January 18, 2009
This bar varies greatly depending on when you go. During Thursday through Sunday evenings (say, after 7 or 8pm), and to a lesser extent on weekday nights, it’s a crowded undergrad hangout, packed with UC Santa Cruz students, and not particularly pleasant unless you’re into the undergrad-college-student scene (and into not being able to ever get anything ordered). During the rest of the time, especially daytime and early evening, it’s an excellent beer bar, with the best tap selection in Santa Cruz (and an excellent bottle selection as well), decent food, and a nice atmosphere.

June 21, 2008 [ Updated June 29, 2009 ]
The Red is definitely the top place to go for beer in Santa Cruz, but my latest visit confirms that there are some downsides to a large and constantly rotating selection. The tap list is large and varied, with a good mix of American, Belgian, And German beers, but today they were out of three of the beers that we wanted to try, and weren’t sure what was coming up next in their spots. Also, the overall selection was not as good as previous visits, with no Alesmith, Lost Abbey or Moonlight. Still a good selection, and the best in town, but you never know what you’ll get when you come in. Good service, and our waitress brought us a complementary Brother Thelonious when the second beer that we wanted had just kicked. The food is also pretty solid, and at decent prices. I’ll definitely be making repeat visits in the future, but scoring more obscure crafts on tap might take a little more persistence than I had previously thought. Edit: they have had some Moonlight and Alesmith beers the last few times that I have been in, and even some Craftsman and Buery kegs. I really can’t complain.

February 6, 2008
The Red is always packed with college students on Thursday through Sunday nights. It’s often very difficult to get a spot at the bar (or at anywhere else) when it’s busy. They play hip music from an iPod over the speaker system and the whole place is lit by red lights and candles. It’s nice looking but noisy and busy. The beer is a real treat here. They consistently have great stuff from AleSmith, Stone, Craftsman, Moonlight, Bear Republic, and Deschutes on tap. The bottle selection is also great but pricey. Normally they’ll have AleSmith, Stone, all 3 Rocheforts, Orval, Unibroue, and Lost Abbey. Service is pretty good. Although it’s difficult to get noticed over the droves of banana slugs, the bartenders are surprisingly competent. They use proper glassware, and if they’re out of something, they generally know enough to recommend another beer or two of the same style. The food is excellent. Instead of traditional pub grub, they make ritzy dishes with high quality ingredients. This makes it pricey but well worth it if you’re treating yourself. Another great perk about The Red is that their liquor license allows beer-to-go. That’s right, if you are willing to pay the high bottle price for beer that you can’t find anywhere else around the central coast, you can walk right out the door with whatever you want from the bottle list.

December 17, 2006 [ Updated December 31, 2006 ]
A cool space located above its older sibling bar, the Red Room, in the old Santa Cruz Hotel. Essentially one large room with a cozy double sided fireplace and red drapes that separate the lounge area and dining area. A very good selection of draught offerings and large bottles that changes enough to keep it interesting. Russian River, d’Achouffe, Pizza Port/Lost Abbey, Fantome, Bear Republic, Rogue, HotD, Moonlight all on the menu at the time of this review. A very good selection of spirits as well. Decent wine list. The girlfriend says the food is hit or miss (never eaten here myself). Bar service is acceptable. Its a popular place with the University crowd so plenty of young college/hipster types to middle age demographic also. Gets very busy and loud on with live music or a DJ playing on Friday or Saturday nights. Decor is a little too red for me (makes it difficult to see tap handles) but a huge plus for me is that the Cali indoor smoking ban is actually enforced here unlike the Red Room downstairs and other bars in town. My preference is to enjoy a beer in the afternoon and enjoy the ample woodwork and cool skylights of the old building or on a weekday night when you don’t have to shout. A place worth going to more often

January 5, 2006
I went here late in the afternoon on new years eve 2005/2006. We went to the upstairs bar area (enter from the street up the stairs on Cedar street). They had a surprisingly good and diverse beer selection on tap with some belgian beers, La Folie, Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter, etc. They also indicated that two AleSmith beers were coming soon (including Speedway). I would definitely go back here. I did not see what they had on tap downstairs. This place has a great feel with lots of couches, comfortable chairs, a fireplace, and a nice bar area..