Twisted Rail occupies a former train depot in downtown Geneva, and the railroad theme extends through the decor without beating you over the head with it. The space has the bones of a good brewpub — exposed brick, high ceilings, a long bar with taps stretching across the back wall — and it draws an easy-going, unpretentious crowd that skews more local than tourist. This is not the place you visit for a curated Belgian ale experience or a sommelier-guided pairing. This is where you park yourself on a barstool, work through a flight of twenty house-brewed options, and order a sandwich.

Twenty beers on tap is a real number, not a marketing exaggeration. Twisted Rail brews everything in-house, and the rotating lineup covers enough ground — IPAs, lagers, ambers, stouts, seasonal releases — that even the pickiest beer drinker will find something. The food menu leans toward hearty pub fare: sandwiches, wraps, and the kind of bar food that exists to soak up the beer rather than compete with it. The Geneva location is the flagship, but there are also taprooms in Canandaigua and Macedon, giving the brewery a regional footprint that most Finger Lakes operations have not managed.

Twisted Rail has taken FLX Finest recognition for Best Beer Selection three years running — Gold in 2023 and 2024, Silver in 2025. The consistency is the selling point. Geneva has more ambitious breweries (Brewery Ardennes for Belgian styles, Grist Iron for food-forward brewpub dining), but Twisted Rail fills a different role: it is the brewery where you do not need to think. Walk in, sit down, drink good beer, eat a sandwich, and stay longer than you planned. For visitors exploring Geneva's downtown, it is an easy add between a wine tasting and dinner.