Discipline Brewing takes over iconic Pawtucket brewery site

Pawtucket’s most familiar brewery address is getting a third act. Discipline Brewing Co. is moving into 100 Carver Street, the corner spot at Carver and Main long tied to Smug Brewing and, before that, Bucket Brewery, with a grand opening expected in early July.

The timing matters as much as the address. Smug Brewing announced on July 29, 2025 that it would close, and local reporting said Aug. 30, 2025 was its last day pouring pints in Pawtucket. Rather than leave a recognizable beer space dark, Tony Lustig and Sam Clidence secured the building and pushed ahead with a buildout that is still in the licensing stage. Discipline’s website says the pair are taking their time sprucing up equipment, remodeling the space, cleaning every nook and cranny, and perfecting recipes before opening the doors.

That approach sounds different from the brewery that came before it. Smug built its name on a working taproom and brewery at the site, with parking on Carver Street, but Discipline is leaning hard into a homey, community-focused hangout. Its public branding talks less like a production shop and more like a place built for games, lingering, and a comfortable taproom vibe. In a neighborhood that has already seen one brewery close and another prepare to move in, that distinction matters. This is not just a new sign on the tanks. It looks like a deliberate reset.

The path to Pawtucket was anything but straight. Lustig, a musician who later worked in building supplies, and Clidence, a woodworker and general contractor, got started after Clidence brought a stovetop brewing kit to Lustig’s house. That hobby grew into a kitchen-turned-brew-space and then into a full brewery plan. Along the way, the pair chased several South County sites and then a former Harley-Davidson dealership in Exeter, until tariffs in March 2025 shook the financing and a lender backed out. After nearly walking away, they moved fast when Smug put the Pawtucket space up for sale last August and took over the site in September.

The bigger story is what 100 Carver Street now says about Rhode Island beer. Bucket Brewery once operated there, Smug followed, and Discipline is next, making the building a repeated brewery address rather than a vacant industrial shell. The Rhode Island Brewers Guild says the state has grown from five founding breweries and brewpubs in 2013 to 38 actively producing breweries by March 2026, but the market is still churning. In that context, keeping a beer business alive at one of Pawtucket’s best-known brewery corners feels less like a reopening and more like the latest handoff in the state’s craft-beer history.