Union Barrel Works

Never got a chance to taste the beer. Having been here years ago for a meal soon after they opened, my wife and I thought we’d stop by on Dec 30^th to buy a growler of beer to take back to family we were visiting in area. Was about 5:00 and sign said «open» so we walked in. There was a group of 4 guys at the end of the bar and we thought one was the bartender. After looking over the beer list for a while one of the guys at the bar offered us a printed list and we realized none of them worked there. They were just being nice since no employees were around. We waited another 8 minutes or so during which a couple of servers came out of the kitchen, saw us, and ignored us. Finally we just left. Won’t be back.

Very cool building, their beer was good. Food was decent. Stop by.

Where to start? Ordered onion rings as an appetizer only to have 2 of the 6 onions rings slide off the plate as the waitress was trying to place them on the table. No effort to replace them, but just as good as the remaining four were inedible. Tasted like they were fried in old stale oil. Ordered the open face turkey sandwich as my entrée, figured can’t go wrong. What a mistake, what was delivered was a floppy mess. Shredded pieces of turkey swimming in a tasteless «gravy» of some sort served over stale bread, with a side of cold mashed potatoes.

This restaurant has a unique interior; you can see where they brew their beers, which my young daughter thought was really cool.
The menu isn’t huge, but it has a lot of items in it that you won’t see many other places, such as a wild game sausage platter or swordfish steak. We’ve tried some things that were good and some that we would never order again.
The beers they make are alright. There’s a blueberry ale available in summer that I’ve had twice now, it’s light but good. Tastes a little watery by the end. My father-​in-​law got their porter once, and said it was fair.

One of the best places to eat and drink! Food is delicious, variety of choices of food from fish and chips, sandwiches, to a more upscale entrée. Highly recommend the fried pickles appetizer. We visit ubw almost once a week! Staff very friendly and knowledgable as well as an owner who is almost always available and checking in on customers. As far as drinks although there is not a full liquor bar the beer is outstanding and have «wine cosmos» available.
You can choose to eat in the dinning room or pub and they host excellent live entertainment usually Every week as well as beer dinners!
If your in the area and looking for somewhere to eat I highly recommend you check it out!

Good beer, good food, good service. Stopped for a late lunch on Sunday afternoon. I recommend this place.

Really cool interior and friendly service, but the beers (we got a flight) were all a little dull and the food, south of average. We had the mussels, which were overcooked and bland and fish and chips. The fries were fine, but the fish was rubbery. Our bad for ordering seafood in Lancaster County, PA, but it shouldn’t be on a menu unless it’s decent.

We were heading to Lancaster and decided to stop at Stoudt’s brewery for a pint, but alas hadn’t checked the hours. Suddenly we were thirsty and had a toddler that needed a change and an hour to kill. A Unilocal search found us Union, and man are we glad it did! Great brews, friendly service, a nice small-​town vibe with quality craft brew, and an interesting pub fare menu. We didn’t eat anything but the table next to us — another couple who had wanted to go to Stoudts, as we saw them in the parking lot — ordered some apps and they looked and smelled fantastic. Will probably schedule a pop there the next time we are brew touring the Amish country. A lovely, quaint little surprise.

Food here is consistently excellent an I have never been disappointed. Service is friendly and efficient.

Why on earth would someone go to downtown Reamsville? The answer is Union Barrel Works. There’s literally nothing much else in town. Stopped by here on a recent trip to Lancaster County, and had a pretty good time here.
I was really impressed with the food menu — some different things, like the elk & beef meatloaf which I got, which was very tasty, and will fill you up. We also got nachos, and since I’m not really a nacho fan, I have to say they were pretty good, but that’s it. They also have fish and chips, and a few other brewpubby things. Fries were crunchy, well done, and flavorful.
Now onto the beer — The lighter Marzen-​style beer was roughly a 6/​10, good, solid, but not really impressive. Then i got their stout — OMFG. No, seriously! It drinks like one of those meal-​in-​a-​shake shakes, you know the thick consistency? Yea… It’s super flavorful, and not too high in alcohol, so with two of those, you’ll definitely be filled up, it’s almost like a dessert. Hmmm — wonder if you’d put a scoop of ice cream in it? Why am I thinking of that just now? I also got the porter, which is pretty solid, fresh-​tasting. Note to vegetarians — not too much is on the menu for you, but they do have veggie sides with the meals, so they probably could accomodate you that way.

I checked this place out a couple of years ago and thought the beers were just average. Decided to pass on food and went to Stoudts instead. The building it’s housed in is really nicely refurbished, and I had high hopes but was let down by the mediocre beers.
I would consider returning for another go, but w/​so many good brewpubs in Lancaster Co. it may be awhile.

