Five Brews at Brutopia Kitchen and Bar…

Brutopia Brewery and Kitchen has a new permanent resident…Revival Brewing Co.! If you pay attention to beer in RI, you are probably aware that Sean Larkin is a guy that makes a lot of beer. And his newest venture is Revival Brewing/Brutopia. They opened up their brewery tours the day after Halloween, and it couldn’t be better timing.

My goal is usually to try two different beers, but I couldn’t choose just two, so we’ve got five beers for this review! 

1st beer: Fanny IPA. Somehow, I have a knack for picking the hoppiest IPA in the batch for my first beer. This one was very hoppy, but happily not bitter. I’m not a fan of drinking a pine tree as a beverage. I was worried it had a high ABV, but the website says it just 4.7%–perfect backyard/summer beer.

2nd beer: Bushido Pumpkin Ale. Never liked pumpkin beers, and it was definitely the wrong choice after a flavorful IPA. However, I went with a friend that loves pumpkin ales, and she said this one was very good. Be careful, it’s 9% ABV.

3rd beer: First Coast Belgian Double IPA. While it was 9% ABV, it was a very light IPA that was a little bit creamy and smokey. Much like my last two IPAs at Rogue Island–the second IPA I chose was much better.

4th beer: White Electric Coffee Stout. I’ve had this beer before, I got to try this one from the tap on the brewery floor. Uncarbonated, and a little cold, it was a great beer. Very smooth, like the mildest iced coffee. Another high ABV beer at 8.5%. Luckily we’re not drinking full pints for any of these.

Bonus: I got to try the chocolate wheat they use to make this beer. It was wonderful. Like chocolately, adult cereal. I could eat this for breakfast every day.

Then, because the whole place smells like heavenly, smokey BBQ, we went to get a bite on the restaurant side. I tried out all the meats–brisket, pulled chicken, pulled pork, and the ribs.

5th beer: Dark Marvel. This is only available at Brutopia, but you can get it in a growler to go. It was a nice, dark beer to go with the BBQ. This one was malty, creamy, with just a hint of coffee. Oh, and it was 5.2%. Last beer was just right on all fronts.

The only problem I saw with the brewery tour was there were too many IPAs. The only non-IPAs on tap were the Bushido Pumpkin Ale and White Electric Coffee Stout. So if you are a lover of IPA’s, you will bequite pleased.  However, I really wanted to try the Mercy Brown, Juliet Imperial Stout, or What Cheer? Pilsner. I understand that IPAs are popular, but it was skewed too heavily to this type of beer. They seemed to struggle with the traffic flow a bit, but it was the very first day of brewery tours and there was bound to be hiccups.  Overall, if you love great beer and delicious BBQ…find your way to Brutopia, the new home of Revival Brewing Co.  Their mission is to,  “become a destination brew-pub for BBQ and “Craft Beer” lovers in the North East”:…they are well on their way!

You can stay up to date on brewery tours and tastings here.

-Melinda  Rainsberger