Red Hook Brewery: Take the Tour!

Posted by Wink

May 7, 2008

See, it was easy deciding to go to Red Hook. I’ve been drinking their ESB for years. LUV IT! And the wife and I happen to be in the neighborhood so, what the hell. Unfortunately finding the place is nearly impossible. I guess it would have helped to stop and ask directions, but being a man I was compelled to find it the old fashioned way: with a map.

Well, after three or for wrong turns we literally stumbled on to it. But it was worth the trouble. We ate lunch in the Forecaster Pub. I had some sandwich that was absolutely terrific. I drank the IPA that was served nitrogenated … my first. The Nitrogen didn’t seem to change the flavor so much as the mouth feel. I can’t say that I was too impressed … beyond the novelty of nitrogen in my beer.

After lunch we decided to take the tour. Heck, it’s only $1 and my guess is the charge is a legal obligation.

The tour guide was a guy my age … Joseph, I think. He clearly enjoys his job. He introduced the tour saying: “This is how the tour works. We’re going to have a couple beers, look through those windows there and talk about mashing and boiling. Then we’ll drink a couple more beers and I’ll tell you about the history of Red Hook, drink a couple of beers, and I will take you out to the fermenters. Then we’ll drink a couple more beers and go see the bottling line … but it’s not running today … so if you want to skip that and have a couple more beers, we can do that too.”

Not a great tour for real nerds like me. But as a beer luver, it’s hard to complain about copious beer consumption (though, the tour glasses were not full sized).

On the tour I discovered Black Hook Porter, which I unfortunately cannot get in Chicago. It’s a London-style porter with excellent body and flavor. Not quite as good as the Edmund Fitzgerald. But definitely worth picking up if you have the chance!

Here are some more pics: