According to Ian Donnis at The Phoenix’s Not for Nothing blog, Narragansett Beer hopes to move their brewing operations back to Rhode Island later this year if their sales pick up during the first part of the year (being about a month in already, I wonder how they’re doing).
If sales of Narragansett Beer get off to a strong start in the first quarter of 2008, the brewing operation of the rejuvenated Rhode Island icon could return to the Ocean State in the final half of this year, says company president Mark Hellendrung.
I’m probably overly optimistic about it,” he says, hedging his bets a bit, although the budding beer baron can barely contain his enthusiasm in envisioning a local brewery operation, complete with a beer garden, where people could visit and sample the beer.
If this dream comes to fruition, it will be in Providence — probably on the West Side. “It’s kind of where our heartbeat is today,” Hellendrung says.
This would be HUGE for Providence and the state of Rhode Island. I am not sure where they’d move on the West Side. My guess would be one of the mill buildings (or perhaps they’ll take over the former Shaw’s location in Eagle Square). Regardless of where it is, it will be a great thing for the city. I would love it if they opened up a brewpub where they served pub food and had some experimental beer. I would love to see them expand their beer offerings. They already made it to the Top 25 American Beers in Beer Advocate magazine with their Lager, and their Bock is even better (I have yet to, and probably will never, try their Light beer). I’ve heard of people having a Narragansett Porter on tap at various places, but I’ve never seen it. That would probably be another good one.
Anyway, I am excited about this. It would make me one very happy person to see more beer being made in RI and to see it in Providence.
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