Oak Creek Brewing Co.

Gavage

New Jersey

4.38/5  rDev +7.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Located just off 89A it is tucked away across from a large grocery store. The bar area is small with about 7 stools but has a cool dark feel to it since brewery equipment sits in the room too. There is a nice outdoor patio section and that is were we headed.

There were several beers on tap just like the Brewery and Grill, but they had two special beers - an unfiltered Munich Keller and a nicely hopped King Crimson Red. Both of these beers were absolutely superb.

The place is a real local hangout. No food except for a popcorn machine and some nuts.

Service was quick, friendly, and knowledgable. Plenty of swag by the door if interested. Live music at nights too.

To me this was more my speed over the sister Grill restaurant. Must stop if in town.

06-26-2009 23:08:30 | More by Gavage

yemenmocha

Arizona

4.38/5  rDev +7.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$$

Oak Creek serves some very good beers and food at their restaurant location. They always have their core lineup with a seasonal or two, and some have won awards at various festivals. If you're in Sedona this is clearly one of the best places for craft beer. Many food items are tasty as well. I can't do without the onion rings and pretzels, and of course the pizza. Many items are rich in taste, so watch out. I also appreciate much of the staff being older and more mature. That's more my style and I appreciate their friendliness.

04-05-2011 03:36:23 | More by yemenmocha

ecoboy

Rhode Island

4.22/5  rDev +3.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5

Ahhhh, Sedona. Boy, do I ever not fit in there. Lots of artists and craftsman and new agey people running about in colorful outfits and pink (you read right) Jeeps.

Sure would be a great place for an unexpected find like a German-American biergarten with all the trimmings.

Lo and behold, if you search this place out, there is beer and brat served right by a smiling German woman and a sunny fenced-in outdoor serving area with fountain and flowers. Real German style potato salad. Dynamite 6% ABV Brown ale. Skylights in the bar room, so that daytime is a flood of sunshine. Extremely collectable old Fillmore posters advertising great 60's and 70's rock acts. Very drinkable unfiltered amber. Bavarian style hefe whose banana and clove essences my sausage lunch overpowered, but well, one would expect that.

One of my favorite beer experiences in AZ.

05-04-2003 19:42:19 | More by ecoboy

jrancan

New Jersey

4.33/5  rDev +5.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5

Some of the best tasting beer I've ever had. I can't comment on their consistency, but after 3 visits in Sept. I've decided that their Hefe is one of maybe the 2 or 3 best wheat beers I've ever had in my life. 5 beers on tap, including the fantastically hoppy/malty pale ale, the nutty brown ale, and the classic amber ale.
For me, not too much on atmosphere. The room is a functioning brewery that looks as if it added a bar as an afterthought. Not a problem, but it's more sterile (as well as it should be) than anything else. Outdoor seating, which is nice, but I can't understand why they put a roof on it? Maybe to protect against the 2 inches of rain a year? It's a place where all the locals hang out and offers bands from around the country several nights a week.
Food from the very German influenced menu is excellent, my wife made me eat there several times so she could have the brats, kraut and authentic german potato salad-all for about $6.00.
Prices for the brews were great, if I remember correctly, averaging $3.50.
The tap brews were tastier than the bottled ones we bought at the local supermarket. Overall, a place I would love to have as a hometown brewery.

10-30-2004 04:26:12 | More by jrancan

lackenhauser

Maryland

4.14/5  rDev +1.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Located off of Coffee Pot Drive in a somewhat industrial area. Non descript setting with the sign out front announcing you're there. Somewhat dark inside but with the cloudy day it was, the Xmas lights and natural light coming in from the patio were fine. Very cool to be sitting right in the middle of the brewery. Maybe 8 to 10 stools and 6 or 8 high bistro style tables. Decent crowd for a Sunday afternoon.

Service was quick and attentive-obviously busy between monitoring the popcorn, selling swag etc but still very attentive. Had 2 Snakecharmer IPAs that were just great and a porter that was very good as well. Also a pale, hefe, golden lager, nut brown and another 1 or 2 beers on tap. No food going on except the self serve popcorn and roasted peanuts.

Live music was firing up, decent crowd of what seemed mostly locals. Nice vibe all in. Patio pretty much closed except for the smoking crowd. My 3 beers and wife's soda were 17 bucks. None too shabby.

Well worth the stop. Have not tried the brew pub at the restaurant in town.

