Road Trip- Providence, RI

When my employer decided to send me on a short trip to Providence, RI, I wasted no time in seeking recommendations for beer stops. Time was very limited, but I always find ways to squeeze in a beer or two. My flight arrived two hours late on a Sunday night, luckily Trinity Brewhouse was open late.

Located in downtown Providence, Trinity has a worn but cozy British pub motif. I sampled all six of the beers on tap- Russian Imperial Stout, Island Ram Light Lager, Decadence Imperial IPA, Point Break Pale Ale, Peoples Porter, and Tommy's Red Lager. My favorite was the double IPA (surprised?), which had a nice rich caramel-esque malt back bone with good dose of juicy hop bitterness.

The following day I was able to make a quick stop at the Attleboro, MA Yankee Spirits to grab some beers for my cellar. This is a typical mom and pop warehouse store (which smells like stale beer) with a well-organized and large selection of craft beer. I picked up a newly-released Southern Tier Crème Brulee Stout and a few regional beers.

After a long day of work, I had some time to kill before making a trip up north to the Boston area. I decided to sneak in a short happy hour at Track 84 in Warwick, RI. This small local bar may not look like much on the outside, but step inside and the perception totally changes. The place is small, with wooden floors, juke box, dart boards, and empty beers bottles lining the top area of the walls. I guess some would call it a “dive” bar, but that just sounds negative. I prefer to say it has lots of character. I sat down and ordered Harpoon Old Rusty's Rye Ale. The group sitting next to me were drinking a bottle of Deschutes Black Butte XX . Deschutes is not distributed in RI, so I inquired about where they obtained the bottle. I had stumbled upon the weekly Monday night tasting, in which local beer aficionados bring in beers to share. It wasn't too long before they were pouring me samples. While enjoying great beer conversations with the locals, the entire bar rumbles like an earthquake and no one bats an eye. Now I realized why the bar is named Track 84. It’s RIGHT NEXT to the train tracks! I ordered a draft Stone Ruination before it was time to leave for dinner and yet more work. I did make it back for last call and enjoyed Victory Prima Pils and Ballast Point Big Eye IPA. Track 84 is my type of bar because it has a nice eclectic mix of friendly locals and good beer selection. And it is not trendy.