14 Cannons Firing Fantastic Beers

It was a lazy Sunday on vacation in Manhattan Beach recently, and I decided to take advantage of the pandemic traffic (or lack thereof) and check out 14 Cannons, a brewery in Westlake Village that I’d been meaning to visit since it opened in October, 2017. Less than an hour later, I was ordering my first beer on the back patio of my 842nd brewery. It was late on a very hot afternoon, and I was busy taking photos for my Instagram page. As I positioned my beer for that perfect shot I always strive to take, I apologized to a guy sitting nearby as I was arguably within six feet of him and I didn’t want to violate our current unwritten, yet very real, social-distancing contract. The guy turned out to be Marshall Haraden, the owner of 14 Cannons.

It turns out that Marshall also owns The Marshall Group, a general contracting firm that, among other things, specializes in brewery construction. The fact that I was wearing a t-shirt from one of the breweries that his firm constructed didn’t hurt (Imperial Western, a gorgeous brewery located in LA’s Union Station), but he seemed more than willing to discuss 14 Cannons with me, and I was more than willing to learn about it.

First, this isn’t your typical brewery. Oh, it’s in your average commercial complex, but once inside you are transported to one of the more beautiful breweries you’ll ever see.  That is because, in addition to being a working brewery, it is also a brewery showroom, showcasing various brewing vendors’ equipment for prospective brewery owners.  From the copper bar to the artwork to the brewing equipment (most notably the lagering tank) all out in the open, you may spend considerable time just gazing at the place!

But, as always, the most important aspect to every brewery is, how good is the beer itself? I’m glad to say 14 Cannon offers a delicious lineup of beers.

I always like to learn where the brewer has previously worked. Although he wasn’t in that day, Marshall told me that head brewer Nic Bortolin came from critically-acclaimed Figueroa Mountain, a brewery whose beers I’ve enjoyed for years. So, I was not surprised that I loved the beers I tried, especially their flagship West Coast IPA (Tyrannicide) and the award-winning Marooner Marzen. If I didn’t have an hour to drive post-brewery-visit, I would have tried more. That said, I did leave with 4-packs of 14 Cannons Coffee IPA and a triple IPA, Wreck Yo Ship, both of which I’ve since enjoyed.

I asked Marshall about the origin of the name 14 Cannons. And, boy, did he tell me a fascinating story! Turns out that his great-great-great uncle, Jonathan Haraden, commanded, in 1776, a ship called the Tyrannicide, known for hunting down tyrants.  Anyone want to guess the number of cannons on the Tyrannicide? After learning all of this, I felt like saying the Pledge of Allegiance before my next beer, but that would have been weird, so I just mentally made a toast to great-great-great uncle J.  I called my Mom in Upstate NY after to see if I had any great-great-great uncles (or aunts) in the family lineage who did anything similar. Disappointingly, she told me that we came from a family of cheese-makers, but I digress.

Why do I go to so many breweries? Because, probably just like you if you are reading this on Beer Paper’s website, I am a true beer geek. And you just never know when you are going to discover a new (or old) gem of a brewery. 14 Cannons proves that point.  Fantastic beers, fun and interesting people, a beautiful taproom, and a phenomenal back-story that dates back to the Revolutionary War.

I highly recommend you make the trek to Westlake Village and see for yourself.