USA, RI: Providence Brewing Company delays opening to this spring

Anyone anticipating grabbing a beer in the lower level of 1920 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence will have to wait a bit longer, as the opening of the Providence Brewing Company has been delayed again, the Valley Breeze reported on January 23.

Owner Efren Hidalgo said Providence Brewing should now be open for the spring. The brewery will not be represented at this weekend’s Rhode Island Brew Fest in Pawtucket, he said. “Our contractors missed their deadlines, and we weren’t able to get the equipment ready for us to start brewing,” he said. “We’re hoping that by the end of the month we will be starting some initial brewing.”

Hidalgo said it’s not a good feeling knowing you can start brewing at any moment but can’t “because no one has done their job.”

“Frustrating, really,” he said. “This is the kind of thing that you hear nightmare stories about and say that it’ll never happen to you, and then it does.”

Most of the construction at the facility has been completed and equipment is in place. The brewery is still waiting on licenses from the state.

The Breeze reported last August that Hidalgo was weeks away from opening, but that timeframe kept being pushed back. Hidalgo remains excited to be part of what he calls the “brewing corridor” along Mineral Spring Avenue in North Providence and Pawtucket. When open, he’ll join The Guild, Foolproof Brewing and Crooked Current Brewery, all located within about a four-mile stretch.

After Hidalgo announced in 2016 that he planned to open the Providence Brewing Company in North Providence, the Town Council approved legislation eliminating a “blanket prohibition” on breweries and distilleries, approving a new subsection of local zoning ordinances allowing such facilities.

Brewing is an industry town officials believe they can build on, especially now that companies such as Providence Brewing Company are allowed to sell beer out of their facilities.

22 January, 2018