'Skeleton & Roses': Troy City, Narrows team up on Grateful Dead-inspired brew

FALL RIVER — While outside appears to be a never ending touch of grey lately, everything's coming up (skeleton and) roses inside 16 Anawan St.

A fun collaboration between The Narrows Center for the Arts and its neighbor Troy City Brewing has been creating quite a buzz on social media.

The two Anawan Street neighbors have recently teamed up on a project uniting Dead Heads and beer enthusiasts alike.

Owner Keith Carvalho and Patrick Norton, executive director of the Narrows, have crafted a brew that pairs perfectly with a much-anticipated Grateful Dead vintage poster gallery coming to the Fall River arts center.

"This is celebrating all things Grateful Dead and all things fun," Norton said.

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The limited edition “Skeleton & Roses” West Coast IPA debuted at Troy City, located on the first floor of the 16 Anawan St. building it shares with the arts center, coinciding with the opening of Narrows' “Grateful Dead: The Vintage Posters 1966-1995" exhibit.

"We're really proud of it," Carvalho said. "Once you take the first sip, that's it, you've got to finish the can."

Carvalho said he and Norton had recently been discussing ways to join forces. With the success of last year's Grateful Dead tribute show with the Pearly Baker Band, and the poster collection coming to the city, they knew this was the way to go.

"The Narrows is the symbiotic intersection of art and music … we wanted a way to get the other parts of our building involved, so the brewery made perfect sense," Norton said.

After truckin' it to Troy City for a taste, folks can head up to the Narrows and take a walk through time, enjoying the largest exhibit of Grateful Dead concert posters ever shown, with 77 works in all.

One featured piece in particular — a famous 1966 “Skeleton & Roses” poster that became a core part of the Dead’s iconography — served as the inspiration for Troy City's unique, new offering.

"We both enjoy IPAs so wanted something that wasn't over the top — no crazy alcohol, crazy bitterness," Carvalho said. "We both went back and forth about it. It was awesome. It was cool to be able to get inspiration on both sides of it."

They landed on West Coast IPA because it was "sessionable and drinkable" at 6% alcohol content, so "it would meet the masses, it wouldn't just be for the hop heads."

To create its distinctive flavor profile, Carvalho and his team used a Chinook hop (a US-bred high alpha hop with a spicy, piney hop aroma), and added crystal malts to give "Skeleton & Roses" a caramel flavor and amber color. The Chinook hops give it a "nice resiny type of aroma and slight bitterness," he said.

They brewed a 12-barrel batch, ending up with about 312 gallons, or 35 to 40 cases. "Skeleton & Roses'' cans — dressed in a label featuring the work of local artist Rick Couto, a graphic designer who does a lot of work at the Narrows — will be sold at Friday's launch, with the rest available on draft at Troy City while supplies last.

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According to Carvalho, the beer collab is a win-win for both businesses, which play well off one another.

Troy City has a "nice, German type of vibe to it," with an outdoor beer garden in the summer, just steps away from the arts center's lively, bustling second-floor space. The two have worked together on various projects in the past, and Carvalho looks forward to continuing collaborations.

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Carvalho said he's grateful for their partnership with the Narrows, which played a big role in helping Troy City build its brand over the past four years.

"When we started this project... trying to bring something to the city, we were looking for the perfect spot and Patrick took us in with open arms," Carvalho said. "It really helped us out with the brand because he has a huge following with the music and we just started finding a lot of inspiration on the music side... Troy City evolved into something a lot bigger than we anticipated."

News of the one-of-a-kind poster exhibit has put Fall River and the Narrows in the national spotlight, which Norton said is "the best thing about it."

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"It's attracted a lot of positive attention to the Narrows," Norton said. "That to me is why we do these types of things. We're trying to get the word out of all the great things we're doing, and these kinds of things really help."

"We're super excited," said Norton, who worked with the Bahr Gallery in Oyster Bay, New York, on bringing the collection to the Spindle City.

An official opening reception for “Grateful Dead: The Vintage Posters 1966-1995" will be held at the Narrows Center on Feb. 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. The free event will feature samples of “Skeleton & Roses” West Coast IPA, local food offerings and special guests discussing the artwork. The Narrows exhibit will run through March.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: New Troy City beer inspired by Grateful Dead exhibit at Narrows Center