Revival Brewing: Motif Overall Favorite Brewing Award

When we caught up with Revival’s General Manager Paul Baptista, we asked him what drove the brewery’s success. He answered succinctly: Master Brewer Sean Larkin. 

“Sean is a community driven person,” Baptista said. “He pays it forward, and he has a lot of good ideas to bring people into the community.”

Sean Larkin has made his way around the RI beer and culinary scene, working with names like Trinity Brewhouse and Narragansett Brewing Company before striking it out on his own with Revival Brewing. After over a decade in the trade, taking the top brewery award this year is fitting for this son of Providence. 

When asked what he credits to the Overall Favorite Brewery Award, Baptista gave three reasons: “Good beer, good people and good vibes.”

Revival also won for Favorite Belgian with Night Swim’ah, an unfiltered Belgian wheat ale flavored with sweet orange peel, coriander, and natural raspberries. “It’s very tasty, and super popular,” Baptista said. It’s also his favorite. 

What many Rhode Islanders don’t know about Revival is that the same folks who bring the heat in the brewery also have another outlet to impress the foodies among us: Lost Valley Pizza. At 50 Sims Ave in Providence, Larkin and his team have repurposed a blacksmithing studio’s chimney into a giant pizza oven. “We set out on a path to become #crustworthy,” Lost Valley Pizza’s website reads. Their pizzas build on a myriad of local collaborations, including ones with Born From Pain Baked Goods, Barrett’s Garden, Gotham Greens, and Farm Fresh RI.

Revival’s relatively recent move from Cranston to Providence has helped revive Providence’s Valley Neighborhood. Historically, the Valley was an industrial hub, powered by the narrow and swift Woonasquatucket River. After industry declined, the Valley and its important river were polluted and depleted. Revival Brewing, along with neighbors The Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, The Steel Yard, Farm Fresh Rhode Island, the WaterFire Arts Center and a number of artist collaboratives, have turned the Valley into an industrial arts hub for all its residents and visitors to enjoy. 

Whether it be a crust, a Belgian, or a neighborhood, it seems that anything Revival touches turns to gold.