When the brewer most identified with Rhode Island and distiller recognized for producing internationally awarded whiskies secretly team up on a project, expectations would normally be high. Well, if the Sons of Liberty/Narragansett Collaboration Event held Saturday night November 18 was any indication, the final product was both revolutionary and gnarly. (Hey, I challenge anyone to find adjectives to match the Founding Fathers and ‘Gansett culture.)
The event itself was certainly a success, with attendees telling me they were there from Warwick, Smithfield, Cranston, as well as towns adjacent to the South County distillery. The seats at both bars were filled and the three bartenders at each were busy pouring. It took me almost five minutes to get my first drink shortly after 7 pm. When I arrived, almost all the tables in both rooms were occupied; the pool table was in use, as were both boards. In the front room, patrons were buying merchandise from the table specially set up for the event. People were enjoying the band, and many were cycling in and out to get food from Hank’s Down South BBQ truck right outside the door.
Speaking to Cam Hutchinson, Field Sales Manager for Narragansett, at the event Saturday night, we traded drinking stories after agreeing on how much we both really liked SOL’s Uprising whiskey. He convinced me to try the new product, and I had to agree, it was just as smooth and enjoyable an offering as every other one of their products. And the biggest surprise of the night, one of the bartenders pronounced my last name correctly, something that rarely occurs.
The no-longer-produced, Bancroft Up and Down Ale from Narragansett provided the base for the project, from there the distillers at Sons of Liberty went to work, aging it for five years in new American Oak barrels for five years with the result – 900 bottles of 45-percent alcohol by volume hops-flavored whisky. The distiller is no stranger to producing hop-flavored whiskey; their offering in 2015 won the “Best Flavored Whiskey in North America” at Whisky Magazine’s World Whiskies Awards, and Best in Class in 2014 at the Whiskies of the World Awards. To date, SOL has collected 127 awards since they started production in 2012.
The Sons of Liberty/Narragansett Collaboration whiskey is only available at the South Kingstown location, 1425 Kingstown Rd., Wakefield. I highly encourage everyone to investigate what two great brands can do when they develop a partnership, design a plan, and execute it to perfection. You can check out Sons of Liberty here and get more information about Narragansett Brewery here.