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As seen in the October 24, 2012 issue of Arkansas Times

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10 page section from Arkansas Times October 24, 2012 issue.

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Page 1: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

As seen in th

e

October 24, 2012

issue of Ark

ansas Times

Page 2: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

20 OCTOBER 24, 2012 ARKANSAS TIMES

The Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival.BY ROBERT BELL, SAM EIFLING, DAVID KOON, LINDSEY MILLAR AND MICHAEL ROBERTS

BEER LOVERS’ DREAM COME TRUE

Clear your calendar, beer lovers. On Nov. 2, the Arkansas Times and the Argenta Arts District present the Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festi-val. It will run 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the

Argenta Farmer’s Market lot at Sixth and Main streets in North Little Rock (or at Dickey-Stephens if it’s raining). Tickets are $35 via arktimes.com/craftbeerfest or $40 at the door if still available. Below, find short profiles of each of the 31 participat-ing breweries, and see pages 30 and 31 for a handy checklist of all of the brews they’re planning on bringing.

NATIONAL

ANCHOR BREWING Certainly one of the old-est brewers at the festival (founded 1896), San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing is prob-ably best known for its Anchor Steam Beer, a highly effervescent, extremely drinkable beer. But Anchor makes several other excel-lent brews, including Anchor Liberty, Por-ter and Small (a low-alcohol beer made from “second runnings” of a stronger beer mash), all of which will be on tap Nov. 2. RB

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ATS

Page 3: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

www.arktimes.com OCTOBER 24, 2012 21

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BLUE MOON Born in Denver in 1995 and purchased by Coors, Blue Moon’s reach is now pervasive, found seemingly every-where but in playground water fountains. These guys are big now, but they came up the right way: Blue Moon’s head brew-master and founder has a Ph.D. in brewing from the University of Brussels. SE.

THE BOSTON BEER CO. As the fifth-largest brewing company in the country, Bos-ton Beer Co.’s Samuel Adams is the Target store of American craft brews: wide-ranging and presentable, with a veneer of middlebrow pretense. On tap from Massachusetts at the festival will be the delectable Winter Lager and three you probably haven’t tried: the stiff, malty New World; the “wine-like” Stony Brook Red and the oaky/raisin-y Thirteenth Hour. SE

BREWERY OMMEGANG From the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame (that’d be Cooperstown, N.Y.) comes Brewery

Ommegang, the only American brewer that exclusively makes Belgian-style ales. That might sound like a niche focus, but Belgium has one of the richest and most diverse brewing traditions in the world, thanks in large part to centuries of beer-loving monks doing God’s work on Earth. Ommegang’s devotion to doing things the right way speaks to the brewery’s level of commitment to delicious beer. The folks from Ommegang will be pouring their Abbey, BPA, Hennepin and Three Phi-losophers ales. RB

GOOSE ISLAND The brewery is the pride of Chicago’s North Side, just within staggering distance of Wrigley Field. These guys are bringing the full band: Honker’s Ale, Mild Winter, India Pale Ale, the Belgian-style Pere Jacques, Matilda and the coveted Bourbon County Stout, of which the brewery makes this enticing claim: “One sip has more flavor than your average case of beer.” Read more about the Bourbon County Stout on page 15. SE

HENRY WEINHARD’S A brand new entry into the national beer market, this brew-ery traces its roots back its namesake, a German immigrant who settled in

Portland in the 1860s, started a brewery and once offered to pump beer through a city fountain (the city declined, the story goes, for fear of rowdy horses). MillerCoors now owns the 150-year-old brand, and last month started intro-ducing it to markets across the country. At the festival, they’ll be pouring their Private Reserve, Redwood Flats Amber and Woodlands Pass IPA. LM

JACOB LEINENKUGEL BREWING CO. The Wisconsin-made keg-filler college stu-dents get when they’re willing to shell out a couple of bucks more than the Bud/Miller fare so they can actually taste their beer. The Sunset Wheat, Berry Weiss, Lemon Berry Shandy and possibly the Fireside Nut Brown Ale will be representing. SE

