Jack Anderson
If I can think of any one reason that the RI beer scene has taken off in recent years, it would start with my wallet. OK, I’m kidding, but it is hard to contain yourself with all of the amazing local offerings available. I believe the great New England beer corridor is being established before our very eyes and with a tight knit community of brewers willing to help each other out and a bunch of drunks running around trying to get their hands on as many different beers as possible, I firmly believe that Rhode Island is poised to be a major destination for the Modern Beer Connoisseur. It really is amazing how easy it is to jump from one great brewery to the next in this state, and by the end of 2018 it will be somewhat of a rarity for any town in RI to not be home to a brewery.
With all this in mind, I decided to show my friends what I consider to be the best of the best and take a tour of drunken debauchery to experience the amazing availability and variety of beer that a single Saturday in Rhode Island can yield. Coming along for the ride: my cousin Robby and his roommate Ben, my buddies Vinnie and John, and my coworker Tyler.
Tilted Barn Brewery
We are starting our brew day with the Big Papa Bear in the RI beer scene. Tilted Barn encapsulates the best parts of what a New England IPA should be, and their beers are indeed chock-full of juicy, hazy goodness. The property is a residence and Christmas tree farm, as well as brewery. Located in Exeter, just north of Schartner Farms on South County Trail, take a turn onto their dirt driveway at the tiny wooden sign on the side of the road, or pull off to the breakdown lane to wait in line like dozens do every Friday and Saturday an hour before opening (if you want to make sure you get the full allotment of available cans for that week, that is.) That’s why we are here at noon and ready to drink beer. Wood stove on when it’s cold, tiny rustic barn serving pours and selling cans, and two farm dogs that roam around in search of a pet or bite of food from whatever truck is parked outside - this place just makes me happy and seems quintessential Rhode Island. We showed up for the release of double-dry hopped The Chosen One and it is truly delicious. Clocking in at 8.5%, this beer could be dangerous for how damn drinkable it is. Some of my favorites from TBB are Cactus, The Other One, Peeptoad, and Propagator 12, which was a pineappley-explosion of a batch of their rotating series that came out in December. They recently announced extended Friday hours until 8pm and seem to have upped production a bit in recent months. The best part of Tilted Barn? They started as a hop farm supplying hops to the area, and then decided to brew beer with the hops growing right on the farm. They very-recently announced that they will be releasing 750mL bottles of beer brewed with new yeast strains they harvested from the farm, as well. If you want a true taste of what the fruits and bounty of Rhode Island are capable of offering the world of beer, this is the place you want to go.
Shaidzon
With some of the minds from Grey Sail Brewing at work here, Shaidzon offered a smorgasbord of beer varieties. Especially compared to where we were coming from, Shaidzon was a quiet, cozy reprieve from the hyped-up IPA fanboiz (myself included) at Tilted Barn. This brewery moved into the previous space that Proclamation Ale Co. took up. It is down the street from Tilted Barn, close to URI, and located in a big industrial building next to a mushroom factory. We tasted a porter, farmhouse pale ale, Belgian quad, and some saisons here, as well as grabbing a bottled IPA to-go. My favorite tasting at the brewery was the belgian quad. Extremely drinkable for the style and percentage. To be honest, most of the beers here are a departure from what I normally drink, which is what they are striving to do. But the saisons were solid, and each variety of beer presented its own unique flavor. I’m excited to see how their IPA stacks up to others, as that will be a more fair comparison, for my taste, to some other breweries.
Proclamation Ale Co.
I may be biased because Proclamation is my first love of the craft beer world. I have been swinging by to grab an occasional pour and cans/bottles to-go since I was a wide-eyed 21-year old attending URI, down the road from their old location. Their Derivative Pale Ale series is a work of art. Each showcasing a single hop (Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy, and Vic Secret, thus far), to me they present the best flavors of each hop in a simple, clean execution that has helped me identify a bunch of other beers I’m interested in. If you get your hands on both Derivative Citra and Galaxy, I highly recommend a 50/50 mix of the two. Broze, an oatmeal milk stout, goes down incredibly easy yet retains all of that wonderful dark rich oatmeally flavor you are looking for. What Proclamation does best in my eyes is create such a consistently delicious and diverse range of offerings, such as the latest iteration of their rotating “Process/Progress” Series which was a dry-hopped IPA fermented with Saison yeast, resulting in what I thought of as a saison flavored IPA, which may entice some to experiment a little out of their comfort zone.
