Redoak, Sydney

[redbeard]

had dinner & beers at redoak in clarence st in sydney last sat night with about 10 friends. it was a bit like the belgian 'cafe' near circular key. it had a long bar, with only 12? redoak varieties on tap & a couple only in bottles. plus a large area for sitting down to eat. it was a bit quiet for a sat which surprised me, thou perhaps thurs / fri would be a better guide (parts of cbd are dead on weekend...)

the food was excellent (most tender steak ive ever had), the staff very helpfull / pleasant, especially janet ? and the beers were great. as they had 12 on tap, some of us decided to try most, so i wont try to describe individual beers ! the only one that had less than full top marks was the belgian chocolate. thou being at the end of the night, perhaps some leeway is granted. overall while not stunnng, very good. (even a draught coopers pale at a post event stop tasted somewhat average ! mmmm)

(entrees averaged $12, mains between 25 & 35, beers 4-5)

curiously at one point a keg needed changing & a staff member walked out with a 18l ss keg. not just for homebrewers

overall very recommended. unfortunately a bit pricey, at least for me, thou no more than james squire on darling harbour. so not a regular haunt but on the pub crawl / every month or 2 list. they have been open 8 months and rely on word of mouth for advertising. not sure if there really scared of tooheys/carlton or just finding their feet slowly. id be interested in the prices of their beers out at the ranch in ryde & if they have other pubs lined up.

cheers

 

[Weizguy]

Rather than starting a new thread, just decided to piggyback on here.
Last Friday was Newcastle Show holiday, and being a dutiful public servant, I had the day off (rather than working overtime) and went to Sydney for a drink. :beer:
I got the 8:26 from Newcastle with 3 mates, and we got to Flemington about 11:30ish.
First stop Paddy's Brewery and then onto the Redoak.
Tasted at Paddys: Pils (Gerard's fave, I believe), Summer Ale, Amber, Narfa, Porter, Seasonal. That was the entire range that was available on the day. Oh, plus the sample of wheat that Gerard was filtering when we arrived.
One of my mates is pretty fussy with beer, and didn't like the Pils at first; but about halfway through the middy, he warmed to it, but it wasn't his favourite of the day. He like the Narfa, but decided that it was because it contained 50% Porter. Must admit, the porter rekindled my interest in dark ales. I need to get on that style again soon.
Didn't taste a beer I didn't like, and wished I coulda made it last Saturday night. BTW, the manager came over and shouted us a round. At $2.50 a middy, the value was good, especially considering the quality (far superior to any megaswill).
We will be back; hopefully for the next Saturday night tasting. Shame that the venue is not better located. They could be doing much better business.

Next, on to the Redoak. Not very busy for a Friday afternoon. We got a table, easy enough. Tasted the blackberry hefeweizen, Belgian choc-cherry stout, honey ale, and another beer which didn't make much of an impression (it seems - coz I don't remember what it was), as well as a taster of the sour weisse.
Blackberry beer was OK - quite tart and not enough wheatiness for my taste. The leatherwood honey beer really smelled and tasted of leather. You couldn't drink a lot of it, I think: nice taste though, just not mine. 2 mates didn't have a bad word, while my mate (aka the Bullfrog) kept thinking of the porter @ Paddy's.
We were definitely open to the experience, but I expect a lot at $5.50 - $9.00 for 250 ml. We all had sip of the taster. It was nice...clean, slightly sour, very pale and attractive with a firm wheaty head. I made - one was more sour than this, so theirs needed a bit of lactic twang to be the same. Nice, though. Choc-cherry stout reminded the Bullfrog of the Paddy's porter again. My numb tongue at this end of the day failed to detect the Belgian choc and the cherry, so I didn't get the "Blackforest cake" taste. I did however, get the bottles (250 ml) and was allowed to take them home. They also had some food, but I can't comment as I didn't eat there. One of the guys found couple of glasses that weren't nailed down. I will lecture him this week about forcing an increase in the price of Redoak beer by creating a vessel deficit there. 'Tis academic anyway coz I'm not planning to return there.
One more venue. Got back to Newy railway station and shot across to the ferry to check the timetable. 10 minutes 'til the ferry leaves... :beerbang: , so back to the Queens wharf brewery for a Summer framboise (a Bluetongue seasonal - see I said I'd report on these). It was a glass of raspberry lolly water mixed with beer, or at least it tasted like it. Will prob appeal to the girly alcopop market. Too sweet 4 me, although I admit to finishing it (let that be a lesson to me), and my remaining friend (and brewbuddy) decided not to finish his. This occurred despite him finishing each beer ahead of us all day, earning him the nickname of "machine". It had no Belgian taste, although that might have been because of the yeast used. It was not malt driven,.nor hops, nor was it fruity due to the yeast. It was thin and tasted like dilute raspberry cordial. Won't have this again, but would recommend it to women, though.

