Last week during a visit to Nikki’s, I saw a stack of beers topped by a cardboard standup of a Daredevil-ish superhero declaring, “Drink Our Beer, Make the World a Better Place!” I pulled a bottle of Anti-Villain Ale Co.’s Wicked Warmer from a four-pack rack and squinted at the label copy, which informed me that the beer was made at Coastal Extreme [aka Newport Storm]. Bam! Pow! A new local brew!?! I needed to get some intel ASAP! So I hooked up with company founder Domenic Passarella, who answered a few questions about his unique venture.
Lou Papineau: Give us a brief bio.
Domenic Passarella: I was born and raised in Cranston. I began brewing in college [at URI]. My first batch of beer was Dominness (a stout) and the second was Dom-weiser. I have been brewing ever since. I graduated and worked two summers in Manhattan doing finance. I felt like a golden retriever locked in a closet and realized an office was just not for me.
LP: Where did the inspiration for AntiVillain come from? And who is the villain you’re anti to?
DP: Two things happened in my life pretty close together that led me to launch AntiVillain. I had a high school buddy working with the Navy in Djibouti, Africa. He was working with a really underfunded orphanage there. The law firm that he works with in RI donated some supplies, but did not give money for shipping. He asked his friends for help shipping the goods, so I pitched in and kinda forgot about it. A few weeks later, I was emailed a picture of him standing with the goods and the very grateful nuns who run the orphanage. It felt great to see the good that was done with the money, and asked my buddy what else they could use. I work with these inexpensive computers and asked if he wanted me to ship them. He said, “Look, you don’t get it. It is so bad here they have to reuse diapers.” That hit me hard. I have a beautiful baby girl who was in diapers at the time. I started thinking about diaper recycling, ways to get donations, anything I could think of.
At the same time, a few of my URI fraternity brothers were starting a craft beer distribution company in the Boston area. The idea hit me to make beer and do a one-for-one thing — for every case of beer you buy, we donate a pack of diapers! I started telling the ideas to my friends until one person said, “Do you really want to be known as the dirty diaper beer?” Excellent point! So I began researching how else we could help underprivileged children. Clean water became the obvious choice. Our first two beers, along with some donations from my friends, went to help sponsor a water project in Mali, Africa, coordinated by charity: water.
We are not particularly anti to anything. The way I look at it, a hero does good things for a good cause and an AntiVillain does questionable things for a good cause — kinda like selling beer to help people.
LP: How did you hook up with the folks at Coastal Extreme to brew your beers?
DP: When I was first looking to start the company, I reached out to just about every brewery I could think of. The only one who got back to me and was willing to help was Sean Larkin of Revival. On top of making really good beer, I have learned he is just a really good guy. We tried to work together, but it ended up not being a good fit. Sean put me in contact with Brent [Ryan] and Derek [Luke] at Coastal Extreme, who have been so helpful in making the project happen.
LP: Tell me about the creation of the comic book branding and your collaboration with AS220 to produce the packaging.
LP: AJ Paglia, a really talented guy, did the design work for us [he also did the label art for Narragansett‘s Lovecraft Honey Ale]. Our initial design was done by a cartoonist and looked more like a Sunday comic strip. AJ helped morph it into our current comic design. Most of the packaging is done commercially. When we first launched, the mother cases were not ready on time. I got notice about a week before they were needed. I took a screen printing class at AS220 and with a great amount of help from the staff, we pulled off printing our own case trays! We now print all our signage at AS220 by hand, both the case signs and our six-foot standups of The AntiVillain.
LP: What are you brewing and where is it available?
DP: We lead off with two seasonals — Golden Pumpkin Ale!, featuring Amarillo hops, and Wicked Warmer!, a lightly spiced brown ale. We just brewed 8-Bit IPA!, featuring El Dorado hops (6.5% ABV, bittered with Magnum, flavored and dry-hoped with El Dorado, a total of eight hop additions). We just hit RI this month [the beer debuted in Massachusetts in October]. We are distributed through The Wine Brothers, who have been so helpful and flexible. We are available at Nikki’s, East Side Prescription Center and High Spirits in Providence, Kingstown Liquor Mart in North Kingstown, and Patriot Wine and Spirits in Warren. We are also available on draft at the Thirsty Beaver in Cranston and Smithfield, and soon at the Bar At AS220. Starting with our IPA in late February, we will also be in Wines & More in Cranston.
LP: You’ve stated that “50% of proceeds will go to charities in your state.” Which RI charities will benefit from A-V sales?
DP: Starting with the IPA, our four-packs will have a tearaway ballot. You fill out your state and favorite local charity and post a picture of it to Untappd. Most likely we will pick the RI charity and the MA charity with the most votes, but the voting will be very transparent.