Massive Kinsley Ave Fire is "Setback" for Narragansett Beer's RI Relocation

Massive Kinsley Ave Fire is "Setback" for Narragansett Beer's RI Relocation

A gigantic fire that destroyed the old mill building at 498 Kinsley Avenue in Providence will delay return of brewing Narragansett Beer to Rhode Island, according to a tweet by the beer company late Tuesday night.

Bummed to say that the Kinsley Ave bldg fire was the spot we were eyeing for our new brewery. Another setback, but we're staying positive.

— Narragansett Beer (@Gansettbeer) March 11, 2015

 

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Narragansett Beer has been eying a return to Rhode Island since the iconic beer was sold to a group of locally based investors including former juice executive Mark Hellendrung. The original Narragansett beer brewery on the Providence Cranston line closed in July of 1981, and production was moved to a plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

The beer is currently brewed mainly in Rochester, NY, with certain smaller batch craft varieties brewed in Providence and Pawcatuck, CT.

As GoLocalProv first reported, the mostly empty building at 498 Kinsley Ave did house the Cannabis Producers Association of New England, where classes were available for growing and harvesting marijuana and making "bubble hash" and cannabis butter and tincture. There is no word as to whether butane was present -- the highly flammable solvent used to make butane hash oil. 

"That's what I'm hearing, but I can't confirm," said Colonel Steve O'Donnell, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police on Tuesday morning.