A guide to Rhode Island's 7 best breweries

Boston Globe

18-04-2025

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A craft beer enthusiast could easily spend a long weekend in Rhode Island and drink nothing but outstanding local brews. To help you choose, here is a guide to seven of the best.
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Screaming in the Woods Vol. 1, a roggenbier, or German rye beer, at Buttonwoods.
Steve Greenlee
Buttonwoods Brewery
You'll often find owner and head brewer Morgan Snyder hanging around, inconspicuously pulling tap handles on the 14 or so beers he keeps on tap. While a lot of breweries devote half or more of their taps to IPAs these days, Buttonwoods keeps the mix lively — a Belgian witbier, a dark mild English ale, an Italian pilsner. I was pleasantly shocked to find a roggenbier (when was the last time you had a German rye beer?) on tap recently.
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Try:
Hip Hop Is Dead, a perfectly cloudy double IPA, or something less mainstream, like the delicious Screaming in the Woods Vol. 1 roggenbier.
Buttonwoods Brewery, 50 Sims Ave., Providence
The Long Live Beerworks tasting room in Providence.
Steve Greenlee
Long Live Beerworks
The two-story tasting room with exposed brick and modern decor, sited in a rehabbed factory complex in Providence's West End, is bohemian yet classy. If you belly up to the bar, be prepared to chat, because the bartenders love to engage visitors in conversation. Settle in with one of Long Live's higher-octane offerings. You'll find a bunch of double IPAs on tap, along with an off-the-charts pastry stout or two and possibly a barleywine. There's simply too much to choose from here.
Chewy Bites imperial stout with coconut, caramel, and vanilla at Long Live Beerworks.
Steve Greenlee
Try:
Black Cat Sees All, a luscious and juicy double IPA, or Nanaimo Bites (when it's available), an over-the-top imperial stout made with graham cracker, pecan, cacao nibs and coconut. If the latter is not available, any of Long Live's pastry stouts demand attention.
Long Live Beerworks, 40R Sprague St., Providence
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A flight of four beers at Moniker Brewery.
Steve Greenlee
Moniker Brewery
The small tasting room gets crowded and loud on weekend evenings, but it's a fun and lively place. In warm weather they open the garage bay doors to let in the fresh air, and outside there are tables under heaters where you can gather as well.
Try:
Gerauchert, a German smoked Helles, or Debut Single, an uncommonly good cream ale.
Moniker Brewery, 432 West Fountain St., Providence
Obsidian Currants, an imperial stout brewed with currants and raspberries, at Proclamation Ale Co.
Steve Greenlee
Proclamation Ale Company
Rhode Island's most daring brewery, with an enormous range of styles and a huge tap list. If you're tired of IPAs and brown ales, you can get an imperial stout with black currants and raspberries, a Belgian quad with red wine must or an oak-aged ale with cherries, juniper berries, lime leaves, and orange peel.
Try:
For Keeps, a dark, woody biere de garde, or Obsidian Currants, a tart, berry-flavored imperial stout.
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Proclamation Ale Company, 298 Kilvert St., Warwick
A flight of four beers at Pivotal Brewing Co.'s tasting room in Bristol.
Steve Greenlee
Pivotal Brewing Co.
Pivotal's locally renowned dry-hopped double IPA, Hello My Name Is Pivotal, is among the dankest beers I've had and a gold standard of the DIPA style. Unfortunately it wasn't on tap when I visited recently, but plenty else was. Fourteen beers were offered in this gigantic two-story former factory that has been rehabbed and filled with funky artwork and shabby chic decor. One can easily imagine corporate events and weddings in this room.
Try:
Hello My Name Is Pivotal, or whichever IPAs happen to be on tap.
Pivotal Brewing Co., 500 Wood St., Building 111, Bristol
An ESB and a smoked dark lager at Ragged Island Brewing Co.
Steve Greenlee
Ragged Island Brewing Co.
This may be
There are lots of beers on tap here, and they're all good, from IPAs and stouts to more niche offerings like an ESB (extra special bitter), a schwarzbier, a Vienna lager, and a smoked dark lager.
Try:
The ESB and the Smoked Dark Lager — too many smoked beers are either far too subtle or choke you with barbecue fumes. This smooth, delicious one gets the balance right.
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Ragged Island Brewing Co., 54 Bristol Ferry Road, Portsmouth
Tilted Barn is Rhode Island's first farm brewery.
Tilted Barn Brewery
Tilted Barn Brewery
The prettiest setting of any brewery on this list is
I didn't think any brewery in Rhode Island would ever match the quality of the IPAs made by the likes of Tree House, Trillium, or Maine's best breweries until I tried Tilted Barn's. Every IPA made here is best in class — and there are a lot of them. If IPAs aren't your thing, there's usually a great lager, porter, or Belgian on tap as well.
Try:
Cactus, a soft and earthy IPA, or The Chosen One, a juicy double IPA that explodes with notes of mango and pineapple.
Tilted Barn Brewery, 1 Helmsley Place, Exeter
Steve Greenlee is a journalism professor at Boston University. He can be reached at
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Tilted Barn beers.