LAUGHING DOG Laughing Dog, out of Ponderay, Idaho, got started back in aught-five. So while it’s not the oldest brewery in the festival lineup, it does offer a big selection of brews, includ-ing The Alpha Dog — billed as one of the hoppiest beers ever made, describe thusly by Beer Advocate: “Crazy ... crazy flavors here. Not the most together DIPA [Double India Pale Ale], but it

does end up landing on its feet with a good balance of malt base and hop sup-pression. The choppy, craggy hoppi-ness will be appreciated by veteran hop-heads.” They’ll be pouring that brew, along with Anubis Coffee Porter, CSB ESB, Dogfather Imperial Stout, Dog-zilla Black IPA, Huckleberry Cream Ale, Rocket Dog Rye and Sneaky Pete IPA. RB

NEW BELGIUM New Belgium was one of the earlier arrivals on the craft beer scene in Arkansas and also one of the most highly anticipated. About 15 years ago, a friend, just back from a trip to Colorado, was breathless over this beer called Fat Tire.

“It’s the best beer I’ve ever had,” he said, going on and on about its delicious caramel flavor and general amazingness. And while it would still be a few years before the rest of the state got to try it, Fat Tire did live up to the hype, which had grown considerably by that point. New Belgium is now one of the biggest craft brewers in the country, with a huge, diverse lineup of brews. It will be pouring its Peach Porch Lounger, Snow Day and Shift Pale Lager. RB

NORTH COAST A prolific granddaddy of craft

Clear your calendar, beer lovers. On Nov. 2, the Arkansas Times and the Argenta Arts District present the Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festi-val. It will run 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the

Argenta Farmer’s Market lot at Sixth and Main streets in North Little Rock (or at Dickey-Stephens if it’s raining). Tickets are $35 via arktimes.com/craftbeerfest or $40 at the door if still available. Below, find short profiles of each of the 31 participat-ing breweries, and see pages 30 and 31 for a handy checklist of all of the brews they’re planning on bringing.

NATIONAL

ANCHOR BREWING Certainly one of the old-est brewers at the festival (founded 1896), San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing is prob-ably best known for its Anchor Steam Beer, a highly effervescent, extremely drinkable beer. But Anchor makes several other excel-lent brews, including Anchor Liberty, Por-ter and Small (a low-alcohol beer made from “second runnings” of a stronger beer mash), all of which will be on tap Nov. 2. RB

CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

Page 4: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

22 OCTOBER 24, 2012 ARKANSAS TIMES

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beer, North Coast, based 150 miles north of San Francisco, is chockablock with fan-tastic brews. They travel well (to 47 states, Europe, around the Pacific) and win gobs of awards — more than 70, by the brew-ery’s last count. The most renowned is probably the Old Rasputin Russian Impe-rial Stout, one of the best-regarded stouts in America. If you’re into craft beer, you’ll probably welcome Red Seal Ale, Acme Pale Ale, Pranqster Golden Ale and Scrim-shaw Pilsner — all of which will be gracing the festival — as old friends coming to visit in a beery reunion. SE

REDHOOK ALE BREWERY This Seattle-based purveyor of accessible craft beers has been around for more than 30 years. Its ESB (Extra Special Bitter) has been in production for a quarter-century; the brewery will also bring its IPA and its Pilsner. Nothing complicated here, just long-respected standards. With Widmer Bros., part of the Craft Brew Alliance. SE

SHOCK TOP BREWING CO. This is one of the cottage brands within the Anheuser-Busch empire. Your bartender will tend to serve its spicy Belgian-style wheat with a slice of orange on the rim because, you know, scurvy. Taste the Belgian White side-by-side with Blue Moon’s to determine macrobrewery wheat beer supremacy, then move onto the Raspberry Wheat, the Wheat IPA, the Lemon Shandy and the Midnight Wheat, which includes chocolate malt and chiles. SE

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO. The Califor-nia granddaddy of craft brews began at a time (the late ’70s) when the entire United States supported fewer than 100 brewer-ies. Now the second-largest craft brewer in the country, after Samuel Adams, its iconic Pale Ale is coming; so are its Kellerweis,

Stout and Torpedo Extra IPA, as well as its seasonal Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale. SE

