Meet the Founder of the Local Club for Cocktail Lovers

The Rhode Island Cocktail Club crew during their first gathering at Rhode Island Spirits in April 2023. At center (holding the sign) is founder Jamie Long. (Photo courtesy of Rhode Island Cocktail Club)

Jamie Long didn’t set out to be a food influencer. In fact, the Middletown native had never even been on Instagram until 2017, when she downloaded the app to follow the specials at the now-closed Crepelicious in Barrington. It wasn’t long before she was hooked on the plethora of food content showcasing the best of Rhode Island’s dining and drinks scene.

“My family never went to Providence because no one leaves the island, so then finally when I moved on my own after I graduated college, I was like, ‘I’m going to explore our tiny state.’ And this really gave me a reason to explore,” she says.

Now, the face behind @tasting_ri and @hoppypurrfection has a new reason to hit the bars. Last year, Long founded Rhode Island Cocktail Club as an opportunity for her followers to get together and interact over the state’s best cocktails. Every second and fourth week of the month, she posts a new location where participants join up and socialize over a drink.

“Whenever I was sharing cocktail bars or places that had drinks, a lot of people said they wanted to go but didn’t want to go alone or have someone to go with,” she says.

The meetups are open to anyone twenty-one-and-older and draw a range of ages, with most participants in their 30s and 40s. Long says she especially wants the group to be a safe space for women who might otherwise feel uncomfortable going out alone. Twenty-to-forty participants attend a typical night out, and regulars have formed friendships outside the club.

Though many of the locations are at bars and distilleries close to Providence — the inaugural meetup was at Rhode Island Spirits in Pawtucket — Long says she hopes to patronize bars across the state. The next meetup is at O’Brien and Brough distillery in Bristol on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 4 p.m. Long is looking forward to April when she’ll celebrate her birthday with a meetup at Jefferson Speakeasy in Warwick and the group’s one-year anniversary at White Dog Distilling in Pawtucket.

“This is not only helping people find each other, but we’re also supporting our businesses,” she says, pointing out the pandemic shuttered many local restaurants.

A typical meetup lasts around three hours and often involves the group ending up at a second bar — usually Deadbeats in Providence — after the main event. The events are free, and not everyone drinks, Long says, adding she tries to find locations that have mocktail options. In the summer, she hopes to host more events at patios and rooftop bars.

And for those thinking of getting into the influencer business, Long says it hasn’t been a big source of income — yet. The electrical-engineer-by-day taste tests everything she posts about and does it mainly for her love of food. In the future, she hopes the platform will help her launch larger, paid events focused on Rhode Island food and drink.

“I always tell people if there’s something on my page, I definitely have tried it,” she says.

To learn more about upcoming events, follow @ricocktailclub on Instagram or Facebook.

A Ward Eight cocktail at O’Brien and Brough. The next Rhode Island Cocktail Club gathering will take place at O’Brien and Brough on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 4 p.m. (Photo courtesy of Rhode Island Cocktail Club)

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