Beer Me! — Redhook Ale Brewery / Forecaster's Public House — Woodinville, Washington, United States

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Redhook Ale Brewery / Forecaster's Public House

(Craft Brewers Alliance)

14300 NE 145th Street
Woodinville WA 98072
Telephone: +1 425-483-3232
Hours: Open daily at 11:00pm.
Brewer: Al Triplett
[Contact] [Map] [Update]

Notes

Opened: 1994

Annual Production: 250,000 bbl

Contributors: Diane Crawford, Klaus Degen

I used to really enjoy Redhook beers, but in the mid-90's they seemed to have really increased their usage of domestic Tettnang hops, rendering the beers nearly undrinkable. I get an overpowering "musty-wet-straw" flavor, especially in their flagship ESB. Lots of other breweries seem to be following this lead, and this flavor is what I'm talking about when you see "tastes like Redhook" in my notes. Too bad...they used to be one of the best.

Addendum, July 2003: I just had an ESB for the first time in about eight years, and it seems to have improved greatly! If this is a trend, I'll take back all the bad things I've ever said about Redhook ESB.

Craft Brewers Alliance was formed by the merger of Redhook and Widmer in 2008.

Updated: February 19, 2013

News

2011-03-14: Washington's Redhook Brewery celebrates 30 years (My Northwest)
2010-11-10: Amidst slumping sales, Redhook Brewery attempts to re-invent itself (Beernews.org)
2008-07-02: Widmer Brothers Brewing and Redhook Ale Brewery complete merger (Drinks Business Review)
2008-06-24: Redhook investors praise merger (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
2007-11-13: Widmer, Redhook Combining Brew Companies (Forbes)
2007-11-13: Two Popular Craft Breweries Agree to Merge (Business Wire)

Beer List

8-4-1 Expedition Ale

Other Strong Beer

9.50% abv.
Audible Ale

Golden or Blonde Ale

4.70% abv.
Ballard Bitter IPA

American-Style India Pale Ale
Awards:
- Bronze Medal, 2004 Los Angeles County Fair Competition
- Date: May 19, 1995 (#989)
  
  Package: draught
  
  Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA
  
  Score: 10½ points
  
  Overall Impression
  Supposedly reformulated as an IPA recently. Golden, reasonably clear, low carbonation. Same stinkin' hop aroma as before. Bitter, but Tettnangs overwhelm.
- Date: April 27, 1995 (#891)
  
  Package: draught
  
  Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA
  
  Score: 12 points
  
  Overall Impression
  Golden, moderate carbonation, good white head. Fruity aroma. Redhook neo-house flavor. Rotten Tettnangs ruin what ought to be a great beer.

Big Ballard Imperial IPA

Imperial or Double India Pale Ale

8.60% abv.

Black Hook Porter

Robust Porter

Date: September 25, 2008 (#7376)

Package: bottled

Place: Hy-Vee Council Bluffs, Council Bluffs IA

Score: 16 points

Appearance (3)
Deep dark red. Moderate head.

Aroma (3)
Mildly chocolatey, mildly grassy.

Mouthfeel (8)
Medium body, moderate carbonation. Big chocolate malt flavor. Moderate resiny, grassy hop character.

Overall Impression (2)
Date: November 13, 2003 (#5137)

Package: bottled

Place: Peabody's Ale House, Oshkosh WI

Score: 16 points

Overall Impression
Black. Moderate tight head. Sweet, chocolatey aroma with herbal hops. Light body, fairly fizzy. Roasty and sweetr, with a slight roasted-malt astringency. Mild hop flavor and bitterness in the middle. Malty-sweet-roasty finish.
Date: December 13, 1994 (#646)

Package: draught

Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA

Score: 14 points

Overall Impression
Deep red...not black at all. Thick brown head. Malty nose, some black malt. Tastes like Redhook Dark. House flavor, also in aroma.

Blonde Ale

Golden or Blonde Ale

5.30% abv.

Awards:

Silver Medal, 2006 North American Beer Awards
Silver Medal, 2003 Great American Beer Festival

Date: July 19, 1998 (#2980)

Package: bottled

Place: 1st Wines and Spirits, Allouez WI

Score: 14½ points

Overall Impression
Golden, high carbonation, thick head. Fruity wheat aroma. Light, lots of wheat flavor, a little metallic.

Date: February 6, 1995 (#761)

Package: draught

Place: The Depot, Concord CA

Score: 12½ points

Overall Impression
Very stout-looking. Sharp aroma...slightly musty. Black flavor...licorice? Some bitterness.

Date: January 24, 2009 (#7690)

Package: bottled

Place: N Street Drive-In, Lincoln NE

Score: 18 points

Appearance (3)
Black. Moderate dense head.

Aroma (4)
Milk chocolate, cream and coffee.

