City Councilman Asks Narragansett Beer to Come Back to Cranston

Narragansett Brewing Company has been planning to start brewing beer here in the Ocean State for some time, but a recent warehouse fire on Kinsley Avenue in Providence has scuttled its plans, for now.

One Cranston City Councilman has an idea — why don’t they move to Cranston?

“My grandfather was an employee at the former production plant,” said Christopher G. Paplauskas, who represents Ward 5. “Cranston was the birthplace of Narragansett Beer and we are ready and able to accommodate your return home.”

Paplauskas’ comments were in a March 11 letter to the brewing company.

The councilman said that the beer company has some options here in Cranston, “the city on the move.”

“One example is the old Cranston Print works,” he said. “A mere 1 mile away from the original location of the brewery.”

Narragansett Brewing Company, founded in Cranston in 1890, was once one of the city’s larger employers and its former brewery sat across the street from the new Cranston Police Station on Cranston Street.

Paplauskas said that the city has an office of economic development that can help the company in its search .

“We are ready and able to accommodate your return home,” the councilman wrote before providing his phone number and offering to sit down and “have a ‘Gansett.’”