Welcome to Taproot Brewing Company, Plus More Hot Brew News 

We’ve gathered a flood of beer news for this Foodie Issue, and have included a few tasty culinary tidbits with the liquid enlightenment.

June 21 is the first day of summer and the first official day to visit Taproot Brewing Co., at Newport Vineyards (909 East Main Rd, Middletown). Owner/Brewmaster John Nunes notes, “I’ve been making beer longer than I’ve been making wine. Over the last few years, Newport Vineyards has transformed into a beverage, culinary and events destination; adding craft beer was a natural fit.” Taproot Brewing Co. has a seven-barrel brewhouse; they’re concentrating on unfiltered hop-forward beers that can be savored on-site and available in cans-to-go. The head brewer is Kevin Beachem, whose most recent gig was at the highly rated (4.21/5 at Beer Advocate) Kane Brewing Co. in New Jersey. Taproot’s debut releases – part of the “Cultivation Series” – include an IPA, an American pale ale, a blonde ale and a porter. Cheers to the latest member of the 401 brew family!

Chip Samson at Shaidzon Beer Co. sez: “We’re doing a Summer Solstice weekend party that starts on June 21 and runs through our open times during that weekend. We’ll have Eddie’s BBQ food truck on Friday the 22nd and Ming’s Asian Street Food on the 23rd.” There will be eight beers on tap, and bottles and cans to go. Check facebook.com/shaidzonbeerco for updates.

Michelle Kirms at Grey Sail tells us: “Our next Wheelhouse Series beer will be a passion fruit kolsch, released for the Fourth of July. It’s called Dinghy Party and has almost eight pounds per barrel of passion fruit puree, and it will be available in six-pack cans and on tap. As part of our Cheers for Charity project, we’re going to have a fundraiser for pediatric cancer on Friday, July 6, at the taproom, with a special sneak peek for the September release Wheelhouse beer (hint: it might be some sort of current beer craze style that has copious hops in it and is far from filtered).” And now that it’s officially summer, don’t forget that Grey Sail has extended hours through Labor Day: Wednesday and Thursday 3 – 8pm; Friday 3 – 10pm; Saturday Noon – 10pm; and Sunday Noon – 8pm.

Armando DeDona at Long Live Beerworks dropped a line: “This summer we’re releasing a bunch of new beers to celebrate our last handful of months here at 425 West Fountain (no major news on our move as of yet). You can expect lots of IPAs, with a few Berliners, coffee-infused stouts and small-batch experimental runs. And since we’ve rolled out Sunday hours (1 – 6pm), we’ve been booking lots of food vendors. Some of our regular attendees include Jeff’s Pizza, Ming’s, Burgundian Waffles, Chomp, Paco’s Tacos and more.”

Mat Medeiros at Revival Brewing has a three-pack of intel: “We just released a new sour that will be the first in a sour series. It’s called Wild Beary Sour Ale, packing a blend of passion fruit, guava, mango, apricot and strawberries from across the globe; it’s available at our tasting room. Later this month, Paul and Al’s Pale Ale, our collab with ’HJY, will return. And we’re participating in Ales for ALS this year with a brew coming out in early July (details TBA).”

Matt Gray at Ragged Island says: “Das Volksbier –  our second batch of kolsch – will be out any day now. And future food truck visits include Mission on July 7, Portugalo on July 13 and Winner Winner on July 20.”

Jay Lourenco at Crooked Current shared their seasonal splendor: “Our Blueberry American Wheat is on its way back for 4th of July. It is the blue in our annual red, white, and blue tap takeover to celebrate Independence Day; the Strawberry Blonde Ale and White Stout make up the remaining two taps/colors. We’ll also see more of the Neapolitan Brown Ale and Horchata Cream Ale as temps continue to climb. Lastly, by popular demand, we’ve released the S’mores Brown Ale earlier than usual this year and will pour it throughout the summer.”

And Foolproof Brewing has a new summer sipper: Pineapple Vango, a fruit-infused variation on their recent addition, Vango, a hoppy sour ale.

For more beer news, check Lou’s blog, bottlescansclaphands.wordpress.com, or follow @BottlesCansRI.