Heading to Rhode Island for the First Time

Tilted Barn is not near either, really, but is like the new black

 

When will you be in RI? Norey's in Newport is having an OEC tap takeover. Great sours. Tilted Barn and Proclamation are just across the Newport Bridge. Honestly, not that much happening at the Cape in terms of beer. Just went to Hog Island though in Orleans - cool place, decent beer.

 

In Providence, Long Live Beerworks over on West Fountain St. is making some great stuff. Mostly pale ales and NEIPA's with some darker options. There are a few bars a few blocks away in that neighborhood: Pizza J usually has some good tap lines and Ogie's Trailer Park is more hipster but damn their fried chicken sandwich is good.

 

My wife and I went to Waterfire one weekend last year, and found ourselves thirsty by the end of the night. Made our way to Jacky Boy Publik House in Cranston and had a great fn time. Smallish place w/basement-like entrance, had Ithaca and Grey Sail on tap, plus some sours and stouts. Fun vibe.

Anyway, I was only there once, the place is out of the way, but it deserves the shout out.

 

Proclamation in West Kingston brews world class ales. Doherty's Irish Pub in Pawtucket is one of my favorite spots with a fantastic beer list.

 

Long Live Beerworks is criminally underrated and in Providence. I'd say the beer scene in Providence is pretty sleepy but if you have a car, there is a lot worth driving to like Trillium in Canton (40 mins) or you could go south to Grey Sail or elsewhere in CT. There is also not a lot that's noteworthy going on on the Cape, with Devil's Purse perhaps being a personal exception.

 

With "limited time" Grey Sail may be a bit out of the way, they have a great taproom but LLB or TB/Proclamation (within 15 minutes of each other) will probably be better RI-local experiences with less time wasted than driving down to Westerly. However it depends when you are in town, Tilted Barn is only open Fri 5-8 and Sat 1-4, Proc is open Thu-Sun, Long Live open Wed-Sat and Grey Sail open Wed-Sun.

If you are keeping room for beer to go and/or have an afternoon available for enjoying samples, then definitely a trip to Trillium is worth going out of the way. While the Tree House vs Trillium argument is always ongoing, you can't argue they have the combination of best beer with the most availability. Tree House's new brewery will likely be open by August, but you are looking at a little over an hour from Providence in the opposite direction as the Cape and Newport. And who knows if production will be very high out of the chute or there will be limited hours and waits for 12 cans or so at first as capacity ramps up.

 

Newport Storm oldest microbrewery in RI has a great sour out now called infeRIority complex you will need to swing by and try. Also, Tilted Barn's IPA's a crazy good!

 

It's only not near Providence in RI terms. In reality, it's like a 35 minute drive. You could easily hit Tilted Barn, Proclamation and then Long Live in that order on a Friday or Saturday and taste the best of RI's hoppy beers. Alternatively, you could go T.B > Proclamation > Whaler's on a Friday evening and really enjoy yourself; while Whaler's is a notch below those two in terms of strictly beer quality, it is above them in terms of atmosphere and ability to chill and drink beer for a while.

 

Tilted Barn, Proclamation, Long Live, and Ravenous