Freewheel Brewing, San Rafael, Calif.

Welcome to a special stop on the Brews and Choos project.

Brewery: Freewheel Brewing Co., 924 B St, San Rafael, Calif.
Train line: SMART, San Rafael
Time from Larkspur: 7 minutes (zone 1)
Distance from station: 700 m

I debated including this one as Freewheel doesn't actually brew beer at their San Rafael taproom. But the Redwood City brewery is too far from the Caltrain (2.3 km from Atherton) to be included, and I had some flexibility with the transbay bus schedule which departed just a few blocks from Freewheel's San Rafael taproom. So here we are.

I was surprised to find it and everything else nearby completely dead at 5pm on a Saturday. The bartender explained that there was a huge event the day before, so people might have been partied out. I also don't know San Rafael at all. I only know I had the entire place to myself for half an hour, and outside on their raised seating area, I had the whole street to myself.

The London Calling bitter (3.5%, 20 IBU) is an actual real ale, served just below room temperature, and cranked out of a cask just like at an English pub. It was malty, flavorful, not too strong, and evidence that someone at Freewheel has spent a lot of time in the UK. Continuing with the London theme, the Guns of Brixton American IPA (7%) made me write "Hmm" in my notebook: very hop forward, bitter, kind of hasrh actually, but with a good finish. The Laika Space Dog NEIPA (6.6%) gave me good citra notes with a smooth, not-too-hoppy flavor. With apologies to the dog herself, I would drink more of this. I ended with their Amrit Hazy Pale (6.3%), a really interesting and complex hazy with a lingering finish. Delicious.

Because it's just a taproom, and because I didn't particularly enjoy walking around a nearly-deserted small-city downtown just after dusk, I would only maybe go back. But if you have some time to kill before catching a bus back across the Bay, it's not a bad place to get a beer.

Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? Avoidable
Serves food? BYOF, crisps
Would hang out with a book? Maybe
Would hang out with friends? Maybe
Would go back? Maybe