Bars/pubs in Providence

The BA directory (aka Beerfly) has some good guidance and reviews.

I recommend Julian's for food and beer. Great place.

 

Let me give you my $0.02 on some of the places that folks will mention in this thread. I put the places I think would be your best bet to check out in bold.

Julian's- Great tap list, some classics and some stuff out of left field. But it's not a place to hang out and just have a few beers, it's a restuarant first and foremost, with just a tiny ass bar that is cramped. The food is solid, it's not going to take your breath away, but it's definitely well done. There's always some interesting stuff on the menu. The biggest draw back on beer at Julian's is the price, it can get expensive.

E & O- This place is right around the corner from Julian's. Good beer, not as as good as Julian's, but it's a bar and it puts it's focuses on being a bar. Hipster central though. No food.

The Avery- Also around the corner from Julian's. This small, quiet, very dark bar, a half dozen awesome beers are usually on tap. No food (I don't think). I would definitely hit this place for a couple of brews.

The Apartment- Skip it, it's crap. Everything that could go wrong with a beer bar is in existence at the Apartment.

Wickenden Pub- They boast having 100 beers, but only 9 of them are on tap and they aren't special. Worth skipping. Although you cab buy a huge mug (like 30 oz. or something) of beer, which can be necessary in certain situations.

Harry's Burgers and Beer- Small tap list but usually good stuff on tap (focus on local). Always has at least on cask going. The burgers are sliders and they are excellent. Definitely check this place out.

Trinity Brewhouse- It's Providence's only brewery and while I wish I could sing on and on about how great it is, I can't. Check it for a beer or two, but don't stay long, as unfortunately, the beer really isn't anything special. And stay away from the food, it's not good.

Union Station- Chain restaurant/bar. Skip it.

Doherty's East Ave- Ok this place isn't in Providence proper, it's just over the line in Pawtucket, but it is great! Something like 80 beers on tap, lots of familiar names, but always a couple of interesting one's. They usually have one, if not two casks going too. The owner really cares about the beer he serves, I'd check it out if I were you. Standard bar food.

Also, I would be doing you a disservice to not inform you of Track 84 in Warwick. It'll be a 15 minute (tops) ride out of Providence to get there. It is hands down the best beer bar in the state. AWESOME selection, just google Track 84 Warwick and check their tap list right now. Place is awesome. No food (well, there's sandwiches, so I guess yes, food). You have to go to this place. There is no question about it. Do it. DO IT! Don't be fooled when you pull up (the place is a shit hole) it's awesome.

As for bottle shops: Hit High Spirits on North Main St. and Nikki's in North Providence (just over the line). You'll be able to get all the stuff that comes to RI there. If you can venture 15 minutes north to Attleboro, MA you will find Yankee Spirits where you will very impressed by their selection (plus they get the stuff that distributes to Mass but not RI).

I think this is the longest thing I have ever written on BA.

One last thing, while you're up here drink lots of Pretty Things Beer and Ale project. You won't regret it.

 

Pretty much sums it up...

 

Don't forget about Track 84 in Warwick. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12337/view=beerfly

 

My only contention and addition to the above excellent write-up would be the following:

I think you are giving Trinity, specifically Sean Larkin (yes, yet another Sean brew-master in New England) too little credit where credit is certainly due. He has turned Trinity, as you mentioned the only true brewery in RI, into a great place to try local, authentic brews from various styles that almost everyone can enjoy. Yes, I know it is hard to compare a brewery like Trinity when you've got Hill Farmstead and The Alchemist a few hours away, but the fact that we have a real brewery here in Providence representing RI is a special thing. I had his Trinity IPA a few weeks ago, and that particular batch tasted almost identical to Heady or Double Sunshine, and no, I am not exaggerating one bit. And this was while I had fresh Heady right next to the growler I was drinking. His Cascadian Black Ale is one of the best Black IPA's I've had and his Russian Imperial Stout is delicious as well. All I'm saying is, don't sell the only local real brewery you have too short, I believe they deserve more than that. Also worth mentioning is his Revival Brewing company that is picking up a lot of steam and about to turn 1 year old in October, and I just saw he will be bottling an Imperial Octoberfest in that month as well.

And also, I just wanted to mention The Wild Colonial as well. I would absolutely check out this place if you've never been. You'd be surprised by the draft selection sometimes. The owner certainly loves CA brews, and has some sort of special connection to Stone, as he gets special casks and variations of brews that I haven't seen in RI before. I even met Greg Koch right in the parking lot one night as he was hanging out with some of his Stone lineup on tap. Pretty awesome building too, it's like a couple hundred years old.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Also, I would be doing you a disservice to not inform you of Track 84 in Warwick. It'll be a 15 minute (tops) ride out of Providence to get there. It is hands down the best beer bar in the state. AWESOME selection, just google Track 84 Warwick and check their tap list right now. Place is awesome. No food (well, there's sandwiches, so I guess yes, food).You have to go to this place. There is no question about it. Do it. DO IT! Don't be fooled when you pull up (the place is a shit hole) it's awesome."

 

There needs to be more love for E and O and Scurvy Dog.

 

Trinity is solid. It's not going to blow you away, but it's better than many of the brewpubs around the country. They experiment a lot, have a good number of beers on tap at all times, and the beer is cheap. Plus they actually serve you full pints of imperial stuff priced in line with everything else - no screwing around with 10oz $7-$8 tulips, which is unfortunately starting to be the norm at most bars.

 

If only there was a place to park...

 

I've never not been able to park around there in the dozens of times I've been there. (I grew up in RI) Granted, Saturday night while a P-Bruins game or something is going on can get messy, but that's a city bar for you... The nice thing about Providence is you rarely have to go more than a block away to find a spot.

If you can't find a spot easily on Fountain, loop back around, come up Empire, and get to the right of there - you can always find something down one of those side streets.

 

I don't mean to speak ill of Sean Larkin at all. Revival Brewing does good stuff, I really enjoyed their black IPA and the saison. But that's solo Sean, Trinity is Sean under another umbrella. Having had both Trinity IPA and Heady I think there is a HUGE difference, but that's why beer is great: two people can have the same beer and think two totally separate things.

I forgot about Wild Colonial. It's worth swinging by, but to the OP, I would advise you go early, it become college boy hang out when the sun goes down. (I grabbed a pitcher of Stone Levitation there once, thought that was awesome, perhaps that has to do with the Stone connection you spoke of. Pretty cool on meeting Koch!)

Cheers!

 

The benefit of Julian's is they really don't have to split those rare kegs with anyone else in the state, aside from maybe Track 84. So almost everything that goes to RI ends up at Julian's. In MA, on the other hand, you have probably 100 bars that would kill to get their hands on something like a keg of KBS or Cantillon, and do the craft volume to justify it. Granted MA typically gets more total, but the ratio isn't nearly as good as in RI. Thus, yes, Julian's often has more unique selection than many high-end MA bars.