Beer co-op set to brew two years after fire

Isle Brewers Guild
WEBSTER BANK recently closed a $7.2 million financing deal with Isle Brewers Guild LLC, a newly opened craft beer cooperative in Pawtucket co-founded by Jeremy Duffy, left, and Devin Kelly. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

It was mid-March 2015 when Jeremy Duffy woke up at 5 a.m. to a text on his cellphone that showed two images of a burning manufacturing building in Providence.

He was shocked.

For the preceding eight months, the building at 498 Kinsley Ave. in Providence had been the focus of Duffy and partner Devin Kelly. It was where they wanted to set up their co-op brewing company, Isle Brewers Guild LLC.

The building was ruined, temporarily dashing Duffy’s hopes for the project. But before too long, his phone started buzzing for a different reason: Community leaders from around the state started reaching out to see if he’d be interested in setting up shop in available commercial space in their communities.

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“Several mayors called us while we were deliberating on what we should do,” he said.

Within a week of the fire, Duffy and Kelly were sitting in Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien’s office, and before too long they started visiting possible locations.

“Right away we could tell [Grebien] was very pro-business and understanding of economic development,” Duffy said.

Pawtucket was already home to three Rhode Island breweries. Isle Brewers eventually found its new home at the former William H. Haskell Manufacturing Plant on Main Street. In November 2015, the group bought the red-brick, 131,000-square-foot industrial complex that spans three-quarters of a city block.

The complex reaches back to Pawtucket’s industrial beginnings, according to the R.I. Preservation Society, as it was the nation’s oldest continually operating bold and cold-punched nut producer.

Isle Brewers is turning the space into a brewing campus at a project cost of about $12 million. The company received two small-business loans totaling about $500,000 and a five-year tax treaty from Pawtucket.

The 12,000-square-foot, 100-barrel brew house is actually separate from the 40,000-square-foot packaging area, which is somewhat unorthodox for brewing operations but not unprecedented.

“Devin worked at a [brewery] in Belgium that used to run a city block, so he saw how we could make it work,” Duffy said.

The two buildings will be connected by a run of pipe that will carry beer from the brew house to the packaging area, separated by a little less than 100 yards.

Isle Brewers is a cooperative and doesn’t brew any of its own brands of beer, but rather helps craft breweries that have exceeded space to use its facility. The group has already contracted with Newburyport Brewing Co., a craft brewery in Newburyport, Mass., and Narragansett Brewing Co., which makes the Rhode Island stalwart Narragansett Beer. The two companies hope to start brewing this winter.

Narragansett Brewing last April moved its headquarters from Providence to the new facilities in Pawtucket. The company for years has brewed its signature lager in Rochester, N.Y., where it has large-enough facilities to meet the high level of demand for the stalwart brand. Those operations will continue, but the company will work in Pawtucket to brew its selection of craft beer.

Mark D. Hellendrung, president and owner of Narragansett Brewing, has been looking for a way to move some brewing operations back to the Ocean State ever since he took over the brand about 12 years ago.

Once Isle Brewers is fully operational, Narragansett will be brewed in the Ocean State for the first time since 1983.

“Being able to brew here may not matter to most people, but it matters to me,” Hellendrung said.

Duffy says Isle Brewers is nearing more deals with other breweries but declined to divulge any details. Regardless of how many partner breweries sign on, Duffy added, the company will have about 30,000 square feet in leftover space, which he’d like to see be used by the food and beverage industry.

Isle Brewers has hired a specialty brewing team, charged with replicating and perfecting whatever recipes come from the partner breweries. The staff is also there to assist individual brew masters. Jack Streich, a manufacturing and brewing veteran, was appointed vice president of brewing operations, and will be responsible for overseeing all brewing and packaging operations.

The campus will also have a temporary tap room for about 10 months, and Duffy hopes to open a beer hall during next year’s fourth quarter.

Hellendrung sees the entire project as an opportunity to build out the beer industry in Rhode Island.

“It’s great to be back home,” he said. “It’s something we’ve been talking about for a long time.” •

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