USA, RI: Ravenous Brewing Company moving to larger location in Cumberland

After several months of speculation and some recent hints on social media, it’s official: Woonsocket’s Ravenous Brewing Company is moving to Cumberland, with a new, larger location set to open later this month, the Valley Breeze reported on October 9.

The new building, located at 10 Industrial Road near the new roundabouts, will add approximately 35 seats to the brewery’s current 10- to 15-seat setup and offer separate tasting and brewing areas. In its current location on Cumberland Hill Road, said owner Dorian Rave, the tasting room shuts down when it’s time to brew because everything happens in one space.

“The brew room will be separate, which is great because it’ll allow us to be open and expand our hours,” he said.

Rave also plans to expand the brewing capacity with three new fermenters and a new brewhouse in the new location. The additional capacity, he said, will allow the brewery to can more of its beer to begin distributing in local liquor stores in addition to restaurant and brewery sales.

Ravenous Brewing, one of two breweries currently based in Woonsocket, opened in 2013 amid a growing craft beer scene in northern Rhode Island. The brewery shares its turf with several others around the Blackstone Valley, including Woonsocket’s Lops Brewing, Pawtucket’s Crooked Current Brewery, The Guild, Foolproof Brewing Company and Smug Brewing, and North Providence’s Providence Brewing Company.

While the company has gained a strong following in Woonsocket, pouring its first beer at Autumnfest 2013, Rave said he had difficulty finding a new location in the city that offered space to expand and easy access to the highway. The new building is just down the street from the Route 295 exits on Diamond Hill Road.

“We love Woonsocket, the city has been great to work with, but we couldn’t find a spot that was close to the highway,” he explained.

The move to Cumberland has been long in the making. In June, CumberlandFest organizers said the brewery was considering a move to the town when they announced Ravenous would be the sole brewer at this year’s event. The company took out a lease on the building over the summer and has since been renovating the multi-room space. In addition to the tasting room and brew room, the building contains a cold room for storing kegs and a private function room that will also feature a second bar area and games.

Rave said the town has rolled out a warm welcome for his business, with town officials stopping by to visit. The brewery already has a number of Cumberland residents among its regulars, he said, including many they didn’t realize were from Cumberland until talk of the move began generating excitement at the bar.

“We’re looking forward to it, the town of Cumberland has been great with us,” he said.

Though they don’t yet have an opening date, Rave said it will likely be by the end of October with more details to come on social media as soon as renovations are complete. This weekend, he’ll celebrate the business’s seventh anniversary at the Cumberland Hill Road location and plans to release the seasonal Black Harvest Sweet Potato Stout in honor of the occasion.

While the new location is much larger and includes outdoor seating as well as a viewing window to the brew process, Rave said customers don’t have to worry about losing the casual feel of the old spot. He plans to keep the same raw vibe and comfortable atmosphere in place in the new building, complete with the cinderblock walls.

“In a larger more refreshing way, it’s still going to capture the vibe that we have at Ravenous,” he said.

While Woonsocket will be losing one of its two craft breweries, Cumberland will be getting its first with the potential for more. Jason Macari of the Berkeley Mill is in the process of developing a brewery in that mill complex, with hopes of drawing in an existing Rhode Island-based brewing partner.

13 October, 2019