Meet the Rhody Beer Enthusiasts Behind 3 Dudes’ Brews
The podcast showcases the best of southern New England's local craft beer scene.
Buddy Thayer, Costas Tsangarouli and Ed Patnaude are the three friends behind 3 Dudes’ Brews. (Photo by Lauren Clem taken at Uncommon Pair Brewing)
What do you get when you take three friends and add craft beer?
A podcast, of course.
3 Dudes’ Brews is a podcast from three northern Rhode Island residents showcasing the best of southern New England’s craft beer scene. The podcast releases new episodes every month or so, featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes looks at breweries across Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Buddy Thayer, a Smithfield resident and one of three hosts behind the podcast, says they try to offer “something more than your typical bubbles on the screen.”
“We’ve always been fans of the craft beer scene and the craft beer community in general,” adds Costas Tsangarouli, a North Providence resident. Ed Patnaude, the third host behind the podcast, also lives in North Providence.
Every episode is recorded onsite at a local tasting room and features interviews with brewers and brewery owners, often while the hosts imbibe a selection of their beers. In addition to breweries, the three friends occasionally venture outside the industry to highlight other craft beverage producers, including Nickle Creek Vineyard in Foster, Tapped Apple Cidery and Winery in Westerly and Arcane Mead & Winery in Providence.
The podcast originated in 2024, while the group was out touring breweries for the annual Big LeBREWski event put on by RI Food Fights. Tsangarouli and Patnaude had been drinking buddies for awhile (their children are high school sweethearts), and Thayer and Tsangarouli knew each other through their wives. Thayer already had some podcast experience, and the three friends discussed the idea during a visit to Whalers Brewing Company. Before the night was up, they had a name.
“Granted, we had already had several drinks by this time in the night,” Patnaude says.
The first episode, released two months later, featured Nichole Lourenco of Crooked Current Brewery in Pawtucket. Since then, the group has steadily drank its way through Rhode Island’s craft beer scene, highlighting such giants as Long Live Beerworks, Buttonwoods Brewery and The Guild alongside newcomers like Trágmar Ale Works and Crook Point Brewing Co. They also venture over the border, with recent episodes featuring North Attleborough’s Angle Tree Brewery and Groton’s Outer Light Brewing Company.
The conversations aren’t scripted, and the only rule brewery owners receive is “No politics, no religion.” A more casual side series, titled “Last Call,” feature the three hosts in their homes trying out different beers with various guests. The three friends say their goal is to lift local beverage producers up in an oftentimes challenging industry.
“We don’t talk bad about a place, ever,” Patnaude says. “Our mothers taught us if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.”
That’s not to say they don’t dig into some of the juicy topics of the craft beer scene. They recently met with representatives of the new Proclamation Brewing and hope to release an episode on the brewery in December. Some of their favorite episodes, they say, feature breweries that are no longer around and serve as a record of what they left behind. One episode with Efren Hidalgo of the now-closed Providence Brewing Company, included a story about how his father immigrated to the United States from Cuba.
“He had a beer that was dedicated to his dad. To have him share that story with us, it was moving,” Tsangarouli says.
Each host has a distinct taste in beer, contributing to their wide net of featured breweries. Patnaude prefers lagers and pilsners, while Tsangarouli usually goes for fruited sours or unusual flavors. Thayer is the group’s resident IPA fan.
The podcast’s demographic skews older, and its reach has been steadily growing, with 1.3K followers on Facebook at the latest count. The three friends say they make no money from it and do it for the love of beer and the local scene. (A note on their website invites supporters to “donate if you like…we need beer money!”)
They’ve also raised funds for charity since their founding, including an online bingo game that raised close to $800 for the Ronald McDonald House. Thayer says they hope to continue to expand the podcast’s reach in the coming months, ideally with road trips to Portland and other locales to highlight some of New England’s iconic breweries.
“I have a bucket list,” he says.
In the meantime, the three friends say they’re glad to promote local businesses and document the craft beer scene.
“We know how hard it is. We’ve seen so many people come and go. We just wanted to promote everyone and lift everyone,” Patnaude says.
3 Dudes’ Brews is available to stream online at YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and iHeartPodcasts.
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