By Gavi Klein
For most people, if they encounter something cool from a foreign country they’ll take a trip there to check it out, or perhaps even just be satisfied by some pictures on Google. Laura Enright, upon discovering European Prosecco trucks, took a slightly different path: she brought a truck to the United States, and started a business herself.
Beer and Bubbles, the Rhode Island based, mobile beer, wine and, of course, Prosecco bar, arrived in the US in June of 2018. Just a month after the truck’s arrival in the States, Enright and her fiance, Stephen Kiley, began serving up all varieties of bubbly beverages at weddings, grand openings and more. The truck, a 1982 Piaggio Ape (pictured above), underwent quite a journey from its birthplace in Italy to a year-long refurbishment in England and finally, to its current home in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, under the love and care of its owners, the soon-to-be-wed, Enright and Kiley.
The truck is designed to fulfill the desires of individual customers, as Enright says, “anything that comes in a keg you can put on our truck.” The vehicle can house four different alcoholic beverages on tap, depending on the customers’ preferences, but Enright and Kiley have also been known to work with customers to create custom cocktails for special events. Out of all the events they have served, Enright still says weddings are her favorite. “As soon as you see the bride and the groom and the guests react to the truck, it’s just pure joy. Like, ‘wow, this is just the coolest thing you could have at your wedding.’” Prosecco on tap? Yeah, we’d say that’s pretty cool, too.
It may sound like a bubbly heaven now, but it did take a lot of work to get to this point. Back in 2017, Kiley was running the tech firm he owns and Enright was teaching first grade. Enright, who also has a background in bartending and foodservice, caught wind of a gaping hole in the bar industry in the US; there were no Prosecco trucks. With Kiley’s support, she started looking into shipping a truck over from Italy. It was clear from the beginning that it would be an uphill climb to get to the place she envisioned. However, as Enright recounts, “Stephen said, ‘let’s give something else a shot, and see what can happen.’ So that’s what we did.” Taking a leap of faith, Enright quit her job and the couple hired a team from England. This team then went to Italy, found the vehicle, took it back to England, refurbished it under the couple’s careful instruction and eventually shipped it over to the US. “We just worked from a distance,” Enright explains. “We went back and forth and they did the build-out for us.” Despite the challenges that arose from essentially trying to rebuild a thirty-five year old machine, one year later, the shiny new(ish) truck arrived, ready for action.
Enright happened to be out of town for the truck’s very first event, but she recalls Kiley telling her that, “people won’t leave the truck!” Everyone wanted to take pictures and get drinks, and everyone agreed: Beer and Bubbles was a blast. The second event, a much larger one, offered the fledgling business much more exposure in the food world and as Enright puts it, it too went off “without a hitch.” Since then, the company has been growing steadily, completing its first full season this year. Recently, Enright has been working full-time for Beer and Bubbles with Kiley still at his tech firm coming out to work events with her, but she’s planning on going back to teaching in the fall and winter to stay busy in the slower seasons.
If you’re looking for a good way to spice up a birthday, wedding or other occasion, check out Beer and Bubbles. Enright and Kiley are sure to work closely with you to stock the truck with your favorite drinks, decorate it according to your themes and ideas, and generally add a lovely presence to your event. After all, who couldn’t use some more bubbles in their life?