Meet Matt Barclay: the Man Behind the Bar at Sycamore
Walking into Sycamore on a Wednesday afternoon, one finds Matt Barclay, the new manager, discussing his next purchase. This beer from Virginia, another from Long Island and maybe Original Sin hard cider, first sold by lugging cases of it around the subway.
A bottle of Budweiser is no longer available at Sycamore. That’s not much of a surprise once you get talking to Matt.
“Budweiser is good, it’s a quality beer,” he says. “But it’s presented as American when it’s a multinational corporation owned by Brazilians and Belgians. The thing about Budweiser is, no matter where you are in the world, it’ll always taste the same. Meanwhile, there are all these people here in the U.S. trying to make something unique themselves. There are these small operations making 14 kegs of beer at a time so it always tastes different. That’s exciting. When you go out, you should treat yourself.”
Matt made his way to Sycamore from Bierkraft, the Park Slope craft beer specialists. Matt takes credit for removing Heineken from Bierkraft years ago.
“I sell what I like,” says Matt. “And I’d much rather give business to people trying to make something unique.”
Ask Matt exactly what is he likes. The answer can sound professorial. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of craft beer and a passion for small batch, artisanal liquor. He’ll answer all your questions — and you may have more than a few — but listen hard. Matt can talk fast and it’s easy to miss those all-important proper nouns. What’s the name of that beer again? Brewed in which farmhouse in Belgium?
In fact, Matt is a quality professor. He’s able to get students excited about beer and, importantly, the people and science behind the brew. He can talk for hours about micro brews and can articulate the nuances behind home brews.
After explaining the equipment needed and the community behind brewing in Brooklyn, Matt gives the most important lesson on home brewing.
“Home brewing goes to people’s heads,” he says. “When you brew a beer and your friends say it’s great, ignore them. Ignore the urge to quit your job and open a brewery. I had to fight that urge just like everyone else. People say ‘That’s it, I’m going to do this for the rest of my life!’ but the pleasure they get out of sipping their latest beer is about 1% of what actually happens. It’s mostly hard physical labor.”
Dreams of running away and opening a brewery shattered, Matt will serve you some of his favorite beers on draft.
To experience the stamp Matt is putting on Sycamore, check out Oktoberfest this Saturday, October 27 from 2 to 8pm. In addition to homemade German-style sausages on the grill and variety of Oktoberfest beers on draft, Matt found a bit of super-rare farmhouse lagers straight from Bavaria.
If you’re going to be king, that’s not a bad way to start your reign.
Some of Matt’s favorite beer sites:
• Zynthophile on the history of beer.
• Beer Pulse on global beer news.
• Ron Pattinson on European beer.