If you’re from North Carolina then you’ve probably heard of Red Oak Brewery. If your outside of North Carolina, then you probably haven’t heard of Red Oak Brewery unless you’ve visited because they only serve the state of North Carolina with their delicious beers. Red Oak Brewery is located in Greensboro, North Carolina and you can visit the brewery and Lager Haus at any time. Red Oak does offer tours but it’s only at 4:30 PM on Fridays. We have been trying to go to a Red Oak tour for quite sometime but with the tour only being on Friday it’s hard to find a Friday that fits everybody’s schedule. So on the Friday after Christmas, Beno, Lebo and me set out to visit Red Oak Brewery.

The tour is $15 and consists of two parts, a trip to the brewery itself followed by a beer tasting in the Lager Haus afterwards. So the tour itself was pretty much like every other brewery tour that I’ve been on except for the fact that you don’t have to get reservations, so on the Friday after Christmas there was about 200 people crammed into the brewery with no space to move or check out the equipment. To accommodate such a large group we all stood in the brewery and listened to the brewmaster describe their brewing process and some very interesting facts about Red Oak. For instance, Red Oak is limited to 25,000 barrels of beer a year or otherwise they are forced to use a distributor to sell their beer. So that’s the main reason that Red Oak hasn’t branched outside North Carolina or even carry more that 2 of their beers on shelves in stores. Also heard a quote from a German scientist that 2 beers a day is twice as good for your health as 1 beer but that 4 beers a day is not twice as good as 2 beers. After the tour of the brewery it was time for the tasting. As we walked back into the Lager Haus we were handed a 5 oz glass of Red Oaks signature beer and then instructed to go back to the bar to fill up our glass with four more of Red Oaks beer whenever. To start I just want to say that this tasting was probably one of the best I’ve been on. A 5 oz taster is quite big, considering i’m used to only getting about 2-3 ounces at most, then you multiply that by 5 beers and you got yourself a party. The five beers that were on tap for the tasting was Red Oak, Hummin’ Bird, HopGarten Pils, Battlefield and Black Oak. For the tasting you got to sit where ever in the Lager Haus, which had these very long tables much like you’d see in Munich at Oktoberfest. Then when you were finished with your first sample, you could take it up to the bar and get your glass filled with the next.

Red Oak - Amber Lager 5%

4.25/5 - This is Red Oak’s signature beer which the brewery is named after and the one that everybody who knows of Red Oak has had. It is a very good tasting Amber Lager. I not only had the Amber Lager taster but also ordered myself another Red Oak Lager at Mellow Mushroom on the way home from the tour.

Hummin’ Bird - Helles 4.5%

3.75/5 - Besides Red Oak Amber Lager, the Hummin’ Bird Helles is the other Red Oak beer that you can find in most all stores in North Carolina. Again, another really solid beer.

HopGarten Pils - 5.3% 34 IBUs

3.75/5 - This is a limited summer release from Red Oak but I guess they still had some left. For a beer with Hop in its name it wasn’t overly hoppy, as you can see with 34 IBUs.

Battlefield - Single Bock 6.5%

3.5/5

Black Oak - Doppelbock 8.5%

3.5/5

I’m grouping together the Battlefield and the Black Oak. I think that they tasted very similar. These beers are both limited release by Red Oak. I would say that a bock is very similar to a porter. A very dark beer, but I will admit that both of these beers were very drinkable. There was no coffer or chocolate taste with the Battlefield and maybe only a hint of it with the Black Oak. Also at 8.5%, the Black Oak does a good job of masking the alcohol. Two very good dark beers that I honestly would have picked up a 12 pack of in the gift shop had they had it available but apparently you can only find those two beers on tap.

Overall, I would say that the tour itself is just like any other brewery tour as in getting to see how the beer is made and their process, but I would say that Red Oak knocks it out of the park with their tastings. Up until this tour I thought that Sierra Nevada in Asheville had the best tasting after a tour but I think that Red Oak takes the cake. Also to finish out the tour you get a complimentary pint glass, all for the cost of $15. If you are ever in the area on a Friday, I highly recommend the tour and if it’s not a Friday then I still highly recommend stopping by and grabbing a drink at the Lager Haus.

Red Oak Brewery Tour Review