Background – 12 West Brewing Co., Gilbert, AZ
12 West Brewing Co. went from concept to reality very quickly. In March 2016, co-founders Bryan McCormick and Noel Garcia were introduced through mutual friends. A month later the pair decided they would start a brewery and immediately started brewing on a one-barrel system. After hearing about the Barnone project at Agritopia, they acted and three days later locked in their tasting room. While construction on Barnone continued, Noel & Bryan upgraded to a 10-barrel system at their production facility. By the time of their opening in November of 2016 they had plenty of beer in the taps.
The production facility is housed in a building McCormick had built to house the autos used by the Lucas Oil racing team he owns. Garcia, the head brewer, started out as a home brewer and then worked as a brewer at the Beer Research Institute.
Barnone – Agritopia
12 West Brewing is located within the Barnone project at Agritopia. The Quonset hut containing 12 West also offers pizza and vegetarian restaurants as well as a few artisan shops. The building to the west contains a nice wine bar with wonderful patio space. The Agritopia acreage also includes housing, an organic farm, Joe’s Farm Grill and a coffee shop. It is easy to spend some time exploring. Beverages and food can easily be exchanged between the venues for those that want variety.
Experience
We first went to 12 West in 2017 and found the beers drinkable but not to great enough to revisit very soon. About a year later we went again and things were getting better. Our most recent visit revealed many excellent selections and we left with crowlers. Their NE IPA K-Lax was recently on tap at a Brass Tap in Mesa and after thoroughly enjoying that, decided it was time for another visit. We started with a flight including K-Lax, Flower Breath – an excellent New England Hazy Pale, Ethereal, and an excellent hazy Pale & Paletero Series: Strawberry & Vanilla – a good,hoppy fruit beer. Our visit ended with a very good lunch at Joe’s Farm Grill.
We are very excited with the progression of 12 West and will check back more often. Agritopia is a fun destination, especially on a nice weather day. It was also exciting to hear that 12 West is planning a tasting room in downtown Mesa, near Oro Brewing and Desert Eagle Brewing on Main Street. No nearby lodging was noted.
