BURRILLVILLE – A brewery is opening in downtown Pascoag next month, making tasty beers and other concoctions, once prepared at home by a pair of Maine natives, available to village visitors.
Chris and Brianna Mishoe are on track to open Bravo Brewing at 75-81 Main St. by the end of September. The couple has signed a multi-year lease for a roughly 2,000-square-foot space in the property, with plans to sell a variety of craft beers both for in-house tastings, and for guests to take home.
A native of Portland, Maine, Chris said he was attracted to the Burrillville area in part, because it reminds him of home.
“It’s a little more rural, and you have a little more space,” Mishoe told NRI NOW.
The brewery will offer a fair selection of dark and traditional lagers, according to Mishoe, and will use a traditional craft style, while also trying out some experimental batches.
“One of our biggest goals is we want to try to bring back some of the diversity of beer styles,” Mishoe said.
Bravo will also serve gluten free and non alcoholic options, including a craft root beer, a ginger beer and kombucha, a fermented black tea.
“A lot of people are visiting breweries but not everyone is into beer,” Mishoe explained.
Guests to Bravo will walk in facing a bar with 8-10 of Mishoe’s original beers on tap, and seating for around a dozen people. The brewery will also feature hightop tables, and to the right, a large window will allow patrons to see equipment including fermentation tanks, and watch the brewing process.
The brewery is also working with the town on a permit to use an outdoor patio in front of the building for additional seating.
Beers will also be available to go, with a small canning operation putting together 4-packs of 16-ounce tall boy cans. State law allows Rhode Islanders to purchase up to a full case at breweries to take home.
Don’t expect too many over-the-top gimmicks to be part of the new Bravo brand: Mishoe said the brews will bear the names of their brewing style, such as “New England IPA” or “Coffee Porter.”
“We’re going to focus on letting people know what they’re drinking and buying,” he said.
The couple arrived at brewing as an occupation the same way as many professional brewers before them; by brewing at home as a hobby. Mishoe noted that the couple started brewing in college, and moved to Rhode Island some five years ago when Brianna got a job at Ocean Spray Cranberry in Massachusetts.
“We recently decided to bring it to a professional level,” he said.
For Chris, the brewery will be a full-time job, while Brianna will maintain her regular employment.
“When she’s not there, she’ll be helping out doing pretty much everything else that she can,” Chris said.
An Air Force veteran, Chris said he hopes to give the business a welcoming feel for other area veterans.
“We’re trying to cultivate that feeling with the decor,” he said.
He also plans to donate a percent of his profits to a charity, and is currently in talks with a number of groups that help local veterans.
“That’s going to be part of our mission as well, is to help give back to the veteran community,” he said.
It’s a growing industry that Mishoe said is well-suited to the small downtown.
“More and more people are getting interested in trying stuff they haven’t seen before,” he said of the brewing business.
He said he hopes to work with other area businesses to also allow patrons to bring in food to enjoy with his fresh brews.
“We’re going to try to support the neighboring restaurants,” he said.
Mishoe said his team is shooting for a September 20 opening, although it could be as late as the 28th.
The brewer said what most attracted him to Pascoag was the town’s reinvestment in the area. The business will be situated in one of two new buildings recently erected in the downtown center as part of a large-scale redevelopment plan.
“The building is awesome,” Mishoe said. “And it sort of has the feeling of being in a busy downtown. We have established restaurants in the area, and there’s even some new ones coming. It’s going to be a good little hub.”
Town officials, he notes, have been welcoming.
“They’re very excited to have a microbrewery coming in.”
