Oceanside Brewery Named Atop Village Voice's List

The Village Voice earlier this week named Oceanside's Barrier Brewing Company as the best brewery in the area surrounding New York City.

Barrier Brewing Co. topped local heavyweights Brooklyn Brewery and Greenport Brewery for the honor.

According to the Village Voice:

       Barrier Brewing Company is at the top of this list for one simple reason: It's doing things with beer no one else is doing. Its expansive, inventive list of credits includes petite saison Cycle, German rauchbier Frau Blucher, Belgian smoked wheat ale Le Pete, and Saazsquash, a butternut squash ale. Proprietors Evan Klein and Craig Frymark launched this venture in 2010 and brewed just two kegs at a time; the partners are now producing 15,000 times that annually.

Barrier, which was founded in January 2009, suffered nearly $100,000 in damages during Hurricane Sandy in late October.

To help the devastated brewery after the storm, eight Long Island breweries -- including Barrier -- got together to create Surge Protector IPA. The proceeds of the brew went to benefit Barrier and the organization Long Island Cares.

The effort ended up raising a total of $58,000, which was split between Barrier Brewing Co. and Long Island Cares.