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What’s your biggest pet peeve?
People who express loud and extremely confident points of view while being completely uninformed. Loud and wrong is not a good look on anyone.

What do you never leave home without?
Breath mints. Fresh breath, even while playing roller derby – it’s the right thing to do as a team player. Plus, I like to be minty fresh.

Favorite book?
I read constantly. I generally get obsessed with whatever I’m reading while I’m reading it. I’m easily amused.

Favorite movie?
I have a list of 20 favorite movies. Top 3: The Empire Strikes Back, 12 Monkeys, Blade Runner. I feel like I’m cheating on 17 other movies by picking 3!

Favorite TV show?
It will always be “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. Always. Years pass and there are so many shows that I love, but #1 will always be BTVS.

Best derby wound story?
During one bout, I let down my guard for just a moment (never a good idea!). A skater came out of nowhere and hit me so hard that we both flew into the air. I landed on the asphalt track at the same time she landed on top of me. Of course, I went back in and played the rest of the bout. It takes more than a completely and permanently dented butt cheek to keep any of us off the track (three years later and the dent remains). For several days after the adrenaline faded, there was limping and a bruise that was bigger than the sun.

Tell us a secret!
I believe that when choosing a relationship there are two things that matter: 1) You should choose a person who makes you laugh. 2) You should to choose the person whose annoying habits you can stand the most. The secret is that I’m a true romantic.

 

Unless you live under a rock, or don’t drink good beer, or don’t care about local business news, you’ll be surprised to know there’s a new brewery in town!

Grey Sail, not to be confused with Grace Ale or Graze Hail, is the new microbrewery on the scene inRhode Island. Whispers have been echoing for months in the craft beer world, and the buzz is surprisingly strong. Run by husband-and-wife team Jennifer Brinton and Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Article-By-Request, this little brewery is a story of passion and really amazingly good luck.

Grey Sail might have slipped under the radar and opened with a whimper instead of a bang had fortune not smiled upon them… a lot. Enough to make aspiring brewers insanely jealous… like ME! With a background in homebrewing, and industrial engineering, the pair had a good foundation to put together their fermenting dreams. However, as most passions do, this one sat on the shelf for many a year while things like jobs, children, and you know, real life got in the way.

When they finally decided enough was enough and it was time to seriously get to work on that life-long dream, they dusted off that old business plan, and started getting to work. One of the first hurdles was finding a location, which they have Hurricane Irene to thank.

The old Napa Auto Parts/Post Office/Macaroni Factory onCanal StreetinWesterlywas going unused after the flooding. Not only a historic building, which originally produced pasta, then progressed to passing postage and finally proceeded to peddlePontiacparts, but also a building the town ofWesterlywas eager to get sold. Though it sat abandoned since the floodwaters receded, and the vast majority of the building needed some work, the obstacles were fairly minor. The Town ofWesterlywas tripping over itself to get new occupants, slashing red tape like a cat after you’ve hung up new drapes. With the help of years of friends and industry contacts who could do the much-needed renovation, the process of purchasing, renovating, and refitting the building went by quickly and, for the most part, smoothly.

Next came the equipment, which was designed and built by the Grey Sail team with the kind of impressive forethought, planning, and attention to detail that only people with real passion can attain. Despite a few minor glitches, which are always predicted and manageable, everything was up and ready to go in a matter of months.

Yes, months. Ask anyone who has, or is trying, to open a brewery, macro, micro, or nano if they think they can get it done in less than a year and you’ll get the kind of look most accountants give you when you ask them if they’re busy around April.

Arguably one of the hardest steps in setting up a microbrewery is finding a distributor. Those unfamiliar with the three-tier system, I shall briefly explain:

The makers of beer are the first tier, the suppliers.

The distributors are the second tier, who buy the beer, ship it, and deliver it to stores and bars for a piece of the action.

Then on the bottom tier — where I usually am — are the stores and bars that sell the beer. This is, by law, how beer, wine, and liquor must be sold in theUnited States.

The legal paperwork alone can send some dedicated brewers howling into the night in fits of absolute madness, let alone spending the time shopping around to find a distributor that is A. looking to carry a new brand, B. willing to take a chance on a new company, and C. will do so for a reasonable cost and with a minimum of hassle. That’s the abbreviated list.

If I’ve just crushed your dreams of opening a microbrewery, fear not, for there is a White Knight in this story. Grey Sail hadn’t even begun making beer yet when a good friend of mine, and to all craft beer drinkers everywhere in RI, stepped in. Chuck Borkoski, who heads Elevated Spirits, a division of Mclaughlin and Moran, heard the same whispers as the rest of us and decided to make contact.

One meeting was all it took. Despite not having any beer to sell, or even sample, and no certainty of when the facility would be even cooking, agreements were made, papers were signed, and promotional merch was ordered. Knowing Chuck myself, and having even interviewed him for this very magazine, I’m not surprised in the least. So, after all that, what is their beer like?

Grey Sail Flagship Ale

While it’s supposedly modeled after a cream ale, this beer puts me in mind more of an English Bitter. It’s a nice, light session beer that isn’t afraid to give you a toasty, hoppy flavor. There’s nothing creamy about it, if you’re worried it might be too heavy, but if you’d like a pint of something with a bit of English on it, this is the brew for you.

Grey Sail Tilted Chimney

Their winter seasonal is a smoked porter, named for the crooked chimney in the middle of their building. Hey, when you’ve got a famous landmark for a headquarters, you might as well roll with it. But how is it? The smoked porter is a roasty, toasty, slightly bitter little malty brew that belongs in a glass by a fireplace. It’ll be available in most places in 22oz bottles.

Cheers!

