BRISTOL, RHODE ISLAND

 Across the harbor inside a gold-painted maroon-trimmed corner building, AIDAN’S PUB & GRUB is Bristol’s best craft beer bar (competing favorably with Wakefield’s superfine Mew’s 15 miles south). Its rustic low-ceiling first floor bar is reminiscent of an Irish pub with its wood furnishings, cozy bar and Guinness-sponsored menu. A side deck provides extra seating and the smaller upstairs bar counters a comfortable dining area where a large TV shows the National League playoff game between the Giants and Cardinals this Friday evening in mid-October 2012.

 

I reach for an Offshore Beach Road Nut Brown brewed by a nearby Nantucket brewery (reviewed in the Beer Index) while chowing on Shepherd’s Pie. My son orders the Dublin Pot Pie while my wife and daughter nibble on turkey sandwiches. The worthy pub fare also includes Black Angus steak, chops, seafare and large customized desserts. Aidan’s deservedly boasts the title, “Official St. Patrick’s Day Headquarters.” But you don’t have to be Irish to enjoy the intimate casual atmosphere and ’88 Beers From Around The World’ when visiting this busy harborside retreat.

 

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Revisited Aidan’s a year later with wife and kids during Roger Williams family weekend on a crisp October ’13 Saturday at dinner time.  This time, we sat in the homey left side dining room, a pristine family area featuring a ski lodge-like slate hearth and a few wood Guinness signs on the walls. I downed the moist Limerick Burger with bacon while family enjoyed turkey club, Cajun chicken and chicken pot pie.

 

For a beverage, I chose Utah’s Squatters Hop Rising Double IPA, a brusque floral-citric medium body contrasting juniper-hopped grapefruit bittering and resinous pine sap with tangy orange-tangerine-mango-pineapple fruiting (full review in Beer Index).