Business Lunch: Marin Brewing Company

Had to leave the friendly confines of the office this afternoon and head south to Corte Madera with my coworker Steve. We were able to take care of our business there by noon and needed to find a place to eat lunch. Heading North on the 101 I saw the next exit was for Larkspur Landing and I knew what had to be done. Time to drink beer over lunch for the good of our readers.

Marin Brewing Company is located just around the corner of the larkspur Ferry teminal in the Larkspur Landing shopping center. I’m not sure which came first, but I believe Marin and Moylan’s are connected at the hip. When you walk through the door, the first thing you notice is big windows that run along the hallway and behind the bar. Above these windows are three signs letting yu know what you’re looking at: The fermentation room, bottling room and serving tanks. All was quiet except some ceiling repairs in the bottling room.

We sat down at the table and the feel is very similar to that of Moylan’s, but a little more relaxed. The menu is also comparable to Moylan’s, a little pricey, but very appealing. On the white board hanging on the bottling room window were a list of 8 brews and a cask ale. I looked them over and chose samples of the Albion Amber, San Quentin’s Breakout Stout and the Cask Conditioned IPA. Steve ordered a pint of the Tiburon Blonde.

Started with the amber. I generally find ambers to be a very safe choice, an easy beer to drink, not too complex, but at the same time not going to wow you. This was a good amber, I wish I had more, but this was a work lunch, and the 4 oz sample was necesary. On to the Cask Conditioned IPA. I really enjoyed this beer. Very hoppy, nice and floral, and the light carbonation of the cask condition really made this beer come alive. Finished it up with the stout. This was a great beer, pushed the envelop a little but didn’t have that something inside it that would push it into the imperial range. That’s a good thing too, since this is a beer you want to have more than one of. Somewhere in there I took a sip of Steve’s blonde. What can I say about blonde’s, they taste like sweaty socks. Not my thing.

So, to sum up my trip to Marin Brewing Company, I have to say the beer was very good. The food was excellent as well. I had the Blackened Chicken Sandwich and a side salad. Steve was very impressed with his Ham sandwich (it had a special name, but I forget it now.) Also grabbed a Dipsea Barleywine Style Ale in a 22 oz. bomber. Not sure what “Barleywine Style Ale” means, but the folks at Ratebeer seem to lik it, so I will make sure to save it for the right time and share with all of you.