In a world where sandwiches are held together with drink umbrellas and OJ flows straight from the fruit to the glass, bacon-heads and health freaks alike can live and dine together in harmony.

Liberty Elm Diner’s brunch-utopia pulls in more regulars than Sunday mass. What it exactly keeps people coming back is debatable . . . the warm welcoming service . . . the locally grown ingredients you ask? Do patrons come for the feel of a renovated 1936 dining car, or to shoot the breeze with the tattoo-covered bus boys? Whatever it may be, one thing is certain — once you try one of the Liberty’s fresh-squeezed juices, you’ll find yourself spending more time on Elmwood Ave in Providence.

After my recent visit to the Liberty Elm, I can personally verify this fact (not opinion). I sat down with Diane, AKA Tink,Liberty’s counter queen and sweetheart on a Wednesday afternoon to get the dish on the Omega — the machine behind the legendary juice menu.

“I’ve got a twist for you,” Tink began between sips of coffee, “our Omega is broken.”

My heart began to sink but was rehabilitated with a hopeful, “But…” preceded by a heavy gulp of coffee.

 

The machine was recently and generously replaced by a pair of concerned regulars. After catching wind that the Omega faltered, they donated a Jack LaLanne to the diner. If the name seems familiar, you probably spend time on the QVC channel. The act of charity was brought about by both love and addiction. Kinda the way a hooked drug user might do favors for their dealer. And their habits are well fed with options such as cranberry-apple-pineapple, carrot-apple-beet with parsley, liquadas and lemon-lime juice ranging from only $1.50 to $5.

The moment had finally arrived—it was time to see what all the talk was really about. Overwhelmed by options, I settled with a recommendation from the staff, their most popular, “the combo.” The mix of beets, carrots, an apple and ginger, invented by owner Carol (AKA Kip), is “the prettiest,” according to Tink.

“And, it’s so good for you” chimed in a voice from the kitchen. As she casually tossed a whole apple into the juicer, I got the low-down.

“The staff favorite right now is apple ginger,” Tink said. “And by staff, I mean myself.”

When my juice was done, it was more than apparent why it was considered the prettiest. The hypnotic swirls of pink and deep orange appropriately enough formed to the shape of a heart at the top of the glass — made with love, of course.

It was the deliciousness of a chocolate cake with the healthiness of a bowl of steamed brussel sprouts. I felt the way Popeye might after gulping down a can of spinach.

Tink graciously transferred my drink into a biodegradable plastic cup for the ride home.

I can confidently say that I’ll be back for more, especially after seeing entrée after entrée ready in the kitchen window.

Now in its third year, the Writing is Live Festival at Brown University is an exciting opportunity to see a number of works in progress. Most importantly, the Festival will be the only time all of Brown’s graduate students come together on a shared project, featuring six plays by writers in Brown’s graduate and undergraduate theater programs. The Festival fosters the development and evolution of these artists and their works, focusing on collaboration and the meaning of text in performance.

One new play reading will be Liquorland, written and directed by Laura Colella, who says she applied to Brown so she could “shake up” her approach to writing while being exposed to new ideas and influences. “This has certainly come to pass, and another rewarding facet of the program has been the ability to workshop material with actors from the Brown/Trinity consortium, and on occasion, from the ART Institute in Cambridge.”

“Writing Is Live has given me the chance to workshop my play with 10 actors almost daily for a couple of weeks, which is very luxurious,” Colella says. “Working in film, I’m used to rushing. I’ve also always written and directed my films, and have carried that over into play-writing directing. It’s interesting to see how the roles feel a little different in a theatrical context.”

Colella’s Liquorland is an adaptation of a screenplay that she adapted from a book, The Republic of Wine by Mo Yan. “It’s pretty wild, funny and edgy, and reflects on certain anxieties of our time with a sort of warped mirror. It’s about exquisite liquors, damaged heroes, and the decline of western civilization.”

A playwright who will be seeing her play receive a workshop production at the Festival is Margaret Namulyanga, who is from Uganda.

“Coming to Brown andAmericamade me excited about my academic pursuits and nervous at the same time. I was nervous about how I was going to cope in a new environment,” she says, adding that writing at Brown helped her to “break out of my African shell, made me more open minded and enthusiastic about my career as a writer as well as the affairs of the world.”

“The MFA program has offered me a great opportunity to find my voice while I explore and question my position in the world,” Namulyanga says. Of the Festival, she says, “This festival is not only a supportive environment for me as a writer, it’s a window that helps me see what the theater world outside school will be like, while giving me an opportunity to showcase my potential at the same time.”

Her play, He Is Here He Says I Say, was born out of a short poem she wrote during her first year in America. It is, she says, “a response to the inner and subtle consciousness women have about gender-based violence.” She considers it a play that tackles a global problem, violence against women, using local experiences.

“The play’s overriding message is express yourself,” she says. Much of this message is based on what she has seen in her native culture, where women are not often able to speak up, to express themselves. “Words have a disarming power, I believe and I think that is why freedom of speech for women is not entirely granted in some cultures.”

Writing is Live, runs Feb 3-12 at Brown

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Motif Magazine is dedicated to the arts and entertainment in RI and surrounding areas, and to bringing readers alternative local news about subjects of all kinds. Motif was founded by Jim Vickers in 2004 to help bring to light some of the amazing music, arts and culture happening around Rhode Island that was escaping coverage by the media. Since December 2012, Motif has been published by Mike Ryan, who is focusing on making the listings and coverage as comprehensive as possible – online and on paper. Motif is a free paper, supported in its mission by generous advertisers (mention you saw them here!), and distributed twice monthly to over 1,100 locations around RI.

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