WIDMER BROS. Representing all that is car-bonated and hoppy about Portland, Ore., since 1984 is this mature microbrewery that now trades on the NASDAQ (sym-bol: BREW) as part of the Craft Brewers Alliance, along with Red Hook. It’s bring-ing its flagship Hefeweizen and Drifter Pale Ale, as well as two of its gluten-free Omission beers, the Lager and the Pale Ale. That fact will come as delightful news to anyone suffering from the chronic beer-starvation that accompanies celiac disease, which afflicts Widmer Bros. CEO Terry Michaelson and a million other Americans. In honor of Omission, Portland Mayor Sam Adams (yes, really) declared a “Glu-ten-Free Beer Day” there in May. SE

REGIONAL

ABITA Based just north of New Orleans, in Abita Springs, La., Abita Brewing Co. has long been a favorite among Natural State beer-lovers. Its Purple Haze is ubiquitous ’round these parts, and it will be pour-ing that brew, as well as its crisp Amber, Jockamo IPA and Restoration Pale Ale. RB

BOULEVARD As the 10th largest craft brewer in the United States, Boulevard is Kan-sas City’s answer to Samuel Adams and a major craft brew pipeline to Arkansas. Expect to encounter its standby Unfiltered Wheat and 80-Acre Hoppy Wheat as well as brews from its “esoteric” Smokestack Series: the Sixth Glass, Double Wide IPA and Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale. SE

CHARLEVILLE BREWING This brewery

Page 5: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

www.arktimes.com OCTOBER 24, 2012 23

Best national Brew

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(and winery) is straight outta Ste. Gen-evieve, the oldest city in Missouri and the point where the Ozarks make the prudent decision not to venture onto Illinois. The family that runs Charlev-ille also built a bed and breakfast on their property; this is indeed a micro-brewery, and one run by people who know from right living. They’re bring-ing their punny, warm-weather Half-Wit Wheat (a hybrid American Wheat and Belgian Wit) and their Hoptimistic IPA (which promises a grapefruity cit-rus aspect with a dry finish). You bet-ter get it here unless you’re going to be in the central Midwest any time soon: Charleville is on tap around St. Louis and is in packages around southeast-ern Missouri and in Illinois, but that’s about as far as they go for now. SE

CHOC BEER When you read “since 1919” on the Choc logo, and recall that Okla-homa wasn’t even a state until 1907, and that our panhandled neighbor to the west extended its Prohibition until 1958, well, you figure this is a brew with some stories to tell. The Krebs Brew-ing Co., nestled in the hamlet of Krebs two hours southwest of Fort Smith, traces the recipe for its flagship 1919 brew to old Choctaw nation recipes the founder, Pete Prichard, brewed in his bathtub and served at his restaurant.

“Of course,” the brewery notes, “this entire process was illegal.” Well, not any more, clearly; after a hiatus, the brewery fired up again in 1995 and set about crafting award-winning beers. Get started with the 1919, an unfiltered American wheat, then advance to the OPA (that would be an Oklahoma Pale Ale), the Winter Stout and the Signature Dubbel, redolent of “dark fruits.” SE

CROWN VALLEY This craft brewery/distillery from Ste. Genevieve, Mo., is bringing the house: Five beers and a cider, covering the gamut of tastes. The crowdsource at Beer Advocate regards the Big Bison Ale, a 6.9 percent alcohol by volume “ruby red” Belgian dubbel,

as the top of the bunch. Also along for the ride will be the Farmhouse Lager, the Plowboy Porter (gets “butterscotch” and “smoky black licorice” compari-sons) and the 60 IBU (International Bittering Units), hops-laden Wooden Nickel IPA. Also coming are the Coun-try Carriage Cider and a seasonal that’ll just have to surprise you. SE

MARSHALL BREWING Naturally, when you think of great beer, you think of Tulsa. No, wait. Normally when you think of Tulsa, you think of the low-alcohol-content laws prompting thirsty Oklahomans to consume entire cases of watered-down Bud and Coors in pursuit of a vague buzz. Enter Eric Marshall, a fourth-generation Tulsan who learned brewing in Munich and fired up his eponymous microbrew-ery, Tulsa’s first, in 2008. Making the trip to Little Rock will be Mar-shall’s Atlas IPA, a 6.5 percent ABV ale with “a malty backbone”; Sundown Wheat (barley, flaked oats, coriander, oranges), the German-style lager Old Pavilion Pilsner and the English/Irish-style McNellie’s Pub Ale. SE

