Hangar 24 Craft Brewery in Redlands

The Hangar 24 Craft Brewery has only been open a little over 3 years, but has made quite a splash on the Southern California beer scene.  It is already one of the largest microbreweries in the area, and after making a trip out there last week, it is easy to see why.  I made the trip on a Wednesday night after work.  Normally, tempting the roughly 60 mile drive from Irvine to Redlands during rush hour on the 91 freeway would not even cross my mind, the drive could easily turn in to 2-3 hours long.  However, I had spoken about the brewery to my friend Jake who is a pilot, and Jake offered to fly us out there.  So I headed over to John Wayne airport and prepared for the flight.

Jake inspecting the plane before takeoff, it was a Diamond with call name 321 Charlie Kilo.

I had never been on a small plane like this and it was a pretty exhilarating experience.  

Just about ready for takeoff

We got up to around 4000 feet on the way there, and about 4500 feet on the way home.  Jake told me this was a newer plane (2004 model) so it had a lot of upgrades and features that other planes he has flown didn't have.  I think those definitely made me feel more comfortable in the flight.

When we arrived at the Redlands Municipal Airport, we could immediately see the brewery.  It is directly across the street from the airport, and was less than a 3 minute walk from the transient airplane parking.  Although we couldn't confirm much info at the time, I believe the building was in fact an old hangar used by the airport.  The brewery had a pretty decent crowd considering it was a Wednesday evening, and is set up with several long picnic tables and umbrellas on an outside patio.  Mara and I both ordered a flight (appropriately named given the aviation theme!) which included 8 year-round beers and two seasonal selections.

About ready to dive in to the flight

I started with the Helles Lager and worked my way around to finish with the Double IPA.  Each beer was unique and I thought they kept getting progressively better.  I particularly enjoyed the Pale Ale and the Columbus IPA, so I followed up the flight with a pint of the Columbus IPA and a six-pack of Pale Ale to take home with me.

The brewery itself was pretty impressive.  They had a lot of tanks, and some of them pretty massive.  I wasn't able to find out the capacity of it all, but they had some pretty heavy-duty equipment.

The beer board behind the bar 

A couple of the smaller tanks

Overall it was an awesome trip for me, everything from the flight to the brewery to the beers was great.  I would definitely recommend checking out Hangar 24 if you have a chance, even if it means making the drive out to Redlands.  The beer was delicious and the atmosphere was fun, so it will be well worth your efforts.

Mara enjoying her flight and Jake having some tea that he brought

And a big thanks for Jake and Mara for letting me fly with them!