I'm scared for breweries. It seems like every time a new one opens, two or three close. So if anything, I'm going to be extremely grateful that Rites Brewing has taken over this Bay Shore spot and is serving up some suds for beer lovers. A few buddies and I checked out the joint last weekend with pretty tasty results.
Now if you are keen on the beer scene you'll immediately know that Rites is housed in what was once The Brewers Collective. They have since gone on to that great beer keg in the sky, but luckily Rites took over and semi-revamped the style. There's not any intense aesthetics going on in Rites, but the little that they have gives off a tiny rustic feel. It's almost, but not quite, cozy.
Cozy wasn't necessarily a word for that day as the place was busy and the music (albeit more guitar and folky which I usually enjoy) made conversations a bit tough. Not going to complain about people coming here (because dang it we need people to support our local breweries!), but when space is at a premium and sometimes you just want to talk to some friends you haven't seen in a bit, smaller setups can be dicey. Even so, I'd gladly return to Rites again to see how the eb and flow of the crowd is at another time.
And truly I'd return because of, well, the beer! That's the number one reason to check out Rites because even though they only had a small menu of selections, everything I tried was spot on. Each beer fit its description and you could tell they were made with quality. From the dark mild Food For Thought to the smooth and hoppy Isolated Ritual to the fruity sour Garlands, each beer was rockin'. No flights seemed to be available which is a small caveat, but I'm curious to see what else they brew and hopeful they extend their menu to a few more available beers as well.
Overall, I'm relatively impressed with Rites Brewing. There's a few little things here and there that stops five stars, but they're all fixable and items that can easily make Rites one of the top breweries on the island. I'll try to support it as much as I can and you should too. The last thing we need is for breweries to become an endangered species! read more