Barrelman Tavern

Great whiskey and craft beer lineup. I’m talking Woodford Reserve Rye and Zombie Dust level. Gorgeous design, comfortable high tops, excellent service and fair pricing. After a few rounds of shots and many rounds beers for three or four of us we still left with just $ 100 of damage. Given the quality of the booze this surprised us.
Bartender as great, friendly and available without being intrusive.
The only negative is if you are looking to get rowdy the place is small and I wouldn’t recommend it as that could disturb everyone else.
Welcome to the hood Barrel Man! Sorry my took me so long to stumble your way.

I LOVE this place! Been here twice on nights where I just want to relax and have a few drinks with a friend. We haven’t seen it crazy busy but the bartender is super nice! I’ll have to get his name next time but he’s been great-​always keeps an eye on where we are at on our drinks. I’ve never had to wait for a second round.
I usually go here for whiskey or bourbon and end the night with a beer. They have a great selection of everything. Not sure if we just didn’t see it last night but we noticed there was no tequila in the bar-​even better!
I’m honestly having a tough time deciding on my go to bar after coming here.

This place is diagonal from my apartment, and I had been saying for a month or so that I needed to check it out. My boyfriend, at the time, and I decided we should finally check it out. It’s super small but has a beautiful, hip interior. Lots of cool lights surrounding the bottles and such.
Since we both work in the industry, we like to chat up bartenders. I can’t remember this bartenders name (I want to say he had a beard, if my memory serves me well — it was a month or so ago that we went), but man, he was so awesome! We shot the shit with him for a while, sharing industry stories and whatnot.
We tried this god awful banana bread bottled beer when we were there. Don’t be fooled — it tastes like a shitty pale ale with banana runts thrown into it. Yuck!
Although I have not been back, I definitely plan on it!

I had a long day at a conference and I wanted a beer and some pub food. This place was on the corner, close to the conference and looked like a good place to land. They had 20 beers on tap, they were big on the local microbeers, yeah I love that. I chose a nice IPA on tap, the bartender was very friendly and he looked like Big Ben. I asked about their food, and he said they didn’t have any but handed me a huge stack of delivery places. We selected a great pizza place. We had enough left that we shared with the bartender and the rest of the patrons in the bar. This is a fun place to have a beer.

Extensive bar.
Barrel under the tables limit the leg room.
Able to deliver food to the bar & it has numerous delivery restaurants to choose from.
Plenty of televisions for watching sporting events & plays sounds for big games.
Bartenders come out from behind the bar to take alcohol orders, which is nice.

I’ve been here a few times and its a beautiful looking bar, clean and charming.
One small problem I’ve had literally everytime I came here is that the bartender is never behind the bar. He’s always talking to a lady or playing music. I’d be served my drink and ignored the rest of the time, just left alone. It just felt distant. Maybe I just visit on the slow days… it’s beautiful though. Looks like a great place for a date.

Back for second time with Northwestern playing Duke. This is just a very nice place to enjoy watching a college football game, and having a couple of brews.

Yes Yes Yes! Want to go to Barrelman? Yes Yes Yes! This little corner bar knows how to get down. Great staff, great juke box, strong drinks. The bar just doesnt belong where it is and that is what makes it great. Pig Roasts during Bears games and other events. You can order food from anywhere or bring in your own. Dog friendly as well. If you are looking for a place to kick back, have a few drinks and catch up with a friend this is the place.

Very cool spot with nice open door and windows for a summer breeze. I really like this spot and pla. To make it my go to local sports bar.
They did a super job on the build out and really keep the place clean, especially the bathrooms.
A big bonus for me was a Busch Light tall boy, I mean why down a mountain when you can down a Busch? Not much Busch to be had anymore, bot that I love all Busch — but an occassional one can be tasty if served up ice cold.

Whether it’s the Bulls, the Hawks, the Cubs, the Bears, or RoryMcIlroy, this is the sweetpot to get your dose of sports on multiple screens combined with the finest selection of brews and cocktails to make your night extra spectacular!

Such a great neighborhood bar with good drinks and people. Blake is the owner and knows how to make everyone feel welcomed. Good selection of beers as well. One of my favorite spots.

