We have some fabulous news to share…Tower Hill Brewing is now OPEN for business! Our friends at RI Monthly recently sat down with the new owners. Check out the full article below!
Tower Hill Brewing was Dreamed Up by Four Neighbors Over a Beer
RI MONTHLY
BY: Lauren Clem
Tower Hill Brewing opened in March at South County Commons. (Photos courtesy of Tower Hill Brewing)
Rhode Island’s latest brewery started off with a familiar scene — four neighborhood buddies sitting around, tossing out business plans over a beer.
“We would have these little get-togethers and started talking about, ‘Hey, we should open up a brewery, that would be a really cool idea,’” says Ivan Nazario, who’s been home brewing since 2003. “We’re all brewery hoppers. We all enjoy going to breweries and drinking beer.”
Most such ideas never make it out of the backyard. In this case, however, the friends persisted through years of change in the craft brewing industry and a pandemic. Twenty years later, Tower Hill Brewing is now open in South County Commons on Route 1, just a short distance from the Hannah Robinson Tower from which the brewery gets its name.
Along with Nazario, the four owners include Bob Golden, Brian Hubert and Bob Meyer, who met while living in the same neighborhood in South Kingstown. The group hired Jeff Goodno of Good Knows Beer Consulting to scale up Nazario’s recipes for commercial brewing. The seven-barrel system pumps out a variety of styles, including blonde and amber ales, stouts, hazies and a double IPA.
“The intent is really to have a diversity of beers. We don’t want to get locked into hazy IPAs or IPAs,” Nazario says.
When the group first started talking about opening a brewery, they say, the state’s craft beer industry was in its infancy, with only a half-dozen breweries scattered around the state. There were no breweries in South County, and residents needed to travel “north of the Tower,” or over the bridge to Aquidneck Island, to taste locally brewed beer.
That changed in 2011 with the opening of Whalers Brewing Company in Peace Dale. The friends say they put their ideas on hold for a while, but the itch to open a brewery eventually returned. They started the process in November 2021 and opened their doors on Thursday, March 14.
“We had a tremendous reception on Thursday, our opening day. The amount of times we’ve been asked over the past year, ‘Where are you?’ and ‘When are you going to open?’ — it’s been unbelievable,” Golden says.
For the taproom, the design team took inspiration from the tower and outfitted the space in reclaimed wood, including the bar top and wooden details. Golden says the space is family friendly, with multiple TVs and nonalcoholic offerings including Yacht Club soda and Athletic Brewing Co. NA beer.
While the business has already drummed up excitement among local residents and at University of Rhode Island athletic events, the owners say they’re looking forward to the summer, when they anticipate becoming a popular stop for visitors on their way back from Block Island or the beaches. They’re in the process of creating an outdoor beer garden that will expand the brewery’s capacity by fifty or sixty guests. They also hope to market the brewery to guests of nearby vacation rentals.
“There’s phenomenal food and right next door to us is a movie theater,” Hubert says. “The location cannot be any better.”
With no food onsite, customers can bring their own food, and the owners encourage guests to check out the nearby offerings in South County Commons. The shopping area features new and old standbys including Pasquale’s Pizzeria Napoletana, Audrey’s Coffee House and Lounge, Tong Ta Thai, Taj Indian Restaurant and Bar, Trattoria Romana, Rachel’s Cafe, Pokemoto and Applebee’s.
The brewery is open Wednesday through Sunday and currently has eight beers on tap. For hours and details, visit towerhillbrewing.com.
The brewery currently has eight beers on tap.
