing its ginger product in Industry City since 2013, but recently moved to a ground floor spot in the complex’s Building 6, which also houses Big Alice Brewing’s Barrel Room and sake producer Brooklyn Kura.
Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur Tasting Room (86 34th St. between Second and Third avenues in Industry City, www.barro
