Hangar 24 Brewery, Redlands, CA

Last night my friend Steve and I headed over to Redlands (40 min drive East) to meet our friend Adam at Hangar 24 in Redlands. I had seen solid reviews of this brewery, their IPA and Orange Wheat seem to pop up pretty frequently at places like Hamilton's or Blind Lady in San Diego. When they can get their beers on taps down there you know they're for real.

We got out there at 7:30 last night, about 30 minutes before closing, thanks to Steve overshooting the freeway off ramp by about 3 miles, and then having to off-road for about a quarter mile where we got stuck at the very top of a hill in his Highlander to get to a good road that led up to the brewery. The brewery is in an airport hangar, very similar in setup to the Lost Abbey. I ordered up the IPA right away, it came served in a clear plastic cup. The IPA was pretty tasty, if not a little too toasty in the malt profile for my tastes. I also had a taster of their Helles lager which tasted very nice, although the smell was a bit off. Adam had their Altbier which I took a sip of and was excellent. There was also a Porter on tap, and their flagship Orange Wheat and Pale Ale. I will definitely go back to this place to check out the rest of their beers.

The only thing I was disappointed in was the price for growlers. Refills of all beers were $10- a very good price. But for the first fill it was about $35 total. That means the glass actually costs you $25, a bit too much for a growler in my opinion. They are a growler style which you don't see used around California that much. It's a swing top type but looks different than the style Stone or Russian River uses. I do think their "growler tap" accessory is pretty rad, but probably a waste of money when all you need to do is tip over a growler and pour 4 glasses.

One pretty cool thing I noticed is that you can get their Orange Wheat and Alt on tap at Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Angels single-A club) games. That automatically gives them just about as good of options as Angels games, which only serves Firestone Double Barrel Ale last I checked.

As for today, just finishing up my last bottle of Nugget Nectar while I listen to the Sunday Session on The Brewing Network. Still quite good when kept in the fridge for 3+ months. My fridge runs at about 34F or so.