Stopped in here for a few reasons: 1. It was right down the street from my Aunt and Uncles house. 2. We were meeting friends there and it was down the street from my Uncle and Aunts house. 3. I had their stuff at the Harrisburg Brewers festival and I was intrigued. We came in on a Saturday at 2 and the place was empty. This is a big and Caverness brew pub. We pulled up at the bar and I immediately ordered the Stout… because it sounded good. Perusing the beer menu, you can tell the brewer likes German beers. That is the primary focus here, Kolsch, Pilsner, Mai bock, Hef, and a Doppelboch. The stout was delicious. I really enjoyed. Great malt taste with a strong coffee finish. I than had the Scottish Ale which was ok. I also tried the Mai bock which was very interesting for this style of beer. It was very strong, 9% I believe. The Wobbly Bob was also strong pretty strong. It had good malt taste with a really smooth finish for 10% alcohol. A couple other beers you could tell were an after thought. The IPA for example was very bitter and the pale ale was sub par. Food wise, we did end up ordering the pretzels and this came with with a trio of beer mustards which were good and really spicy.
Overall I enjoyed the place. The beers were ok the food seemed pretty solid. But what I really liked was that bill when we received it. Bam! So cheap. Made the experience all the more worth while. I would definitely come back if I am back in the area.

We came here during the afternoon on a Saturday and thought it was strange the place was so empty. Upon entering, service was very good and friendly. I had the Hefeweizen and liked it. J liked his too even though I cannot remember the name. The wings were very tasty. Next time I want to try the scotch eggs. Bartender was very chatty and nice.

We stopped in today for the first time for some appetizers and beer. We were pleasantly surprised! The ambiance is neat– lots of old signs and you can see the brewery equipment! I had the strawberry wheat beer– it was pretty good. Greg had the hefeweizen which he enjoyed. We shared chicken nachos which were delicious and also the crab cheesecake which was served with warm toasted pita bread– so good!
The bartender was super nice and friendly! We will definitely be back!

Great beer, great chowder and amazingly fiery mustard! The bartender was great. The food was excellent.

Stopped in for lunch. Very nice beer selection. My IPA was fantastic. The nacho platter was different with its abundant beer cheese sauce. On this platter, you better dig for the chips first and use them to remove the huge mound of good stuff on top. Very good choice for an appetizer.
I had the portobello sandwich. Nicely done. Different take with the BBQ brush on it. I’d get it again. My wife had the Texas toast Reuben special. It was ok.
This place is well worth a stop in. Lots of ambiance, nice beer selection, nice menu, and the food was good. Looking forward to stopping in on the way through again. We’d frequent this place if we could!

This was my third trip to UBW. Overall, they do the brew pub thing quite well. We started with the beer sampler because we always love trying a little of everything. Most of the beers were pretty good. The Fester was my favorite an the hubby went with the hefeweizen — we were both happy with our choices. We didn’t want to stuff ourselves so decided to share the french onion soup (amazing), the crab cheesecake, olive tapenade, and seared tuna. We had the crab, tapenade, and soup here before. I was quite disappointed in the crab this time around. It was not as creamy or as sweet as I remembered it. Also it had a bit of a «gassy» flavor — like maybe they flamed the top and it picked up the butane odor from the torch??? The tapenade was a hit (we love olives), and the tuna was perfect! For dessert we had black forest cheesecake. It was a layer of cake, a layer of cheesecake, another layer of cake, a final layer of cheesecake… this was soooooo goood!!!
We will go back, maybe give the crab another shot because it was really yummy the other two times I had it!

Lunch after some high class shopping at Green Dragon.
Stopped by on the slow-​ish 230 in between period and had the place to ourselves, bar and tables in front started to fill as we ate.
Beer — Went with a porter, better half had a pumpkin ale. Porter was on the lighter side for the style, not bad but it didn’t suit my preference. Pumpkin Ale was met with rave reviews.
Food — split a bowl of the trout chowder which was excellent. Elk meatloaf for the novelty (good not great) and a Pittsburgh salad (on par, large portion). Service was very good, he let us know he was training a new guy so we took the gaffes with a grain of salt.
Enjoyable lunch. Made a decent account of themselves to earn another visit.

Very good beers here. The owner makes them himself, and he does a great job. This place DOES NOT have a full bar, so don’t fault it because you can’t order your cosmos or long islands at a brewery. The food is good these days (it wasn’t the case a couple of years ago), and their menu is sizable.
They have pints for $ 3.25 Tue-​Thurs., as well as Sunday. They’re closed mondays. The building is beautiful, but some of the old-​timey pictures on the wall are in poor taste (I’m thinking of one picture in particular that features kids in what seems to be blackface). I’m not thinking of this odd choice of art, nor the owner (who can be a curmudgeon from my experience). I’m just thinking of the food and the beer, and both are good.
The maibock is fantastic, and you can’t go wrong with the Uncle Fester, which has, if I remember correctly, something along the lines of 12−13% abv.
I’m not personally a fan of live music in a brewery outside of Oktoberfests, so I agree with another Unilocaler who says they can do without it. The way this building is, with ultra-​high ceilings and all-​wooden everything, things can get too loud pretty quick.

Interesting place with a very good variety of beer on tap. In fact, you can see the brewery right in front of your eyes. Relaxing place that wasn’t very busy on a Wednesday night.
Had many different food options on the menu, and the elk meatloaf was pretty good. had the sweet potatoes on the side and it even came with a side of maple syrup for dipping. Very nice attention to detail. Try this place out of you are looking for something different than the usual chain restaurants.