Have I convinced you to head over yet? They are now 8 minutes from my house in Warwick, so I am there usually at least once a week to grab a couple cans. Oh yeah, you can buy single cans of whatever they have available which is great for the struggling craft beer enthusiast that just wants a can or two for their Friday night. Arcade games, dope artwork, weird movies projected onto the wall, and a truly unique warehouse space in an industrial complex - Proc checks every box for me.
When we were there the place was BUMPING. Gastro’s food truck was setup inside serving various deconstructed charcuterie options, and when they left at 4, Jaju Pierogi took their place.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfOBYdUgB2J/?taken-by=proclamationale
If you are considering making a trip, this week they will be hosting their 4th birthday celebrations and have food trucks, awesome can releases, a golden lid contest (just to be as Willy Wonka as possible), as well as some quintessential can and draught choices. GO!!!
Poco Loco
Although not officially part of this unofficial tour, shoutout to Poco Loco. Heading north into Cranston and giving ourselves something to absorb the alcohol, we had avocado fritters (basically fried guacamole balls), tacos and quesadillas galore. Vinnie and I are big fans of the chourico-potato filling they offer. Call ahead and see what the day’s special is. If you can get there for the thai-peanut or chicken caesar salad tacos, you must make the trip. Also, its BYOB.
Buttonwoods
Things started to get a little hazy at this point in the night, (by night I mean like 6:45pm), especially after we BYOB’d to our hearts content at Poco Loco. But Buttonwoods Brewery may have been my personal favorite spot of the night. This was my first time visiting, as Buttonwoods Brewery has only been operational for a few months now, but you would never guess by the quality of the beer. I chatted for a while with Morgan, the owner of Buttonwoods Brewery. A lot of that conversation was forgotten, but I do remember very clearly the Hip Hop Is Dead IPA. He told me that he had a strange assortment of hops leftover in the back, and while it could be recreated, he never would have thought to use this hop combination. Mixing some west coast and east coast hops, a couple sounded familiar to me and three that he mentioned I had never heard of. Whatever the recipe was, I’m really glad he wrote it down. This was a great surprise. Juicy, hazy, crisp, and 100% crushable, (did someone say mouthfeel?). If this beer is ever canned I will be first in line to grab it. The other favorite of the night was Cool Kids. This beer was listed as a Morgandal, which is in reference to something….but I was a little too tipsy to bother writing it down. Basically - spicy cinnamon stout. With flavors of gingerbread and mexican hot chocolate, this beer fit the cozy vibe of Buttonwoods Brewery to a T and it made me glad to still be able to enjoy the winter season. Some saisons were available, and I believe I tried a mango IPA which was also delightful. I also got a bullseye on my 4th dart thrown *humblebrag*. I see big moves and great things in Buttonwoods Brewery’s future.
If my testimonial isn’t enough for you, Ollie the drinking buddy dog should give you no excuse not to come hang out here. Seriously, Ollie is dope.
Long Live
Well, I was pretty good about taking notes throughout the day but Long Live really escaped me. If you haven’t heard of them already, they continuously pump out amazing IPAs and DIPAs, as well as some stouts (I am unaware of any other styles LLB has put out). I am pretty new to their beer but was immediately hooked after picking up some cans of Breakout a couple weeks ago. The All Seeing Eye is fairly renowned as one of the best DIPAs to come out of RI, and you would never guess it was 8.4%. However, jump down to the 7% range and you might as well be drinking a glass of fizzy fruit juice when you have a pint of a Long Live IPA (I mean this in the best way). The space is small and cans sell out really quickly, so you might want to plan your visit wisely, but a Friday or Saturday night is always a good time to go hang out.
I wasn’t expecting it, but the Nitro Cart Stout Long Live is currently offering may be one of the best stouts I have ever tasted, and all of the gang I was out with immediately agreed. If you gave it to me in the morning I might honestly mistake it for the best iced coffee I’ve ever tasted. It’s on tap and available for growler fills, but probably not for long. I’m really hoping that in 2018 Long Live sees some expansion and greater brewing capacity so that I can get more and more of their delicious product, but for now they still feel like a hidden gem and I will enjoy that as long as I can.
After a small blizzard began outside, realizing that my credit card was left at Buttonwoods, and an unfortunate Long Live glass came to its shattery end, this brew tour also came to its end. But it will live on forever in our hearts, and for about a month or so in our fridges.
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