Narragansett Beer Co.
Providence, RI
Available: MA, RI, CT, ME, VT, NH
When Prohibition struck down breweries across America in the 1920s, the Narragansett Brewing Co. was one of just six given a patent by the U.S. government to continue brewing beer for medicinal purposes, based largely on the belief that porter had healing properties.
ABV: 7.54
ABW: 5.87
Color: 38
Bitterness: 28
Original gravity: 1069
How coincidental: my ‘Gansett Girls calendar came in the mail today! This was the last Narragansett beer I bought, back in 1980. Honestly? I don’t think it was as good as this. It pours with a big tan head and a smell of cocoa powder and fresh bread. The beer dances with being rich; it has a good medium body, a chocolaty malt flavor circled with a rim of bitterness. The 16 ounce can just makes it more fun. This one’s a keeper.
The nose of this deep brown, nostalgia-soaked ale is lightly sweet with notes of roasted chestnut and burnt wood, along with a whiff of something somewhat prune-ish, leading to a mild though enjoyable flavor offering sweetish notes of dark chocolate, toasted pumpernickel bread, dark raisin and a hint of vanilla bean. The only jarring note arrives in the burnt and bitter finish, which seems so at odds with the rest of the beer’s profile that it skews the perception of the beer as a whole.
Lew Bryson writes about beer and whiskey from his home in southeast Pennsylvania. He has a family and two dogs. That's all you need to know.
Once described as “beerdom's Brillat-Savarin,” Stephen Beaumont is the author of five books and countless articles on beer, spirits, food, travel, and how it all goes together.
