Redhook Ale Brewery, Portsmouth

May 8, 2008
Rats, just missed the tour! The building looks like a late 70’s early 80’s rambling set of peaks and slants. The inside kind of cool, picked up a shirt and some glass ware and a discontinued pull tap cheap. One of the places we hit on our New Hampshire tour. Beer was great, food was fine nothing fancy. Staff was helpful with directions.

February 19, 2008
Ditto to everything Pastor said below, and you can get the maps with the coupon all over town, and at the visitor info centers at the state line. The guy with the ponytail is named Byron, and he’s a hoot! The fireplace is inviting, the beer is properly served, and they don’t try to gouge you on either food, beer, or take-home beer. Just get good Mapquest directions if you’re not familiar with the area, we got lost, took the wrong street off the traffic circle as the cartoony map was pretty much only good for the coupon.

June 8, 2007 [ Updated December 28, 2007 ]
This place is very interesting the atmosphere is kind of like a ski lodge more than a pub. The wait staff is very helpful most of them have worked there a few years. They don’t have any fried foods on the menu. You get chips and a pickle instead of fries with your burgers. They have a few specials that are always written on the black board when you come in most of them are worth the try. I recommend the jerk chicken wings for an appetizer, they are grilled and some of the best I’ve tasted (imported spices from Jamaica) To me Redhook is more of a macro than a micro brewery but they do a brewers series beer only available at the brewery (right now its Treblehook) Take the tour it is well worth it especially if the grey haired guy with the pony tail is working (a true beer geek) I took the tour one time with a micro biologist and they started talking yeasts strains LOL. A quick hint Go to the lobby door and grab one of the Portsmouth tourist maps there will be a coupon for a free tour, if not it’s only a buck and you get a free 4 oz glass

July 26, 2006
Pretty unexciting selection of brews, nothing extra or special or rare. I was really hoping to try something I hadn’t ever seen before. But there was nothing extra, nothing that couldn’t be had in stores. The food wasn’t at all bad, but it wasn’t what I’d expect from a restaurant. Perhaps because at this place, they didn’t have a full-service restaurant-quality kitchen. Therefore, the menu was simple and consisted of things that could be put together with minimal preparation. Chips were served instead of french fries because they do not have a frialator. The atmosphere in this place was somewhat sterile and office-like, (perhaps because it is a new bulding), not really welcoming or rustic or brew-pub-ish. The waitstaff was friendly and helpful, the service was good. I thought the food was slightly overpriced considering I could have easily made myself anything that they had on the menu. The only reason I’d go back would be to take a tour, or if they offered some special rare brews.

May 31, 2006
A great idea in concept to have a "brew pub" attached to a large brewery, but I was unimpressed overall. Beer selection was not anything I could not attain already at the store and food was similar to what you can get at the lunch counter of your local golf course, sanwhiches,soups,salads, nothing really tantilizing on their menu. The rstaurant itself has an empty warehouse feel,cold and not very friendly. The exception however is if you sit in the so called lounge/living room area where they have the comfiest large leather couches and a fireplace.

March 28, 2006
I went there for lunch. There are no rare Redhook beers here--only about 6-7 beers. Also, the food is slightly high, and the service was very slow (took 1.5 hours for lunch, and had to almost scream at the waitress to get more water). Food was mostly good--the chili is the best deal for the money. They have no fryer (they would be prosecuted for this in the south), so no fries with the burgers. And of course the day I go has to be a day when all tours are cancelled.

September 19, 2005
Was in the area, took the tour. Its a pretty standard tour, but they don’t drag it out. I would go back to try the food in the restaurant. Overall, interesting place to go to.

June 27, 2005
This place has better food than beer. If you don’t like any of the Red Hook beers, you’re out of luck. The resturant and bar is like the Olive Garden or Applebees of brewpubs, it just seems too fake. On the other hand, the wait staff is very nice and you can always take the daily tour for $1.

May 28, 2005
We were in the area, and had a coupon for the tour..so we went for it. This place is exactly like the Woodinville, WA location we toured 2 years ago, I’m told they even used the same blueprints when they built it! The brewery tour is not a "must see" but, interesting none the less. The Cataqua Public House at the brewery had beer selections as you would expect...all Redhook. Also a decent food selection as well.

February 25, 2005
I thought the Beer very Good and cold Food and service A+