12 Gates is in a quiet industrial/business park — hidden way back in Williamsville. Once you find the address on Apple Maps or Google Maps, just keep driving back. They are tucked almost all the way in the back of the complex.
From the outside it feels a little unassuming, but once you get inside it’s absolutely gorgeous. I wasn’t expecting the cozy interior that 12 Gates Brewing had. I was expecting something similar to Resurgence which is more of an industrial/art house feel (which I love also). There were lots of warm woods, and textiles to soften out the industrial-ness of a typical brewery.
They had 7 of their beers on tap (I believe they carry 2 guest taps on top of these 7) and I tried 6 of them, enjoying all of them — but the Under The Southern Cross IPA and the Coffee Porter were the two beers that stole the show.
I was there with my buddy Eric, and we had a really nice time. We chatted up some other people around us who happened to order the pretzels and they looked really delicious. I kinda wish we would have gotten some so I could say that I tried them. I didn’t look at the other items on the menu, but they did have some other items available.
Overall, a really nice place that reminded me of some of the breweries I went to when I was in the Raleigh, NC area last fall. I will definitely be going back, I can’t wait to try the others beers that they will come up with.
My flight consisted of:
Bleeding Heart Red Rye, Session IPA, Under The Southern Cross IPA, West Coast IPA, Coffee Porter, and I tried a flight sized glass of a one-off Cherry Coffee Porter (which was really good).
This photo was taken by Eric Smyklo
