Recipe for Success

What’s better than a local company creating a great product? Two local companies creating a great product together. And when those two companies are the area’s premier restaurant group and a scrappy craft brewery, you’re almost assured a recipe for success.

You may not recognize the name Newport Restaurant Group (NRG), but you’re probably familiar with some of their many fine restaurants in Newport (22 Bowen’s, Castle Hill Inn, The Mooring, Smoke House) Providence (Hemenway’s, Waterman Grille), Tiverton (Boat House), and Narragansett (Trio). It’s a diverse portfolio that requires a special kind of management. Enter Shawn Westhoven, NRG’s Beverage Director, who has the enviable job of crafting each restaurant’s beverage menu – everything from the wine, beer and spirits to the coffee, soda and bottled water. While each of NRG’s restaurants have a different theme, they are all unified by the company’s commitment to local ingredients – whether they’re from farmers supplying the kitchen or brewers, vineyards and distillers supplying the bar. Food and drink menus are carefully selected to work in harmony, and will rotate seasonally to take advantage of the freshest ingredients available. Such careful deliberation can occasionally raise an issue that others might gloss over, and NRG recently found itself with a void in their winter beer offerings. Where to go for such a niche drink? It turns out, not too far.

Grey Sail Brewing of Westerly opened its doors in 2011, the brainchild of husband and wife team Alan and Jennifer Brinton. Alan is the product visionary, an appropriate hobby for someone who maintains a full-time job as a chemical engineer. Jennifer is the day-to-day operations person, doing everything from accounting to driving the delivery truck. Jennifer half-jokes that, “we took his hobby and dream and turned it into my business,” but later clarifies that, “it is a true family business,” – even speaking glowingly of her three dedicated employees as if they were blood.

It was one of those employees, Account Manager Dan Rivera, who opened the door with NRG. A “regular” at Trio in Narragansett, Dan was successful in getting NRG to carry some existing Grey Sail products. Grey Sail’s lineup included their Flagship golden-colored cream ale and their Flying Jenny unfiltered extra pale ale, both year-round beers that were complemented by a handful of seasonal and one-time offerings. Westhoven approached Rivera and mentioned that NRG was looking to do something different for their winter seasonal beer, but Grey Sail’s offerings at the time weren’t quite the right match. Westhoven recalls the carpe diem moment: “Grey Sail didn’t make this beer until our conversation started. Dan basically said, ‘We’ll make whatever you want.’”

Westhoven knew what he wanted: “We were looking for a dark brown beer with malt characteristics, not too bitter, and ABV not too high. Nothing so severe that only hardcores would drink it – we wanted to make sure people could have a second glass.” A team from NRG and Grey Sail met several times to identify the right flavor profile and a test batch was brewed. According to Brinton, that was all NRG needed: “They tasted the first batch and said, ‘This is it... This is the beer.’” Westhoven shares the sentiment: “We considered it a test batch but it was so close to what we wanted, we decided that would be what we offered.”

The official description of the beer (meaning, lifted from the NRG website), is that it’s “like a Marzen, but where a Marzen is bottom fermented (lager) this is top fermented (ale). The beer is amber in color, medium-to-full bodied, and hints at flavors of vanilla, ginger and later cinnamon. It is brewed with these aromatic elements, but the finished beer is so subtle that they come off as secondary characteristics.” Here’s the drinking man’s description: this beer is damn good. I recently sampled it at the Boat House, and it’s without a doubt the best beer I’ve had in recent memory. It has enough bite on the way down to make it interesting, but quickly dissipates into a smooth finish without the lingering hoppiness. Westhoven wants me to have more than one? Mission accomplished.

You’ll have to act fast to try it, since supplies are expected to run out in April and reappear in October. And how exactly do you order this beer? An excellent question, since this beer has yet to earn a proper name. However, NRG is letting its customers christen their brew. Simply swing by any NRG bar for a taste from the unmarked tap handle (present your Fare Rewards card for a free two-ounce pour) and let your bartender know what springs to mind. If your response helps name the beer when it’s brought back for a full release next fall, you’ll win four seats to NRG’s fall beer dinner featuring the newly labeled brew. Until then, I know I’ll be checking out the rest of Grey Sail’s beers. Flagship cream ale, anyone?