Mission successful! Good day out achieved, and have sussed out some worthwhile beerz. Must give credit to Gerard again. Not for the beer this time, but for sparing us some time for a chat (something about a former lingerie girl), and to clue us in on the beer range and to give us a taste of the wheat beer (available Tuesday, IIRC) and some local history. Thanks again G-man! Hope I didn't put U off with the devil shirt I was wearing...

Seth (& Haydn, Gibbo and Bullfrog)

 

[Samwise Gamgee]

I visited Redoak for the first time on saturday night and took 3 mates along to introduce them to beer that is not produced by Lion Nathan or Fosters.

We tried the Bock, Honey Ale, Bavarian Pilsner, Special Strong Ale, Choc-Cherry Stout and Oatmeal Stout.

My favourite was the Bock. I thought the Honey Ale's honey flavour was to overpowering, I prefer subtle honey flavours. Special strong Ale was OK but a little sweet, couldn't drink a lot of it. Choc-Cherry stout: OK but was expecting a bit stronger choc-cherry flavour. Oatmeal Stout was good but not a lot different from other stouts I've had. Bavarian Pilsner was interesting, quite fruity and creamy, it reminded me of apricot yoghurt which didn't seem right at first but then got used to it, nice but couldn't drink a lot of it.

Then we moved down to the James Squire Brew House (yes i know what I said about Lion Nathan Beers). There we had a Governor King Pale Ale, Golden Ale and Porter. The GKPA went down quite well but felt watery but i think this was because we were just drinking stouts. Golden Ale was great, my fav JS beer and was glad to see it on tap. Porter was OK but shouldn't have got a schooner of it, by this point was feeling quite full and it was like trying to push one more steak down!

Back to the QVB to hop on the M2 bus to head home.

Overall great night and my mates now know why VB and New etc are shithouse, especially when they tried one after all the other beers we had.

(Redoak wasn't very busy either)

 

[Steve Lacey]

Does anyone know anything about the Redoak production house? Do they brew on the premises there in Clarence Street or in an industrial unit somewhere? Brew length? Seems it would be a logistical challenge keeping up stocks for 12 draft beers. Space for conditioning serving tanks would be at a premium. But someone mentioned seeing an 18L keg being brought in, so that made me wonder if they actually brew there. Just curious. I love the concept of the menu with suggested beer pairings. In fact I love it so much I have for some time been harbouring dreams of opening a place like that myself one day...now these bastards have gone and beaten me to it. :angry: oh well, good luck to them. Might as well have a drink and get on with it I suppose

Steve

 

[KoNG]

i normally go enjoy a couple of beers there most (read: every) friday lunchtime...
and for some reason had always thought it was an on-site micro (downstairs), but i dont know how or why i thought that..?!?!?! :blink:

 

[Doc]

AFAIK the brewery is in the suburbs of Sydney somewhere. Gerard might be able to give a better answer as he has worked with one of the brewers from RedOak.

Beers,
Doc

 

[kungy]

As Doc says, i'm sure it off site to. I remember the SMH Good Living talking about where the brewery is located a while back. Something to do with a warehouse district possibly.

Will

 

[Gerard_M]

The brewery is out at Camden, all very secretive. Wes has been there, but they blindfolded him for the trip. They fill the 2 serving tanks from 50 litre kegs, I can't say that would be a fun job.
Cheers
Gerard

 

[wessmith]

Gidday Gerard, your pretty close about the blindfold! And also the location - the brewery is in an industrial area and they do not allow any visitors. Brew length around 1000 litres and they both keg and bottle their products.

The range of beers isnt too bad really - I dropped in one Friday night last December and met Callum the brewer. After sampling a number of the Redoak beers we moved on. That wasnt such a great idea as we both ended up at the Hofbrauhaus trying far too many different beers.

I think I stayed at the Macquarie that night...

Wes

 

[Trough Lolly]

They are a pretty secretive bunch, aren't they?

I was there last Wednesday night and when I asked about the grain bill for the Bock, the woman behind the bar looked at me as if I'd just asked to toss her over the bar and perform a rather nasty cavity search! She hefted a rather heavy mounted brew mug in my direction and as I ducked, she told me that this was the award it was given!

Beer was nice but pricey - I'm back in Sydney tomorrow night so I'll be looking for a beer elsewhere... JS at Kings Wharf, the Australian and the Macquarie are on my radar before I return to a freezing Canberra on Friday night!

Cheers,
TL