Whomever helped them decorate did a great job of utilizing the corner look-​space to draw eyesight into their pub. Passers-​by are in for a feast!
It’s a beautiful bar area in there. There’s a type of wood awning that curves just over the bar. Which kinda reminds me of the paneled wood walls in a steam room. I almost wanted a valet to come out with fresh, warm robes for us to change into. Imagine a steam room bar. Relax in steam and drink the pains away. Alas, that is not the case. For it’s just, a simple, bar.
The liquor is arranged on lit up shelves, much like any newer styled bar. They offer a number of fantastic beers on tap and by the bottle, as well as a great assortment of liquors and flavors of Irish whiskey. One, which caught my immediate attention, was Bushmills and a variety were offered. There it was on a glass ledge begging to be chosen for a drink. (Lately, I’ve been reading about great cocktails made with Bushmills and since I saw it here, naturally I thought.) Unfortunately, the bartender of the evening was a bore and alerted us to the fact that their bar was far too small to offer a drink menu of any kind. ARE YOU FU#$ing kidding me!
So many great beer choices and you aren’t utilizing these in some tasty beer cocktail??? Come’on now!
So instead, I’d opted for my usual, Tito’s vodka and soda. A surprising $ 6 cocktail (great pricing for the area) poured neatly. Beyond that, the place lacked any kind of effort or atmosphere. It was dead for a Monday evening and beyond the personable door man, I can’t see any reason I’d dawn their doorway ever again.
What kills me was the attitude of the bartender. But hey, maybe it’s not his call; maybe it’s the owner that doesn’t want any «foo-​foo» offerings. However, this guy stood around on his smart phone. Seriously; dude could have entered into a polite conversation with us, he could have been cutting limes or lemon wedges for drinks. Heck, he could have been building some sort of cocktail and asked if we wanted to sample it. (Which has happened to me at other places before and guess what. although I had a drink in hand, I decided to double-​fist since the bartender so graciously offered me a taste of something different. Note: This example happened recently at a Unilocal-​worthy bar in Milwaukee, Wi)
There staring me in the face in the refrigerators below. Radler Grapefruit. I could have had one of those in a tall glass, on the rocks with a shot of Tito’s! A fanstastic beer cocktail, of course another drink not mentioned because they are «too small» (?) to offer it. Bummer.
Just a drink for I and the lady and we moseyed on over to the next Edgewater haunt.

We LOVE this bar! The bartenders are beyond great and they remember what we have been up to in our personal lives too! We consider them friends!
**During Bears games they do munchies :)

Nothing as exciting as going on a date night with the wife and stopping by the new neighborhood bar to try it out for a night cap. Too bad they could care less about us being there. We were littlerally the only customers in the bar. No music, lights on bright and football game blaring. Did not create a very welcoming atmosphere. Asked for a drink menu and was told «we don’t have one, we are so small we don’t need one.». Guess they will be staying small. No food +no specials = no business. As my wife said, it is no different than having a drink at home. Gave 2 stars because of location cleanliness and overall appearance.

Tax is included in drink prices, nice staff, good whiskey special.
Will be back.

Love Barrelman! Have been there enough to meet most everyone who works there, and they’re all really friendly and cool. Make sure you say hi to Blake, Danny, Molly and Nicky. All good people that will take care you.
The bar has an outstanding selection whiskey and draft beer, and they make a mean Bloody Mary.
They don’t have a kitchen, but you can order delivery from a bunch of places nearby. Normally go there for football Sundays, and the bar offers complimentary food and snacks every Bears gameday. Is a really nice touch.
Simply put, this is now my fave bar in Chicago!

5 weeks later, and still waiting for beers on tap! I want this to be a regular spot, and the people are pleasant, but I’ll keep waiting for the coolers to come in (I think that’s what they say is the hold up).

I’m so happy a place like this has opened in my hood. Every time I’ve been in (about four times) since it opened I keep eyeing the beers on tap because they look interesting but they’re not on yet so only bottled beer now and mixed drinks. Danny makes THE BEST old fashioned! Really appreciated that they grilled out for their guests who were there for the first Bears game of the season since they don’t have a kitchen. They’ve got deals though with area restaurants for free and cheap delivery options.
Can’t wait till this place is up and functioning on all cylinders. It’ll for sure be the best in the area.

Cozy, friendly hangout in northwest Edgewater.
Went on opening weekend, early on a Friday. Their tappers weren’t working so it was cocktails all around. The décor was woody and clean, the drinks tasty and reasonably priced. The table next to us was queuing up tunes on the Jukebox, which is something I always like. They cram in a bunch of big-​screen TVs to watch whatever game is on. Despite the name, I didn’t see a whiskey list or anything like that, but the (currently out of order) tappers had a good variety. Only negative I can think of is it’s smallish inside, but maybe just the right size for this particular area of Edgewater.
I’ll definitely be back, to watch a game or grab a beer after work. Nice neighborhood joint.

Pretty spot on with the reviews below. The staff is very friendly, the beer selection is fantastic and will be even better once the draft beers start flowing! I have already spent 2 evenings here and have met great people from the surrounding neighborhood — great crowd! There are several large tv’s so any game can be seen from just about any seat in the house and the music/​tv is set at a reasonable level so it is easy to talk to others around you! Sidenote — if you go for a Bears game, get there a bit early to grab a chair! I enjoy the smaller atmosphere, it keeps the place from becoming over-​crowded and obnoxious! I will def be returning!