Like other pioneering Northwest brands like and Microsoft, was born out of the energy and spirit of the 1980’s.
In 1981, founders Paul Shipman and Gordon Bowker, who happened to be a co-founder of Starbucks, thought the people of Seattle deserved their own beer. After converting an abandoned transmission shop in Ballard into a makeshift brewery, the first batch was brewed.
According to company lore, Seattle beer drinkers loved the new brew, and while the term didn’t exist at the time, Redhook became one of America’s first “craft breweries.”
Master craftsman are still brewing at Redhook’s Woodinville site. Master Brewer Greg Deuhs claims to have craft brewing in his blood; his great-great grandfather Gerhard moved from Germany and opened his own brewery in Minnesota back in 1863.
Redhook brewers are trained by a United Kingdom company on how to pick out flavor profiles such as metallic, onion, papery, spicy, almond, grainy and smoky. This way everyone making the beer has a common vocabulary and understanding of the flavors present in the different brews, according to Deuhs.
The Woodinville brewery is a busy place opertatin six days a week and brewing eight hours a day. And for those who want their beer sustainable, 80% of the hops used at Redhook are from the Yakima Valley. The Woodinville brewery makes all of Redhooks 14 different beers that are sold west of the Mississippi.
