Round Barn Public House

• 9151 1st Street
• Baroda, MI 49101
• (269) 326-7059
• Website
• Menu

A whole week without one of the kids?!  That’s just weird.

L asked last summer if she could go on vacation with Nana and Grandpa.  They go up to Northern Wisconsin every year for a fishing trip.  L kept asking to go.  Nana and Grandpa said they’d love to take her, so she’s up in Wisconsin for a week while J and I are home with the baby.

My in-laws go about eight hours north of Chicago when they go on their Wisconsin vacation and they wanted to leave Friday afternoon.  We weren’t going to make them drive all the way to Kalamazoo to pick her up then turn around, head back to Chicago, load up the boat, then head to Wisconsin.  We said we’d meet them in Portage, IN.

I like meeting in Portage because I buy wood for my smoker from Bass Pro Shop.  We completed the handoff, switched over the car seat then went our separate ways.  It was just before noon Eastern time when we left to head towards Michigan City to do some shopping.

After a quick shopping trip, we wanted to find someplace for lunch.  B was asleep as soon as we got in the car, so we wanted to head up the road a little ways.  As always, I had a couple places in mind.

Round Barn Public House is part of the Round Barn empire in and around Baroda, MI in Berrien County.  They are probably most known for their wines, but they have a brewery (where the Public House is located) and a distillery.

The Public House is on 1st Street in the tiny community of Baroda.  It’s kind of on the southeast side of town about six miles (or 12 minutes) off the I-94 exit at Bridgman.  The building stands out in the small, farming community with it’s bright red walls and the large silvers storage tank that marks the entrance to the restaurant.

We were a little surprised to see so many cars out front for lunch.  It was a little after 2:00 on a Friday afternoon, but the street parking around the brewery was pretty full.  We found a spot about half a block away and walked back to the building.

The restaurant has a little bit of that barn feel to it inside.  There are two main rooms.  The first is the bar area with pub tables and TV’s on the wall.  The high ceilings and dark wood floors, and exposed duct work add to the rustic feel of the modern building.

The hostess station is in this space right as you walk in the door.  She took us through the bar area in to what can best be described as an all seasons patio.  This area has large windows (which I assume open but where closed the day we were there) looking out on to the street.  The floor in this area is red brick but it still has the same high, exposed duct work ceilings that the bar area has.

The tables and chairs in this area are wrought iron patio furniture.  We were shown to a table along the windows and the hostess had a high chair waiting for us when we sat down.

All of Round Barns libations are on display at the Public House.  You can actually do a wine or beer flight…or you can mix them.  They also have cocktails using their liquor from their distillery.

J chose the Sangria.  It was served in a snifter with slices of an orange, a lime, and a lemon plus a maraschino cherry.  Even though we were inside, she said this is the kind of drink you can sit out on the patio on a hot day and indulge in.

I told the server I was interested in a flight, so he handed me a piece of paper to fill out with five squares.  They have quite a few beers on tap and I’ve only had a couple in the past, so there was a lot I wanted to try.

I started with Barley Fife…because, come on, that’s a great name.  This is an English Dry Stout which, in addition to a great name, is actually pretty tasty.  It has a little bit of a coffee and chocolate taste to it without a really distinctive aftertaste.

Beer number two was Brahman.  I chose this one because it is a curry infused Black IPA.  I was a little disappointed in that the curry wasn’t stronger.  As a Black IPA, I actually enjoyed this, but when things are infused into beer, I really want it to punch me in the face.

The third beer I tried is called Wood.  The beer is an oak aged IPA and I think I’ve had this one in the past.  I know it’s out for distribution and I’ve seen it on the shelf. I think I had it many years ago before they changed their labels which is why I can’t remember if I’ve had it or not.  Just like Brahman, this is a really good IPA but the barrel aging doesn’t smack you in the face.  Some people like subtle and this is a great beer if you do.  I’m just a fan of big flavors and while this one delivers as an IPA, I would like a little more woodiness to it.

The fourth beer was Grape Expectation.  This is a Blonde Ale brewed with Niagra Grapes.  It makes a lot of sense for a winery to mix some grapes in to their beer production and I think they do it successfully here.  The beer sort of comes off like a mead.  It’s really sweet with a little bit of hoppiness to it, but it’s one that my cider loving wife said she would enjoy drinking more of.

The final beer was, of course, the one I really wanted to try.  It’s called Electric Fence and it’s Round Barn’s Double IPA offering.  This isn’t on their website or on RateBeer.com yet, so it must be pretty new.  It’s a delicious, hoppy, fruity DIPA that didn’t have that overpowering booziness DIPA’s can sometimes get.  I liked this one a lot and would definitely drink more if it ever hits the bottling line.

Now, on to the food.  The menu at Round Barn Public House is mostly pizzas with some appetizers and a few sandwiches.  We actually started with an appetizer choosing the Housemade Pretzel.

The pretzel is made with Indecision Ale and comes with beer cheese and beer mustard.  It was a dark brown color from the beer and topped with salt.  The beer cheese was amazing and we were both a little disappointed we didn’t have any more pretzels to dip in it.  I tried the mustard out as well and it was a nice and tangy stone ground mustard that would have been perfect if the beer cheese wasn’t there and wasn’t so damn delicious.

I was leaning towards a pizza for the meal because I didn’t see any sandwich that really jumped out at me.  Then, I picked up the specials for that day and a sandwich did.

I chose the Smoked Pork Loin sandwich.  This sandwich is served on a baguette with tender, juicy pork loin, Swiss cheese, an onion-fennel jam (I left off), dijon mustard, and bacon.  This sandwich was worth the drive to Baroda for me.  The bread was crispy but not hard and the pork was so tender you’d think it was pulled pork instead of the loin.  The interesting thing was that this was served with a side of au Jus.  I ate the sandwich like I would a French Dip.  The au Jus tasted more beefy to me which was fine.  It softened up the bread just a little bit and added a new flavor layer to the already delicious sandwich.  The sandwich came with kettle chips and a pickle spear and it didn’t take me long to clear my plate.

J went for the pizza and I’m glad she did.  The pizzas are 12″ and made with Indecision Ale.  They come standard with a red sauce and a house blend of cheese, but there are other sauce options including the delicious beer cheese.  Toppings are a la carte and cost from $2 for veggies up to $2.50 for the meats.  J just added fresh Mozzarella to her pizza which is an extra charge of $2.25.

The pizza came out with a dark, golden cheese layer, a crispy, flake crust and an abundant, sweet red sauce.  I was almost regretting not getting a pizza until I actually took a bite of my sandwich and was happy I got to enjoy both.  The pizza was a perfect combination of crispy crust, flavorful sauce, an golden brown cheese.  It really doesn’t get much better in Southwest Michigan.

For the first time in quite a while, we didn’t actually have to worry about whether or not they had a kids menu.  Turns out they did, but B’s a little too young.  He just sort of chewed on some crust of the pizza and that kept him happy while we ate.

Our bill for lunch was pretty pricey at just under $55 but we ordered an appetizer and I got a beer flight which cost $12 so it could have been a little cheaper had we wanted it to….but we didn’t want to.

Round Barn Brewery isn’t the first name that comes up when talking about beer in Michigan.  It seems to be kind of a forgotten place amongst the beer drinkers I know…thought of as a winery first,  but they put out a solid beer product and the Round Barn Public House is more than worth the trip from Kalamazoo.  It doesn’t matter if you like wine or prefer beer.  You will find something you will enjoy and have a great meal while doing it.