In January, noted beer scribe Stephen Beaumont suggested that the craft beer world should celebrate venerable, and increasingly taken-for-granted, legacy beers. He tweeted: “Flagship beers are down in sales across the board because drinkers get bored. In the spirit of alliteration, how about we make next month Flagship February!?! The focus would be on drinking […]
Beer is a many-splendored and (responsibly) intoxicating thing, but navigating the beer business is a sobering experience. The beer/wine/distilled spirits industry is controlled by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which was established in 2003 when it was separated from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The TTB issues permits to […]
It’s that time of the year to talk romance in the beer column, though you might be tempted to ask what is romantic about beer. It causes gas, can be very filling and has about half the strength of a glass of wine. Au contrair, my friends. You clearly are not selecting the proper brew […]
The new year has ushered in some “new” places to get your beer on. Let’s start with the evolution taking place at Revival Brewing Company. On New Year’s Day, Sean Larkin and his hearty crew took over the upstairs space at 505 Atwood Ave in Cranston that was formerly Brutopia. Revival PR guru Mat Medeiros […]
It took me far too long to visit one of the RI’s newest and coolest breweries. Apponaug Brewing is a brewpub in a renovated mill building within spitting distance of the Nylo in Warwick. Unlike most brewpubs that look like a restaurant and serve beer brewed on the premises, Apponaug looks like a brewery, smells […]
I finally did it! I’ve found a cooler-weather seasonal that remembers what it’s supposed to be! After my IPA rant in the last column, I decided to go out of my way to find an appropriate locally made seasonal beer, and Revival came to my rescue. I’m a bit late to the party on this […]
The time, it flew! The beers, they flowed!! The Rhode Island brewery scene, it kept a-growing!!! It was a massive year for new 401 beermakers, with six additions to the thriving craft-or-whatever-you-wanna-call-it community: Providence Brewing Company (in North Providence in May), Taproot Brewing Company (Middletown, June), Beer On Earth (North Kingstown, July), Apponaug Brewing Company […]
I don’t know about you, but it seems to me the older I get, the shorter the window of time between Thanksgiving and the gift giving holidays. Running around grabbing gifts for friends, family, office parties and holiday party hosts can be a daunting and overwhelming thing to do when you’re in a time crunch. […]
Ah, here we go careening into another cold winter season. Time for all the porters and stouts to come out and fill us with their lovely, malty sweet, roasty-toasty, warming – I’m just kidding, everything is an IPA now. Let’s just get it out of the way right now: I love IPAs, but when the […]
The last time we met in this space, we shared the reasons to be thankful from 401 beermakers. In this Holiday Gift Guide, we’ve collected a few suggestions for 401 beer-related gifts, which will engender waves of thanks from your beloved giftees – and we have some beer news for youse, natch. But let’s start […]