Welcome to the unofficially official Arkansas Beer Blog! Somehow, we have claimed the state of Arkansas and the craft beer within. Thanks for stopping by! Here you will find many craft beer reviews, style explanations, stories and docudramas. What makes us different from the other million craft beer sites? We are ALL ABOUT ARKANSAS! What’s that you say? Arkansas is a little behind the times with craft beer? Well, you may be a little right, but one thing is for sure: we have craft beer geeks who love and appreciate good beer. It’s a good time to dive into the amazing world of craft beer as well – thanks to wonderful people like Glidewell Distributing, we are seeing an explosion in diverse world class beer available here in the Natural State!
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Jonas Schaffer
Jonas Schaffer became a craft beer geek after moving to the small town of Charleston and finding a lackluster selection of wine in Fort Smith. After many years of studying the ancient purple liquid, he decided to educate himself about beer. He read many, many books about the subject, and now follows or is involved with over 5.7 million blogs covering tastings, industry knowledge and information, and conceptual directions on craft beer. The world of craft beer simply blew up like an atomic bomb inside his brain. He soon started tasting every beer available, and started a practice of ordering and trading beer online. With a beer cellar currently aging over 6,000 ounces of beer (over 275 bombers), his wife has consulted many rehabilitation centers covering the disease of beer stockpiling, but she can’t seem to convince him to kick the beer collecting habit. Perhaps writing for this blog will help. Or backfire.
Josh Whitson
Josh Whitson’s craft beer crusade began out of sheer boredom. After growing tired of the monotony in the domestic beer scene, he cautiously ventured out in search of something more. Armed with little information on these new craft beers, trial and error led to astounding discoveries in many different styles and flavors. Further study brought him an understanding in the various methods, preparations, components, and passion that go into making these glorious creations. This boundless interest led to a great appreciation and admiration for the craft. It is now his ambition to share this wealth of information and provide honest opinions to other beer enthusiasts, removing a lot of the guesswork in the process.
arkansas beer blog 
Question for you guys: I just moved to Little Rock a year ago and have been frustrated by selection of beers in the local liquor stores… Think there is room for a specialty beer shop in Little Rock w/ what you know of the population of craft beer fans?
I think that’s an AWESOME idea Mike. A quick answer is “yes.” The craft beer movement / revolution shows no signs of stopping, and there are many facts supporting beer drinking demographics are becoming more a)informed and b)particular / conscious of what they drink. So in the large picture, I think a small boutique store in the right location would survive and thrive. Location, location, location right? Little Rock is a great option, though some of the areas in North West Arkansas are prime too. If you find the right spot with the right demographic for traffic – you are golden. This brings me to the next point: if you have the best selection, the beer geeks will come. (this is a plus to your normal traffic). Many beer geeks in Arkansas are used to having to drive to different stores for different beers. Arkansas is only able to provide what is distributed here, and thanks to folks like Glidewell Distributing, we are getting more and more awesome beer…. But, to my knowledge, no place in the state has every awesome beer in one place. And I’ve shopped most places across the state. Fort Smith seems to have more Oklahoma craft beer like the Choc Signature Series, Little Rock has a good grasp of our new Belgian imports, and Fayetteville has the gigantic Liquor World, which may have one of the best selections and is never short of the Boulevard brewing Smoke Stack Series line ups. Yet no place can put it all together in one singular beer friendly store – which is what will be big in the future; a place where you can talk about paring beer and new recommendations for beer, in a friendly boutique environment. If wine can do it, beer sure as hell can. So to end this rant: Yes! We’d love to see a specialty store.
I just left Little Rock for God’s Country (Greenwood) and I would suggest you try Springhill Liquor in NLR and Colonial in WLR… and you have to hit up Big Orange in the Chenal Promenade.
Are you guys on Twitter? You should be.
Funny thing! We just started an account the other day – perhaps you can be teh first follower? Check us out – @ARBeerBlog
The problem with craft beer selection is the demand in the market. Yes, there is a devoted craft beer community, however, the distributors have to pick and choose what to put on shelves and in taps. Also, breweries avoid coming to market here because the craft numbers are so weak.
Great blog keep it up!
That’s where we hope to change things. The more folks converting to craft beer will result in a bigger, better, more robust Arkansas beer scene. Let’s make a positive change here in Arkansas! Thanks!
Hey guys, I am still researching my idea of the beer store and need some more help. Can you send me a contact at Glidewell I could reach out to ask some questions? You should have my email. Thanks fellas!
You’ll have to hit us a personal message (perhaps on facebook?) Mike, because we can’t narrow down your exact email (we have a few Michaels).
So what about review of all of the new microbreweries/brewpubs here in NWA that have opened in 2012? This place is finally catching up with the craft brewing movement. I pumped. Where are you guys?
We are pumped as well! We are planning on getting in touch with Andy Coates specifically and featuring West Mt. Brewing- he has made some wonderful beers. More to come.
Now that the “other” beer forum is down and not coming back any time soon…you guys need to join up at woopig and join in the beer discussion there. http://woopig.net/board/index.php?board=38.0
I am playing a beer game in which a friend and I are attempting to drink a beer from each state. Though I live in Nashville, its been hard to find anything from Arkansas – on tap or in a bottle. I’ll be in Memphis next weekend. Any recommendations for where I might find an Arkansas beer (beer brewed in Arkansas) when I am in Memphis? It is one of 17 states I have left to go. I cannot order beer by mail for the contest.
Sounds fun! You should be able to find Diamond Bear over there in TN I’d hope. Look for DB or Core! Good luck in your mission. This message will self destruct in 5 minutes.
Thanks! I’ll report back.