We’re still facing some of the challenges due to COVID-19, but I feel there’s hope on the horizon.”

Matt Gray, Ragged Island

Ragged Island Farm Brewery
54 Bristol Ferry Road
Portsmouth, RI 02871
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PORTSMOUTH — The farm brewery Ragged Island Brewing Co. is building on the former Island Garden Shop property on Bristol Ferry Road should be fully open by September, owner Matt Gray told the Zoning Board of Review Thursday night.

Major construction on the project, delayed by the COVID-19, should begin within the next few weeks, Mr. Gray said.

“We hope to have shovels in the earth in the month of April,” he said, adding there will be a “four-month buildout” for the brewery space.

Ragged Island had expected the farm brewery to be fully operational by now, but “now that looks like that’s not going to happen until at least August,” Mr. Gray said. “We’re still facing some of the challenges due to COVID-19, but I feel there’s hope on the horizon.”

The brewery, which has been operating out of the Portsmouth Industrial Park at 200 Highpoint Ave., received zoners’ approval in April 2019 for a special-use permit to move its business to the 37-acre parcel previously owned by the Van Hof family, where the Island Garden Shop was operated for many years. 

The approved farm brewery plan — Ragged Island is growing hops and other ingredients for its beers — originally included the construction of a new, modern 9,335-square-foot building for brewing operations and seasonal taproom. Due to a pandemic that significantly ate into sales, however, the brewery scaled back its plans and decided to renovate an existing barn for use as the taproom instead.

The brewery also received zoners’ permission, in July 2020, to offer a series of warm-weather beer gardens at the farm as a way of getting customers to the site before construction was fully complete. A 40x60-foot tent was erected with a service bar and 16 tables with six chairs each for a maximum of 96 people at a time. McGrath Clambakes was the vendor for the events, which ran through the fall.

Mr. Gray, representing the applicant Donovan Gray Distributing, LLC, came before the zoning board Thursday to seek permission for another round of beer gardens, beginning April 1, at the farm site at 54 Bristol Ferry Road. The board voted unanimously to approve the special events from April 1 to Sept. 30.

The beer gardens will be open for a maximum of five hours a day — that’s all the catering license permits — between the hours of noon and 8 p.m. Mr. Gray said he expects to host the events daily from Thursday to Sunday.

“As we get further into the year, we might open up one Wednesday here or there,” he said.

Abutters satisfied

During last year’s zoning board hearing on the matter, Meghan Kissell, whose parents abut the farm at 24 Bristol Ferry Road, raised concerns over lighting and buffering. 

At Thursday’s meeting, Mr. Gray said the company will be doing more planting soon to address those concerns. He added there are no plans for amplified music, but if that changed he’d have to go before the zoning board again for permission.

Ms. Kissell thanked Mr. Gray on Thursday for “being a very respectful neighbor over the last summer.”

Members of the zoning board agreed. Ragged Island, said board member John Borden, “has been a very cooperative, small business in the town of Portsmouth, particularly during COVID time.” The company met all the conditions enacted by the zoners last year and has “bent over backwards for the abutters,” he said.