Something's Brewing On The West Side

Rhode Island is quickly becoming a Choose Your Own Adventure book for craft beer lovers. Whether you enjoy learning the process at a tasting room or just like having something unique at your favorite local restaurant, there’s no shortage of tasty alternatives. Along the winding streets of Providence’s West Side is where you will find one of the newest additions, Long Live Beerworks.

With their intimate tasting room that backs up directly to the large steel tanks, LLB feels more like your friend’s living room than your typical brewery. And as their popularity is clearly on the upswing, owner and brewmaster Armando DeDona is looking to upgrade from their 850 square foot space. Since he’s keen to keep it local and stay in the West Side neighborhood, you might just see an additional Long Live Beerworks in PVD soon. And they need it! On a Friday night in the middle of February it was standing room only at their location on West Fountain Street.

After starting out as a home brewer, Armando attended a brewing school in Northern England. Now with LLB turning a whopping one year and ten months old, he and his assistant Erika are doing their best to keep up with the high demand. That includes their recent collaboration with PVD Donuts. Intrigued yet? You should be because PVD Donuts “may or may not” be handing out donuts at the beer’s launch on March 14th.

Armando describes their brews as “newer style beers, not really traditional whatsoever.” While I was there, I had the Harry May and the Wesside. Harry May is an oatmeal porter made with Dave’s Coffee, Wesside, a citra and centennial hopped IPA. Believe me when I say I’ve had a fair amount of porters in my day, it’s kind of my jam. The Harry May is on the smoother side of the coffee/porter spectrum, which was nice. And while I’m admittedly not a big IPA fan, the Wesside has a bright and clean finish that I think most hops fans would really enjoy. Regardless of your personal preferences, Long Live’s beer is definitely worth checking out with a few of your closest friends.

For their current menu, and any other information you might need, check out their website at longlivebeerworks.com or any of their social networks handles: @longlivebeerworks on Facebook, @LongLiveBeerRI on Twitter, and @longlivebeerworks on Instagram. Their tasting room is open to the public Wednesdays through Saturdays at 425 West Fountain Street, Providence, RI.