Spot Whales in Pawtucket this May at Finback Brewery’s Whale Watching Festival
The craft beer event brings together breweries from around the country.
Festival art for the Whale Watching beer festival taking place in Pawtucket on May 21. (Courtesy of Finback Brewery)
Basil Lee might run a brewery in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, but he never forgot his Rhode Island roots. In May, Lee and his Finback Brewery co-owner, Kevin Stafford, will return to Rhode Island to host Whale Watching, a beer festival featuring more than fifty breweries from around the country. The event takes place in the riverfront event space at 249 Roosevelt Ave. in Pawtucket.
Lee is a Rhode Island native who grew up in Lincoln and attended school in Providence. His family was the longtime owners of Pawtucket’s now-closed China Inn. In 2013, after moving to New York, he and Stafford — a native of Marshfield, Massachusetts — opened Finback Brewery in Queens. In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, they opened a second location in Brooklyn.
Though the pair built their brewery reputation in New York, Lee says they cut their teeth in the industry attending beer festivals in Boston.
“I think that cemented our early love of beer in New England. We ultimately both ended up in New York City, opened the brewery here, but New England was actually the first state we sold beer in outside of our own state,” he says.
It seemed only natural, then, for the southern New Englanders to host their first-ever festival in Lee’s home state. Originally planned for the spring of 2020, the event was postponed for two years. Lee says they made the decision to host it in Pawtucket in part to escape the oversaturated festival market in New York, where many similar festivals were already happening.
“We thought it would be great to bring some of these breweries that don’t get to New England often and kind of bring them to New England and show them a little bit of our homes,” he says.
Finback Brewery owners Kevin Stafford and Basil Lee. (Photo by Matt Furman)
The festival features breweries from around the country as well as Rhode Island favorites including Buttonwoods, Proclamation and Tilted Barn. They’ve also got special edition brews planned with Narragansett and Long Live Beerworks.
“We couldn’t not have Narragansett,” Lee says. “They’re I feel like such a classic, iconic Rhode Island brand.”
In addition, the festival will feature Finback’s own coffee brand, Invisible Force, and Brooklyn DJ Chris Maestro of Bierwax. Lee says they plan to bring plenty of Finback beer from their Queens location.
Whale Watching is one of several beer events planned for a busy festival season in Rhode Island, which also includes the RIDEA Craft Beverage Festival on May 14 and the Newport Beer Festival on April 30. Lee says they’re excited to return to Rhode Island and bring their own brand of beer celebration to the Ocean State.
Tickets are available for sale on the event page. The festival takes place on Saturday, May 21, from 12:30 to 5 p.m. at 249 Roosevelt Ave., Pawtucket. The event will be outdoors. Food will be available for purchase from food trucks.
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