12-31-2012 03:16:30 | More by lackenhauser

TheEclecticGent

Georgia

3.93/5  rDev -3.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Last stop on the Beer Tour of Arizona was Sedona. After checking the BeerFly reviews I decided to try out the Oak Creek Brewing Company (the one on Yavapai Drive, not the touristy Tlaquepacque location). I really like the local feel of this place, even got a bit of cowboy stare when my group walked in. This brewpub really is a brewpub, the indoor seating is right up against the tanks - amazing! The place smells of yeast and malt - yea baby! It was a bit of a warm day, so we sat out back in the beer garden. It looked like we were the only ones who were not locals and thats a lovely thing. However, I was crushed to learn that the Bavarian Kitchen that served food here had closed two years ago. Man I was really looking forward to that! I tried the Belgian Triple / Abby Style Ale which I found OK. After sampling both the English Brown Ale which is quite good, I found I liked their house Red Ale the best. Although we did not stay long, I found this to be one of my most memorable stops in Sedona and wonderfully non-tourist.

05-09-2006 19:26:46 | More by TheEclecticGent

koopa

New Jersey

4/5  rDev -2.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Visited this place on New Years Eve 2010 during the day. As you walk in the door you find a wall counter on the right where you can purchase hot dogs prepared in various ways or some other snack foods. You then enter a second door and find a small brewery warehouse with a small bar and a few tables. There is also a pair of glass doors that lead to an outdoor seating area. The service was relaxed and friendly. The beers were sessionable yet tasty. I got an 11 glass sample platter (one of each brew they had available that day) and enjoyed most of them quite a bit. The brew master was trained in Germany and a majority of the styles brewed reflect that although they also had some nice seasonals like a chocolate porter, a winter porter, etc.

01-07-2011 17:11:29 | More by koopa

xymyl

Arizona

3.36/5  rDev -17.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | $$

I only tried a couple of beers at this location, then went to the grill, then came back to fill up a growler. This is quite a good way to have a pint or two. Very relaxing (for people who like to hang out with brewing equipment). Overall, I agree with everyone that this place is a better beer place than the Grill. In part because some of the seasonals and special brews don't seem to make it to the other location. When I visited there was no food available. If I lived in Sedona I would be hanging out here fairly often. Since I need to be effecient, I need to get food with my beer most of the time, so that's not an always option.

The Hefeweizen was by far the best. I once had an outstanding Rye here as well. The Nut Brown is another good one. I don't think everything here is a winner, but there are some great ones in the light to medium body category.

03-18-2007 20:08:18 | More by xymyl

Tchuck

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev -2.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

We stopped in there last Monday night (4/21) after sunset. We chose this place over Tlaquepaque because of the reviews. They had nine beers on tap (five regular and four seasonals), and I thought all of them were better than average (as best I can tell from 3 oz. samples). The five regulars were the Golden Ale (par for the course), a Hefeweizen (very good, but my wife enjoyed the Mandarin Orange Hefe from Papago Brewing Company better), a Pale Ale, and an Amber (both better than average). Out of the regulars, I liked the Amber the best.

The four seasonals were a Saison (about average), a Belgian Stout (???, tasted like a dry stout to me), an Imperial Red (called King Crimson, pretty clever name I thought, which was the best beer of all that I sampled), and a Marzen (which was a little better than average).

It's definitely a place for locals, but one was very friendly and the rest kept to themselves. Most people stepped out the front door occasionally to have a smoke. I enjoyed the atmosphere--any brewery (as opposed to brew pub) where you can drink beer sitting next to the tanks that previously held it is great in my book--but some might find it too "down home". There were pretty neat vintage fliers for psychedelic bands on the wall and in the men's room. The only lighting was from a few strings of Xmas lights overhead, and a couple of indirect lights.

The bartendress was really friendly and pretty attentive (she was the only person working, and there were about 15 people b/w the bar and beergarden patio), but not especially knowledgeable about beer (she kept telling people that their hefeweizen was a Belgian style).

The important thing to know is that the only food is self-serve popcorn and peanuts. If you're hungry (and we were) and didn't realize this, you can't spend a lot of time there. If I make it back to Sedona, I would definitely go back but only after having a meal somewhere else first (like the Mesquite Grill on Jordan). I wish I could have stayed longer.

04-22-2008 22:39:43 | More by Tchuck

Jables

Illinois

4.38/5  rDev +7.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5

This is the fun kinda spot you want to find when you're on vacation and sick and tired of the tourist trap restaurants. You want an out of the way place to have real beer and a real sense of relaxation. The menu is simple, cold cheese plates, hot panini sandwiches, brats or polish with saurkraut and real German Potato Salad. The interior is small and no distinction can be made between the brewery floor and the barroom floor. The outdoor patio seating was very pleasant in the cool desert evening air. No smoking allowed inside the brewery, double thumbs up. They had a Reggae band playing the night I was there which was cool. If you were looking for the Micro Light Beer they have at the Oak Creek Brewery and Grill, you'll be outta luck, no light beer here.

06-27-2004 18:23:17 | More by Jables