Lesbian Founders Distill Herbs and Queer Pride
A hub for local, independently owned distilleries and breweries, Pawtucket features a Lesbian-founded and woman-, employee-, veteran-, and queer-owned distillery: Rhode Island Spirits. The company’s ownership model has roots in Lesbian business and community history as well as the city’s history of female labor organizing: in 1824, around one hundred women employed in a Pawtucket textile mill started the country’s first wage-worker strike. Previously located in the former Morrison Thread Mill and now housed in a former screw and fastener manufacturing building, Rhode Island Spirits engages with this legacy.
Rhode Island Spirits co-founder Cathy Plourde became interested in gin while living in England with her former partner Kara Larson. Originally from East Providence, Cathy and Kara relocated to Rhode Island to be closer to family, and decided to develop a Rhode Island-specific version of their favorite spirit. They chose Pawtucket as their location because of the city’s support for new businesses. Proximity to the historic Slater Mill and the new train station (opened in 2023) as well as the commitments to revitalizing the river and developing art-centered activities all made Pawtucket an attractive and potentially lucrative place to be. After a year of research and exploration, they opened Rhode Island Spirits in 2019. The tasting room closed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was able to reopen in 2021.
The alcohol from Rhode Island Spirits is truly Rhode Island-based. Vodka is transformed into gin through the addition of florals, botanicals, and local ingredients, gaining sensory complexity and intrigue in the process. The company has integrated foraged Rhode Island botanicals into their products, including autumn olives, also known as autumn berry or silver berry, and also sumac and rugosa. Given that these are invasive species, these botanicals are abundantly available, and their harvesting is not ecologically disruptive. Over time, RI Spirits has developed a number of Rhode Island-specific spirits: for example, the Rhode Island Red, a cranberry/cherry combination named for the state bird (a chicken).
Initially owned by two out-and-proud Lesbians, the founders of RI Spirits realized their vision to be an employee-owned company in 2024. The owners of RI Spirits are also open about their identity as a queer-owned business, and find that this feeds and supports their business’s values (inclusion, excellence, and transparency) and vision (ensuring a welcoming environment to all). Of course, alcohol is a complicated and sometimes harmful force, including in LGBTQIA+ communities. When asked about this complex relationship during an interview, Cathy made connections with the comorbidities of alcohol with homelessness, abuse, neglect, and drug use. Given this, RI Spirits abides by state and federal regulations, such as the three-drink limit.
Given the history of female labor organizing in Pawtucket’s nineteenth-century mills, it seems fitting that a Lesbian-founded and queer- and employee-owned business has now taken up residence in two former manufacturing sites. RI Spirits and other diverse independent distillers and brewers have together created a new, twenty-first century hub for Pawtucket manufacturing.
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