Opened in 1994, Trinity Brewhouse in Providence, Rhode Island was one of the first two brewpubs established following the legalization of brewpubs in the state, and it’s had the longest continuous run of any brewery in Rhode Island.
But in 2025, Trinity was perceived as a beloved but aging institution. At the time, BeerAdvocate had it at 3.7 out of 5: respectable, not glowing. People brought friends for the “good food and solid local beer.”
Enter new owners, renovations, and a grand reopening in February 2026…. and also a new head brewer: Josh Roy, formerly of StartLine Brewing in Massachusetts, and former assistant brewer at Trinity ten year ago.
Relaunching a well-known brand comes with tremendous risk. Anchor Brewing in California (opened in 1896) and was one of America’s great brewery survival stories until it had to shut down in 2023 after 127 years in business. The trouble largely traces back to a 2021 rebrand that replaced its classic hand-drawn packaging by designer Jim Stitt. Fans and former employees have said the backlash to that rebrand was one of the contributing factors in the brewery’s eventual collapse.
At the same time, consider Narragansett Brewing in Rhode Island, which traces its roots back to 1890. In 2005, the relaunch leaned heavily into the brewery’s history while introducing new beers designed for modern drinkers. By 2021, Narragansett had grown into the 32nd largest craft brewery in the country.
With all this in mind, I sat down with Josh to talk about the pressure, process, and revelations that come when you relaunch a well-known brand.
Quick facts about Josh:
- He landed his first professional brewing job in 2016, working as an assistant brewer at a two-person brewery, and won medals at the Great American Beer Festival during that stretch.
- He then spent six years at Trinity Brewhouse.
- From Trinity, he went to Startline Brewing as an assistant brewer to experience production-style brewing
What’s different about being back here now as the head brewer in a relaunch?
I had to stop and think about what I was going to do: who the new owners were, what the new vision was, while still trying to keep some of the old beers going. We had old recipes and old things to work with. The only real challenge was keeping up with what’s trending now. The first year (and we’re still in it) I’ve been throwing as much out there as I can, just to see what the crowd here responds to. But there are three classic beers we had to keep on tap at all times: a Kolsch, Tommy’s Red, and the Rhode Island IPA.
What has been the response when old patrons walk into Trinity?
It’s been a mix of everything. Some people came in and just wanted the old stuff; some people expected beers that weren’t on anymore. But when someone comes in and asks why we don’t have a certain beer, that’s not really a Trinity thing, that’s everywhere. So I don’t take it to heart.
It’s a much different experience coming into something established versus starting on your own.
It’s hard and easy at the same time. There was some stuff I wasn’t going to change, so that was easy. But everything’s being refreshed, so I have to bring something of my own to it, and I’m glad they let me put my stamp on it. We just found out we won a Best of Rhode Island Award (for Brewery/Brewpub in Rhode Island Monthly’s Best of Rhode Island). After being open less than a year, that’s a real confidence booster.
What do you have planned?
Fall is a good time of year, but it’s kind of set in stone, the styles you need to have for September and October. The Kolsch will be back on, the Oktoberfest, a pumpkin. First week of September, I plan to flip the menu: roll out the fall beers, and later in November I want to try the brown ale again.
I also had the opportunity to speak with one of the three new owners of Shaidzon Brewing: Josh, of TJ, Nate, and Mike.
Quick facts:
- Shaidzon was founded in 2017 by childhood friends Josh Letourneau and Chip Samson
- Started with a 7-barrel brewhouse and grew to over 1,000 barrels of beer per year by 2022.
- No longer open on-site to the public; closed for onsite traffic but still brewing and distributing throughout Rhode Island.
- In June 2025, Chip announced Shaidzon was seeking a sale: “We have made the decision that it is best for us, for our families and for Shaidzon.”
Why did you go this route rather than start your own brand from scratch?
We all have day jobs, so dropping everything to start something brand new is a little daunting, which is part of why I didn’t end up opening my own brewery about ten years ago. A tap room isn’t off the table, though. When we made the post announcing we were the new owners, Nate asked people, “Tell us what you want to see.” A lot of the comments were people asking for a new tap room. Opening a brewery takes a lot of capital for equipment, so we thought contract brewing was the right call for now: keep the brand alive, and if we can keep growing, we’d love to open a tap room down the line.
What did you like about the Shaidzon brand specifically?
You’d probably get different answers from each of us. We love that it’s local; we’re Rhode Islanders, and it’s a Rhode Island company that’s made a lot of beers over the years that feel very aligned with being a Rhode Islander. The other thing is, the beers are just really good, and I can say that as someone who’s unbiased, since I didn’t make the recipes. When I bring samples and ask for honest feedback, everyone loves it.
So are you fully transitioned and operational at this point?
Yeah. We closed, and we have (former head brewer/owner Chip Samson and Josh Letourneau] on for a six-month transition period.
That’s smart; keeping the old team on to consult for a while.
Definitely, and it helps with Grey Sail [Brewing in Westerly] too. We have a contract brewing agreement with them to produce our beer while we don’t have a taproom, and it’s especially helpful for us during this transition because they are familiar with our brewing processes from supporting Shaidzon in the past.
Have you gotten any pushback about taking over, like an “old guard vs. new guard” reaction, people saying “you’re not Chip and Josh”?
Honestly, no. It’s mostly been excitement that there’s new energy around the brand and that we might bring it back to where it was. No pushback at all.
What’s the plan moving forward: sticking with the existing recipes, or introducing anything new?
There is something like 150 different beers that Shaidzon has made over the years. What we’ve been doing, in partnership with Josh, is looking at what got great ratings on Untappd, and asking people what they wanted to see come back. There might be small variations; for instance, we’re tweaking the hops slightly on one beer, but nothing major, and we’ll make sure that’s reflected on the label.
That’s a smart move. It shows respect for what came before, and it brings back people who might think, “Oh, if they’re making that again, I remember loving that.”
Yeah, and that’s something I’ve noticed just from our social media interaction; Shaidzon’s following might not be as large as some of the bigger breweries in Rhode Island, but they’re very loyal. It was wild how many beer requests came in on that first post, including some that haven’t been made in years.
My takeaway from all this: A branding expert quoted in a 2025 industry piece laid out the failure modes clearly: breweries risk losing brand identity if they change too much too fast. The successful relaunches tend to lean into nostalgia and community identity rather than away from it, while the failures came from moving too far.
This feature article first appeared in Yankee Brew News.