On a whim yesterday and mostly for old times' sake, I picked up a 16oz can of Redhook ESB. Between the early 1990s and around 2010 this was my go-to beer, as I wasn't really paying attention to beer and occasionally just wanted something cold and slightly alcoholic to drink. And as I hadn't reviewed/rated ESB previously, when I went to the BA profile page yesterday I was surprised to see that Redhook was entered as a New Hampshire brewery. For some reason, this error kind of sticks in my craw. Not that Redhook is the best brewery in the state or anything, but it was founded in Seattle way back in 1981, still has its headquarters here (I think), and of course still has a large brewing facility in Woodinville. Along with Hale's and Pyramid (among others) and being almost as old as Sierra Nevada and older than Boston Beer Company, I consider Redhook part of Seattle's (and Washington's) early craft beer history and heritage. How this has become a Portsmouth, NH brewery is beyond me. To me, it would be like listing Sierra Nevada as a North Carolina brewery. I submitted an update but it hasn't been fixed yet. Anyone else care about this (hopefully inadvertent) revision of history? If so, join me in submitting an update report to get this rectified. Cheers.
I'm confused. When I do a word search, I see a listing for both locations (Woodinville and Portsmouth). Also, out of curiosity, what did it say on the ESB label? I was always under the impression that the Woodinville facility supplied the Western half of the US, and the Portsmouth brewery the East Coast.
EDIT: Oops. Just found this listing for the Woodinville location. You're right, this is confusing. In addition to Woodinville and Portsmouth (in that order), the can also lists locations in Portland, OR and Memphis, TN.
I feel like this thread is a prank, but I also think it's serious. Right or wrong, I have thought of Red Hook as a WA/NH brewery since before I was old enough to drink. Red Hook predates much of the east coast craft revolution - those taps were fixtures in every bar and restaurant in NC for decades.
For what it's worth, actually what I realized since posting this is that maybe it is a weird function of the BA database. If I search for Redhook + Beer it takes me to this page, which shows 4 pages of Portsmouth beer listings. If I search for Redhook + Place it takes me to this page, which lists three locations (two in Portsmouth, one in Woodinville). If I then click on the Woodinville location, then click on any of the beers listed (I chose Redhook ESB), it takes me to a profile showing the Portsmouth location again. So apparently all Redhook beers are listed as being produced in Portsmouth, and none in Woodinville. What's not clear to me, and I'm not going to research it right now, is how other breweries with multiple locations (Sierra Nevada and Lagunitas come to mind) have their beers/locations listed. To me it makes sense to have everything produced by Redhook listed under Washington, not New Hampshire. That's where they were established, that's where their headquarters are. I don't get why Portsmouth is apparently considered their "main" or "primary" location on BA.
My go-to beer was Ballard Bitter back in the day. So they now have a production facility on the East Coast and in Woodinville. They're still a Ballard company as far as I'm concerned. #RespectYourElders
Me too Larry ("yeah sure, you betcha"). I know this will sound like the dark ages now, but for a number of years, whenever we'd go out drinking after a couple rounds of frisbee golf, we'd get pitchers of SNPA, Ballard Bitter, Red Hook ESB and/or Anchor Steam. We thought we were living large, and oh so fortunate to have such a wide selection of great beer. The first time I ever came up to Seattle, a visit to the trolleyman pub was a must (blue line and red line beer list? It's been years, so I'm probably getting the colors mixed up). It's probably been 30 years or more since those days...
They're linked so reviews show up under both locations, but it is weird that when you search for a Redhook beer only the Portsmouth brewery shows up. Maybe Portsmouth produces more beer and that's why it's considered the main location?
Feeling nostalgic so I will share. Back in college in the late 80s in Northern California, if you showed up with SNPA or Anchor Steam to a house party, you were treated like beer royalty. Fast forward 5 years or so in Seattle it was Ballard Bitter and Red Hook ESB. And the guy who just made a beer run to Portland to bring up Widmers, McTarnahans, Blue Heron, and some magical stuff from this place called Bend? Steve Irwin level of beer god-ness. And it is still like that. A fad that never went away. Now DNA.
Blue Heron. That's one that I had forgotten about. Pretty sure it was a personal favorite back in the day. Do they still make it? I checked the Bridgeport website and didn't see it. Last review on here is from 2013.
I went to visit my brother when he was living in Seattle in the late 90s. He was insistent we had to go to the Redhook place in Woodinville. It was my first visit to a brewery, so I was thinking it was cool, but couldn't figure out 1.) why he was so stoked to go and 2.) why he was bummed out once we did. Turns out he was one of the last people to tour the old place in Ballard, and they had been handing out samples and re-samples like there was no tomorrow, because the staff there wanted to transfer as little beer as possible to the new place, and he thought that's how brewery tours went: people were supposed to practically shower you with beer. He was literally pissed there wasn't enough free beer to get drunk & belligerent!
That was one of my favorites as well. I stopped seeing it around town/at my local bottle shops so I hit the interwebs and I think at that time something said that Blue Heron was switching to draft only. Haven't found it on draft since then so I'm assuming it died, which makes me super sad
Winterhook was probably the first "heavy" winter beer I ever tried in like 2003 in college. Kinda blew my mind at the time. Also, the old artwork on the Winterhook labels was so much cooler than what they've doing recently.
Well, technically there is no "Redhook Brewing Company" anymore, after the merger with Widmer (and, then, buying the rest of Kona) it is all one single corporation, Craft Brews Alliance, with its headquarters in Portland, OR (at the Widmer Bros. pub) according to their own website. Widmer Bros., and City's "Blues City" subsidiary brewery (built by Schlitz, owned by Coors in the 80s and 90s) where a number of craft brewers (and some malternative companies) contract/alt. prop. brew - most notably Sixpoint. The New Hampshire brewery was opened in 1996 - well after the beginning of the "east coast craft revolution", which began with the opening of Wm Newman Brewing Co. in Albany, NY in 1981 and then the release of New Amsterdam Amber Beer (brewed by F X Matt) the next year.
I'm not trying to say that it was the first brewery on the east coast, but probably like 80%+ have opened since that date in 1996.
All of this is great historical info, but I don't think any of it points to a justification for BA listing the "Redhook Ale Brewery" as a primarily New Hamshire-based brewery. So either change all BA listings for Redhook, as well as Widmer and Kona (plus Omission) to be listed under the CBA as a Portland, Oregon, "brewery", or change the Redhook listing to Washington, leave Kona in Hawaii, and leave Widmer and Omission in Oregon.
