New England breweries rally around Rehoboth business destroyed in fire

Narragansett Brewery finally opened a brewery in his hometown of Providence, RI, in 2021, three years after drawing up the plans and 16 years after Mark Hellendrung relaunched the iconic brand. So when the president of ‘Gansett heard that Anawan Brewing Company – located 10 miles away in Rehoboth, Mass. – had suffered a devastating fire just weeks after their own years of trying to open their doors, Hellendrung was crushed.

“Although I have no idea what they are going through after the fire, I feel their pain,” Hellendrung said. “Fair [knowing] how difficult it was to go through COVID and supply chain issues to actually build something and then have it removed from under you is truly heartbreaking.

After hearing about the fire directly from Narraganett community leader Brooke Cure, a Rehoboth native, and seeing the story on the local news, Hellendrung and the ‘Gansett team decided to put some money where their empathy is: On Monday, Feb. 21, all net proceeds from the Rhode Island Brewery will be donated to Anawan Brewing Company, ‘Gansett advertised on social media. This includes sales of 12 exclusive beers on tap, items like flatbreads and paninis, and even Narragansett t-shirts.

“I hope we get criticized and I hope we give them a lot of money,” Hellendrung said with a laugh.

Narragansett’s effort is one of many steps New England breweries and distilleries are taking to help another craft beverage maker.

Working Man Distillers in North Attleboro was collecting donations for Anawan this week and also plans to donate some of the proceeds from their taproom. The Skyroc Brewery in Attleboro has plans announced for a future release of a canned beer called Anawan Roc(k), the proceeds of which will go to their neighbors in Anawan.

Another fundraising beer is in the works by a collective of Bristol County breweries. Berkley Beer Company, Crue Brew, Bog Iron Brewing, Stone Path Malt, Troy City and Shovel Town Brewery are involved. Next week, representatives from those breweries as well as Anawan will meet at Bog Iron in Norton to make a beer together, according to Shovel Town owner Frank Altieri. Likely in March, each brewery will then offer the beer on tap at their respective bars, with proceeds going to Anawan.

“The craft beer community is very tight-knit, and while there is healthy competition, we all support each other,” Altieri said.

Many of the largest donations publicly listed on a crowdfunding page set up to support Anawan Brewing Company comes from Massachusetts breweries, including $1,000 from Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co. in Waltham and $500 from Harpoon, Lord Hobo, Night Shift and others. Since going online on Monday, February 14, the GoFundMe campaign has raised over $30,000, with at least a dozen donations from other breweries.

Bright Ideas Brewing Company of North Adams pledged $575. Anawan is located in an opposite corner of the state and the owners have never met, said Makayla McGeeney, dining room manager and marketing coordinator for Bright Ideas.

“This donation was purely a gesture of support from the craft beer community,” she said. “In the Berkshires, we believe that small businesses are the bread and butter of the community, and I think that sentiment runs deep in the craft beer industry.”

Indeed, Anawan Brewing Company is a family business founded by veterans. Steffen Johnson and his high school friend, brewer Dan Dirienzo, began working on the business plan in 2017, after Johnson returned from military service in Afghanistan. Anawan finally opened to the public in December 2021. The morning fire of February 12 destroyed the entire brewery except for a framed photo of Anawan’s founding team.

A message to Steffen was not returned at press time for this story, but earlier this week he told Boston.com that he and Dirienzo are still processing the loss of their brewery and don’t know what’s next. to follow.

“We have had such an influx of help through the brewing community and through our local community. It just seems like we owe it to our community to come back stronger,” he said.

Other brewery owners can be found in Anawan’s story, although their details differ. The Bristol County breweries coming together for co-brewing in honor of Anawan are “all [founded by] people who built a dream around something they loved,” said Altieri of Shovel Town. “We received a lot of support from the community when we built ourselves. We want to pay it forward. »

Night Shift co-founder and president Rob Burns is also a board member of the Massachusetts Brewers Guild. “This industry is special because we care for our peers and share similar challenges and obstacles,” he said, referring to an oft-repeated cliché among craft brewers: a rising tide lifts all ships. “Raising funds to help the dead is a clear example of this mantra in action.”

The Narragansett of Rhode Island is of course not a member of the Mass. Brewers Guild, but Hellendrung credits state organizations like this and the National Brewers Association with fostering a sense of community in craft brewing, he says. It was the guild that informed of the burning of many breweries in Massachusetts earlier this week.

“As soon as the news broke, I was inundated with emails and messages from area breweries asking how they could help,” said chief executive Katie Stinchon, who then circulated the GoFundMe and looked at the donations. flock. “These are companies that are still struggling with COVID, they have just survived Dry January, and they are opening their hearts and wallets to support a colleague and brewer in need.

The industry is interconnected, Hellendrung said, whether it’s meeting at beer festivals, sharing resources and learning from each other’s innovation. “Our slogan is ‘Hi Neighbor, Have a ‘Gansett’ since the 50s,” he said. “Supporting another brewery in times of need is just the thing to do between neighbors.”