The Nightlife Blogger: Big Ballard Brews Creates A Redhook Beer Flashback

When you’re in the nightlife blogging business, you get a lot of e-mails pertinent to the blog’s content and for me that means information on spirits and beers.

One recently caught my attention. It was about a new line of beers from Redhook Brewery. Frankly, I didn’t even know Redhook was still around because I had not seen that beer or heard anything about it for quite some time. It did, tho, bring back some very pleasant memories.

I remember Redhook well. It was one of the beers on tap during the wild days of the original Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach, CA. Rather than go for Bud, Miller, etc., I wanted something better. Sharkeez was one of the first bars in Southern California to have several different beers on tap. It was also a bar where a lot of us had some very pleasant evenings so any memories from that place are good ones.

At the time, I was doing a lot of traveling for a PR client, going to locations with good beer like Portland, Seattle and Canada. On one trip to Seattle, I had a few cold ones at the Redhook brewpub in the Fremont district. They would show movies on a wall at night.

Whenever I would return home, I was not willing to settle for mass-produced American beers. My beer taste buds would not allow it. Redhook was one of my go-to brews. It was available in Southern California because it was then a part of Anheuser-Busch, which had (and still has) great distribution. In 2023, cannabis company Tilray bought Redhook from A-B.

Now Redhook has a series of brews called Big Ballard, named after the location of its original brewery in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. So yes folks, Redhook is still around and it is still brewing good beer. In fact, I am enjoying the Big Ballard Imperial IPA as I write this post.

• Big Ballard Imperial IPA., 8.6% ABV | 66 IBU. $22-23 (12oz 18-pack) | $7.50-8.00 (16oz 4-pack) | $2.50-3.00 (single 19.2oz can)

This has a deep golden body (like some of the girls at Sharkeez, haha!) with notes of citrus, pine, tropical fruit and caramel. What I like about it is that it’s not heavy or too fruity. It’s flavorful and has what I call a good “multiple drinkability factor,” meaning it does down good to the point you can have several of them. Tho do watch out for that 8.6% AVB.

• Hazy Big Ballard Imperial IPA. 8.7% ABV | 40 IBU

$22-23 (12oz 18-pack) | $7.50-8.00 (16oz 4-pack) | $2.50-3.00 (single 19.2oz can)

This 80’s inspired beer is heavy-hitting Hazy Imperial with citrus and tropical notes. Heavy hitting is right – with its 8.7 ABV it can make you feel like a Seahawk player who got his bell rung if you’re not careful. That’s easier said than done because it is so full of flavor and yet goes down so smoothly that it’s hard to not rush into having a couple more at full speed.

Tropical Big Ballard Juicy IPA.  7.2% ABV | 45 IBU$22-23 (12oz 18-pack) | $7.50-8.00 (16oz 4-pack) | $2.50-3.00 (single 19.2oz can)