American Craft Beer Visits Hangar 24

I had never left a brewery having loved every beer on tap – until I visited Hangar 24 in Redlands, CA. Head Brewer Kevin Wright has a philosophy that all of his beers should be balanced. Unlike the chemicals in Gary Busey’s brain, Hangar 24 holds true to this promise.

When I began my mission to explore and share LA’s craft beer scene, I did not include San Bernardino County. After re-evaluating the market presence that Hangar 24 has in the LA craft market, I would be a grade-A moron not to include them. I took the 75-mile drive out east on a Sunday morning only to find the road I traveled on was slowly getting more narrow and dilapidated. Just when I was expecting to park my car and rent a Sherpa and pack mule, I arrived at Hangar 24, adjacent to the Redlands Airport. Then I met Kevin, who gave me a tour and a brief history lesson about Hangar.

Hangar 24 was started by Ben Cook, who was getting his pilot’s license at the Redlands Airport. Every Thursday, Cook would share his special home brew recipe, which contained whole oranges, with his fellow pilots at a barbeque in Hangar number 24. This recipe is Hangar 24’s signature beer, their Orange Wheat. I was hesitant to try this citrus beer at first because I’m not always a fan of fruity or sweet beers. To me, Shock Top and Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat taste like a hung-over frat guy accidently mixed Orange Bang and Miller Lite together in his Cheerios and decided to sell it to his Kappa Sigma Epsilon brothers. These “breakfast beers” almost completely turned me off to any kind of orange wheat, but Hangar 24’s is different. Instead of using syrup or powdered Tang, Hangar 24 purees whole locally grown oranges, peel and all, and throws them in the fermenter. The orange’s pith (the white, bitter part of the orange, not to be confused with Kathy Griffin), provides for half the amount of bitterness for the beer, so half the amount of hops of a normal wheat beer are used. This provides for a light orange taste that’s not too sweet but very refreshing and drinkable. Their Orange Wheat accounts for 60% of all their beer sales.

Their other beers also blew me away. The Double IPA is probably the best IPA I’ve ever had. Hangar 24 is the only brewery that I’ve been to on the West Coast that brews a lager and their Helles Lager is just as tasty as their other beers. I was also impressed with their Vinaceous,which features grapes grown from different regions in California. At first glance, you might think that this beer resembles a sparkling wine, but it’s actually a flavorful old ale that’s rich, oaky, and not too sweet. This is another beer from Hangar 24 that adheres to their core principal of supporting local agriculture by brewing with different ingredients from various regions of California. In the past, Kevin has used local grapefruit, spruce, figs, blood oranges, and pumpkins in his Local Field Series of beers – which are far better ingredients than the broken dreams, tears of sorrow, and failed movie scripts for the “Hollywood Hefeweizen” that I suggested for a Local Field Series.

All the art work for their labeling is inspired by 1930s and ’40s aviation and is modeled from the old orange crate drawings of the era. Each of their year-round beers features a different vintage plane, and their Local Field Series beers feature various air fields. I was wondering if Hangar 24 got its inspiration for their art from Howard Hughes’ influence in the area, but Kevin assured me that it was just from the orange crate drawings.

Hangar 24 first started commercially brewing in February of 2008 and sold their first beer in March of the same year. They didn’t distribute outside of San Bernardino until 2010. Currently, they’re distributing throughout Southern California, but they’re working to expand their footprint to Arizona, Nevada, Central California, and the Bay area. Their newest business venture is producing cans of their Orange Wheat and Helles Lager to make their beers more accessible to the SoCal outdoor lifestyle.

I concluded my interview with Kevin with my five random questions:

Dave: Which beer would you vote for to be president of the United States?

Kevin: Our Double IPA. It’s bold, distinctly American, somewhat offensive to some because of the hops, but balanced, and has orange blossom honey.

Dave: Who was the better child actor, Jonathan Lipnicki or Macauly Culkin?

Kevin: Macualy Culkin – he had a better acting career.

Dave: Who is your second target consumer?

Kevin: The non-beer drinkers. There are so many beers out there and we want to try to find something for everyone.

Dave: Star Wars or Star Trek?

Kevin: Definitely Star Wars.

Dave: Follow up question, Princess Leia or Queen Amidala?

Kevin: Queen Amidala – Natalie Portman is a little better than Carrie Fisher.

Dave: Where do you see Hangar 24 in ten years?

Kevin: Coast to coast. I want to see Hangar 24 keep growing, but not growing just for growth’s sake. I want it to grow because people want it.

I sure want this brewery to be distributed coast to coast. Hangar 24 sold 24,000 barrels in 2012 and 15,000 the prior year, so let’s hope their growth continues. Hopefully you’ll be able to find their beers in your neck of the woods in the near future so you can experience the balanced complexity of flavors in every Hangar 24 craft brew.