Mouthfeel (9)
Big, smooth, chocolatey, and bitter. Mild coffee character grows through the finish, along with some resiny hops.

Overall Impression (2)
Thanks to the crew from BrewCast.Net for the bottle!

Date: September 24, 2008 (#7369)

Package: bottled

Place: Hy-Vee Council Bluffs, Council Bluffs IA

Score: 17 points

Appearance (3)
Bright golden-amber. Moderate head.

Aroma (3)
Fruity hops. Mild biscuity malt.

Mouthfeel (9)
Medium body, fizzy. Sweet caramel, toasty malt. Fruity hops, mildly bitter.

Overall Impression (2)
Tastes a whole lot better than it did fifteen years ago!

Date: July 7, 2003 (#4951)

Package: draught

Place: Peabody's Ale House, Oshkosh WI

Score: 16 points

Overall Impression
Golden-amber. Thick head. Clean, malty aroma. Light-medium fairly fizzy body. Lots of toasty biscuity malt. Esters of dark fruit. Mild hop flavor and bitterness. This is a much better beer than I remember it!

Date: April 21, 1997 (#2055)

Package: bottled

Place: Moloka`i Airport Bar, Ho`olehua HI

Score: 15 points

Overall Impression
Amber, clear, fairly high carbonation, no head. Fresh fruity hop aroma, only a hint of the nasty old smell. Good body, bitter enough. Long fairly bitter finish, sticks* a little.
* Feels like you can't quite finish swallowing.

Date: January 27, 1995 (#730)

Package: draught

Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA

Score: 13 points

Overall Impression
Amber-pale, looks flat. Tettnang aroma. Tettnang flavor, but not as bad as I remember. (See above.)

Date: June 13, 1996 (#1506)

Package: bottled

Place: Willow Glen Liquors, San Jose CA

Score: 14½ points

Overall Impression
Yellow-opaque, fairly high carbonation, good head. Spicy-floral hop aroma. Good wheat flavor, some bitterness. Hop flavor dominates finish. I'd like to taste more wheat throughout. Thanks to Paris Cunningham for bringing this beer to Hawai`i for me!

Date: September 26, 2003 (#5113)

Package: draught

Place: Peabody's Ale House, Oshkosh WI

Score: 18 points

Overall Impression
Bright amber. Nice thick head. Mild spicy hop aroma with lots of toasty malt. Medium body, fairly fizzy. Lots and lots of sweet, toasty malt. Reasonably bitter, but not overly so. Big malty warming finish.

Date: May 10, 2008 (#7002)

Package: bottled

Place: Beertopia, Omaha NE

Score: 16½ points

Appearance (3)
Bright amber. Thick head.

Aroma (3)
Big spicy, fruity hops.

Mouthfeel (8)
Medium-big body, moderate carbonation. Big smooth maltiness. Resiny, herbal hop flavor, fairly bitter. Lingering hoppy finish with some caramel.

Overall Impression (2½)

Date: June 7, 1995 (#1000)

Package: draught

Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA

Score: 12½ points

Overall Impression
Amber, clear, low carbonation, OK head. Pretty clean aroma, hint of hops. Nice malt and bitterness, followed quickly by the Redhook House Flavor. Bah.

Date: March 1, 2003 (#4706)

Package: bottled

Place: Oconto Kiwanis Beer Tasting Event, Oconto WI

Score: 14 points

Overall Impression
Deep bright brown. Thick but short-lived head. Very mild toasty caramelly malt aroma. Medium body. Very cold. Lots of dark caramel flavor, with hints of oak. There's a spicy hoppiness most of the way through that gives way to an overly sweet malty finish.

Date: October 8, 1994 (#437)

Package: draught

Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA

Score: 18 points

Overall Impression
Yellow opaque. Great white head...looks like a Hefeweizen. Sweet wheat aroma with significant citrus component. Very pleasant. Very clean flavors, again much like Hefeweizen. Tastes a touch more dark than a Hefe.

Date: May 9, 2003 (#4867)

Package: draught

Place: Cooter Brown's Tavern & Oyster Bar, New Orleans LA

Score: 14½ points

Overall Impression
Golden. Thick head. Very mild nutty rye aroma. Light fizzy body. Sweet and very earthy. Lots of nutty rye flavor in the finish.

Date: June 24, 1995 (#1066)

Package: draught

Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA

Score: 15 points

Overall Impression
Dark yellow opaque, thin head. Smells like grapefruit. Wheaty-malty flavor, wheat finish.

Date: December 26, 1994 (#661)

Package: draught

Place: Pacific Coast Brewing, Oakland CA

Score: 11 points

Overall Impression
Red-amber, thick white head. Tettnang aroma and flavor. Thin. Unpleasant. Not very bitter at all. Low carbonation, could be the draft system here.

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