Proclamation Brewing has welcomed visitors to 298 Kilvert St. in Warwick, putting a familiar brewery address back in service under a new name and new ownership. Opening-week activities were scheduled to run from Wednesday, Nov. 11, through Sunday, Nov. 15.
Visitors were welcomed on Wednesday, as reported by NBC 10. The restart follows the May closing of Proclamation Ale Company, which had been in business for 12 years, according to WPRI.
Same Building, Different Name
The address is not a new find. Proclamation Ale moved in 2017 into what the Providence Journal called a state-of-the-art facility at 298 Kilvert St. That is the building Proclamation Brewing is using now.
The company itself was older than the Kilvert Street plant. The Journal reported May 3 as the last day for Proclamation Ale Company in Warwick, closing out 12 years in business. WPRI described that ending as the shuttering of a beloved local brewery. NBC 10's November story then treated the same street address as a new space for visitors, which is accurate as a change of business and off as a change of real estate.
The Journal's May 1 report set Proclamation Ale's closing beside two other Rhode Island brewery shutdowns, Ravenous and Crafted Hope. The Kilvert Street story was local. It was not the only one.
Debt, the Brand, and a New Start
WPRI reported the successor in plain terms: "Proclamation Brewing is officially back open under new ownership." Lori Witham told the station that Richard Storti acquired the brewery's outstanding debt and intellectual assets after the closure.
That combination matters more than a paint job on the taproom. Debt is what the old company still owed. Intellectual assets are the name, recipes and other property that let a brand keep traveling after the operator changes. Witham's account is the public description of how those pieces moved. The reporting stops there.
The timing is less tidy than a single ribbon-cutting. Proclamation Ale's last day was reported as May 3. WPRI then described Proclamation Brewing as back open under the new ownership after that closing. NBC 10's Wednesday report is the one that put visitors at the door, with a scheduled opening week still running through the weekend.
A Buyout With Two Published Figures
The May closing also sat next to a fight over a minority stake. NBC 10 reported that a judge ordered the company to buy out a minority owner's share, valued at more than $330,000. Warwick Post reported a Rhode Island Superior Court ruling that valued Joshua Karten's 25 percent interest in Proclamation Ales at $329,249.58.
Those are not casual rounding differences a reader has to guess through. One account describes a court-ordered buyout and a share worth more than $330,000. The other names Karten, a 25 percent interest and a figure down to the cent. Coverage of the shutdown treated the litigation as one financial pressure among others, including the wider trouble in craft beer.
Witham, quoted by WPRI, rejected the idea that the case explained the whole ending. "The lawsuit was not the only reason we closed, and I have never claimed that it was."
A Market That Stopped Adding Taprooms on Cue
The industry numbers were already pointing the other way. The Providence Journal, citing the Brewers Association, reported that 2025 was the second consecutive year in which brewery closings outpaced openings. A Rhode Island Brewers Guild representative told NBC 10 the craft-beer business was entering a more mature market after 16 years of growth. The line the station carried was short: "we're seeing maturity in the market."
Maturity, in that usage, is not a compliment pasted onto a closing. It means the long run of new breweries is no longer the default plot. When closings outnumber openings for a second year, a 12-year Warwick brewery can shut even if neighbors still think of the place as beloved. Proclamation Ale's May 2026 exit was not part of that 2025 count.
The November welcome does not rewrite the association's tally, and it does not settle what the buyout ultimately cost. It does put a rebranded brewery back at 298 Kilvert St., with opening-week activities scheduled through Sunday, Nov. 15. The street number survived. The company that moved in back in 2017 did not.
