Twelve Bar Brews is a production brewery in a light industrial/warehouse park and is a bit difficult to find. It occupies the furthest back unit of the first building in the complex (which is itself on a back road right by an adjacent freeway). The west side has a greenhouse-like paned window trimmed in green letting a lot of light into the tasting room. (The east side, where you may see their van parked, is marked by very tall garage doors beneath green awnings and a door marked “employees only”, so persevere and continue to the other side).

The tasting room has a small stand-up only wooden bar with four beer taps in an alcove in the wall behind, and a conference room and office off to one side. It has an office-like feel with purple walls and carpeting and a white suspended ceiling with recessed florescent lighting, but we were made to feel very welcome and the beer is well worth the visit.

There were four beers available for free tastes: Wicked Riff IPA, Pentatonic Pale, Supertonic India Black, and Turnaround Red. Both the IPA and the India Black were very tasty and of very good quality (quite impressive for a small brewery only five months old). You can also purchase growler fills (if you buy their growler bottle, refills are $1 less than if you use your own).

The production brewery is in back and we were lucky to have a quick look. The unfinished ceilings with exposed rafters are extremely high. The bright and shiny copper-clad mash tun and brew kettle were on one side and the three current fermenters on the other. There’s plenty of room towards the back (and up!) for expansion.

reviewed on: 2012-04-14 21:59:29