Love Craft Beer and Company? This is the Rhode Island Club for You.

Rhode Island Beer Club members at Narragansett Beer’s Providence brewery, with co-founders Shannon Salisbury and Joyce Leisge in front. (Photo courtesy of RI Beer Club)

Shannon Salisbury and Joyce Leisge were fresh out of college in 2013 when they had the idea to found a club for craft beer-lovers. The two friends from the University of Rhode Island had always enjoyed the state’s beer scene and were looking for ways to make new friends after college.

“That’s one of my goals is to just get people out, get them to the local businesses, and support local as much as possible,” says Salisbury, a Connecticut native.

The friends founded the Rhode Island Beer Club Facebook page and planned regular meetups at the now-defunct Track 84 in Warwick. But the club didn’t pick up as much as they had hoped, and within a few years, it fizzled out.

Fast forward to 2021, and they received a message from Emily L’Esperance about reviving the club. The state’s craft beer scene had blossomed during the hiatus, and the time was right to test the waters with a reunion. With L’Esperance’s help, they planned a kickoff event at The Guild in Pawtucket and were surprised by the response.

“It was a huge turnout,” Salisbury recalls. “It took my breath away.”

Since then, the club has met the first and third Friday of every month, gaining new members along the way. A typical meetup draws around thirty faces, with people attending and dropping out as their schedules allow. The club meets at breweries around the state, with locations in Providence and Pawtucket drawing the most attendance.

“Everyone’s very welcoming whenever we have new people,” Salisbury adds.

The club’s operations are simple: With no formal membership, organizers promote the events on social media and open them up to anyone who wants to join. Attendees range in age from their 20s to their 60s, with an openness to meet new people and a shared interest in craft beer. Other than name tags to facilitate the entry of newcomers, organizers leave the group to mingle. The casual setup has fostered a loyal group of regulars as well as some surprisingly tight-knit relationships.

“You can make lifelong connections,” Salisbury says. “Two people are engaged. I’ve been to two weddings of people I met at beer club.”

The club is always on the lookout for new members, and Salisbury says one of her goals for 2025 is to welcome more new faces. As a women-run club, she says, they strive to offer a comfortable environment for women and LGBTQ+ individuals in particular, a deliberate goal in an industry that has traditionally drawn greater numbers of men. A typical meetup draws about 45 percent women and 65 percent men, she says.

The club has visited the majority of Rhode Island’s breweries and plans to continue expanding their reach, though Salisbury says gatherings in far-out locales such as Westerly are more difficult since many attendees are live closer to the state’s core. Proclamation Ale Company in Warwick and Long Live Beerworks in Providence typically draw the largest crowds, while Ragged Island Brewing Company in Portsmouth and Crooked Current Brewery in Pawtucket are among her favorites.

“I’m not from Rhode Island, so I’ll drive thirty, forty minutes to get anywhere worth going,” she says.

They’re also looking into partnering with a local brewery on a charity beer collaboration, something Salisbury says will help them expand their mission beyond socializing. Organizers say they’re open to suggestions on ideas and future meetup locations.

“If we could do more for the community, that would show a little more than just drinking and networking,” she says.

The group meets at 7 p.m., with locations typically posted to its Facebook and Instagram accounts in the preceding weeks. The club will hold its next meetup following a holiday break at Lops Brewing in Woonsocket on Friday, Jan. 3.

Rhode Island Beer Club at Apponaug Brewing Co. in October. (Photo courtesy of RI Beer Club)

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