Yankee Brew News Archive

Bill Gives New Life To R.I. Brewpubs

Originally Published: 08/97

By: Kerry J. Byrne

By Kerry J. Byrne

Yankee Brew News Staff

On July 7, Governor Lincoln Almond passed into law Rhode Island's "brewpub bill."

The law gives establishments which produce beer for on-premise consumption (essentially, brewpubs) the right to sell beer, through a distributor, to off-premise accounts. Rhode Island has three brewpubs directly affected by passage of the bill, Trinity Brewhouse and Union Station Brewery, which are located within a few blocks of each other in downtown Providence, and Coddington Brewing Company in Middletown.

While passage of the bill opens up a whole new world for the brewpubs, the state's lone microbrewery, Emerald Isle Brew Works, is likely to face new challenges due to increased competition in its efforts to market Rhode Island-brewed beer.

Representatives of Trinity and Coddington are excited about the new law. So, apparently, are members of the state legislature: the brewpub bill passed the House by an 85-0 margin back in May.

"We're definitely taking advantage of it. We're totally excited," Trinity head brewer Sean Larkin said.

He hopes to have kegs of an India pale ale, lager and oatmeal stout on the market by late September or early October. All three have been served at Trinity.

"Those are the things we'll end up offering to a distributor," Larkin said. "A lot of it will depend on reaction from the customers and we've already talked to many restaurant owners about their preferences. We're going to see about coming up with a flagship beer at that point."

Billy Christy, owner of Coddington Brewing Company, said passage of the bill is "definitely good news for Rhode Island brewpubs. It's about time the laws have gone our way," so that they are like those in other states. "It's good news even if we don't sell a million barrels. Just in terms of publicity it's good to get our name out there."

Unlike the folks at Trinity, Christy and his brewer, John Jaynes, don't have specific plans yet. "It's an issue we'd still like to discuss further, but that we'd like to pursue," Christy said.

Union Station is the only brewpub with experience selling beer to off-premise accounts. There was a time when bottles of its beer were found at various locations throughout state. However, that beer was produced under contract by Oldenberg Brewery in Kentucky, and Union Station was under different ownership at the time.

Union Station is now part of the Boston-based Brew House chain, which runs the various John Harvard's brewpubs in Massachusetts and throughout the country (the chain will total some 13 units by year's end).

The company's master brewer, Tim Morse, said they will take a "wait and see" approach to the new opportunity.

"I want to see the bill first. I want to see what we're allowed to do," Morse said. "I'm not about to do anything. I'm not even shopping for kegs yet until we find out what exactly is going on. I've been in the game long enough to know it's not who does it first, but who does it best."

Among the issues which concern Morse are how the law will deal with beer festivals and out-of-state distribution.

"We have a bit more modest ambitions," he said. "I just want to be able to go to beer shows without having to worry about stepping on anyone's toes."

Ray McConnell, the owner of Emerald Isle Brew Works, Rhode Island's only craft brewery, said he welcomes the competition that might come from brewpubs challenging for limited tap lines.

"I wouldn't even consider it an issue,." McConnell said. "Competition, you can't stop it. It's what makes America so great. We're in it, whether or not another micro" distributes its beer. "Hopefully there's enough beer drinkers to empty all our kegs."

Emerald Isle's first competitor is likely to be Trinity, where plans are already underway to rearrange the brew house to accommodate the production of off-premise beer.

"We'll get a couple of more serving tanks and get a malt mill," Larkin said. "We have room for all of it. For the malt mill we'll have a machine company come in to fix things so it augers at a right angle instead of straight from the top." Larkin said the auger will be similar to the L-shaped system at Back Bay Brewing Company.

"Basically what the ATF says is we can have two tanks designated for distribution. How big the batches will be for distribution depends on what the demand will be. If it's for more IPA, we'll brew more IPA. If it's for the lager, we'll brew more of that. It's pretty much up in the air right now."