Inviting, memorable, and unique, whatever special occasion you're observing. Source: U.S.An established art gallery and music performance space just outside Providence, Rhode Island, Machines with Magnets offers an arts-focused event space with midcentury modern details. The following distilleries have Federal Alcohol Administration permits in Rhode Island: When they finish converting the factory space into a distillery, it will have a tasting room that they hope will become a favorite pub among the locals, who will be able lounge on comfy furniture in front of the fire of a gas stove. Their venture, one of five federally permitted distilleries in Rhode Island, is bankrolled by their own money, plus financing by Navigant Credit Union and the Pawtucket Business Development Corporation. The couple will work alone to start, but they hope to add a couple of employees during the first year. They plan to produce the equivalent of 30,000 750-milliliter bottles of gin, vodka and liqueurs their first year. One of which, they hope, will be their distillery in a 3,300-square-foot factory space at 59 Blackstone Ave. "It leaves space for other things to develop on their own," said Larson. "I think it's sad for Pawtucket in lots and lots of ways, but a vacuum gets filled," said Plourde. "On game days, for a couple of hours, it might have done us some good, but we're a business that will be here every day," said Larson. In fact, they said, the death of the stadium proposal might be good news for their business. "We sat down and really thought about 'Will it really affect us?'" said Larson. "I was shocked - mostly shocked," said Plourde. They hope to start distilling in January and open to the public on March 1.īut an event in August gave them pause to mull over their plans: the Pawtucket Red Sox announced that the team would move to Worcester. Rhode Island Spirits, which will produce under the Rhodium brand name, got a tangible start in the spring when Larson and Plourde chose the factory building between Route 95 and the Blackstone River, upstream from Pawtucket City Hall. "Some of it will come from here," Plourde said. And many of the botanicals used to infuse flavors in the beverages will be foraged locally, in private cemeteries and farms and along the riverside and seaside. Their company, Rhode Island Spirits, will buy "very high quality" corn spirits as the base of their gins and other liquors, they say. "We started to look at other business models."Īlthough they settled on metal stills in a century-old factory in the middle of an aging city, they say they won't stray far from that agricultural inspiration in making their product. "We were driving by a farm in Little Compton, and we saw two signs: 'Goat for rent' and 'Farm for sale,'" she said. That meant the married couple would have to change from consulting for nonprofits, where, Larson noted, "You never get a tangible result."īut the change in professions had already been on their minds after a ride in the country, said Plourde. "We came back and thought: A, Pawtucket is ripe for a new business downtown, and B, we could get in front of" growing demand for locally made gin. "A lot more people in England make their own drinks," said Larson. Now they are planning to open a distillery on the east bank of the Blackstone River, where they will make the juniper-flavored spirit and other liquors. Cathy Plourde met Kara Larson through mutual friends in Maine, but it was while they were living in England two years ago that the couple fell in love with gin.
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