PINEY RIVER Not terribly far from our own Big Piney Creek, this brew-ery hails from Bucyrus, Mo., about two hours through the Ozarks from Mountain Home. Joleen and Brian Durham — who founded the brew-ery in 2010 and now run it out of a restored, 70-year-old barn — will be representing the brewery themselves at the festival. They’re bringing their Black Walnut Wheat, Old Tom Porter, McKinney Eddy Amber Ale and Mis-souri Mule Pale Ale. The brewery is young, small, based in the Ozarks and in true float-trip-friendly fashion, it cans (rather than bottles) its beers, car-rying a printed reminder to “Pack it in. Pack it out. Enjoy nature.” Piney River is new to Arkansas but should have no trouble fitting right in. SE

CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

Page 6: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

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CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

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SCHLAFLY The largest craft brewery in St. Louis by a wide margin, the St. Louis Brewery keeps its Schlafly brand of beers straightforward: Pale Ale, Dry Hopped IPA, a Kolsch, Cof-fee Stout, and for the fans of Belgian-styles, Grand Cru and Quadrupel. The 21-year-old brewery (proudly Mis-souri’s first new brewpub after Pro-hibition, once Missouri lawmakers in 1990 allowed microbreweries) could be considered a cross-state rival of Kansas City’s Boulevard. Also, since Anheuser-Busch fell into the hands of Belgians and Brazilians, it’s the largest ’murican-owned brewery in St. Louis. From pioneers to patriots, these fel-lows. SE

TALLGRASS BREWING CO. It’s one of the more recent craft beer brewers to arrive in Arkansas. The Manhattan, Kan., brewery’s brightly colored, visu-ally appealing cans started showing up on liquor store shelves last year with attention-grabbing names like “8-Bit Pale Ale,” “Buffalo Sweat Stout,” and

“Velvet Rooster.” And yes, you read cor-rectly: most Tallgrass brews come in 16-oz. cans, which founder and brew-master Jeff Gill makes a great case for based on environmental impact and convenience, as well as the ever-important blocking-out-the-light angle.

“Think of them as little recyclable kegs that can fit in a backpack,” he writes. Sounds great to us. Gill and brewer Andrew Hood will be pouring the three beers mentioned above, as well as their Halcyon Unfiltered Wheat, IPA and Oasis. RB

LOCAL

BOSCOS Although based out of Tennes-see, the Boscos chain has established its River Market location as a true

Arkansas brewery through Arkansas-only beers such as the Hookslide Ale brewed for the Arkansas Travelers and its upcoming Ray’s Honey Rye made with Arkansas honey, which brew master Josh Quattlebaum says should be out later this month. Boscos holds special “cask nights” every third Thursday of the month, where it serves cask-conditioned ale, and the restau-rant has plans for a mug club starting in November. Quattlebaum’s beer has

received national accolades, including a first-place finish in last year’s World Beer Cup for his German-style Hefe-weizen. MR

CENTRAL ARKANSAS FERMENTERS The

Central Arkansas Fermenters are a group of home brewers of various ages and experience levels who share a passion for home-crafted beverages, including beer, mead, wine and sake. The CAF is also active in support-ing local causes such as the Arkan-sas Arthritis Foundation, the Pulaski County Humane Society, the Arkan-sas Shakespeare Theatre and the Arkansas Fallen Firefighters Memo-

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CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Page 8: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

26 OCTOBER 24, 2012 ARKANSAS TIMES

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rial. Most recently, the CAF brewed a batch of beer at the Arkansas Museum of Discovery as part of the museum’s Science After Dark series, and the group is always ready and willing to teach others about their craft. They’ll be doing demos at the Craft Beer Fes-tival. MR

CORE BREWING & DISTILLING CO. Draw-ing on two decades of experience in brewing, brewmaster and seventh-generation Arkansan Jesse Core has been operating Core Brewing in Springdale since 2010. In addition to the stock ESB, Kolsch, and Oat-meal Stout brews, Core has several other beers in rotation including the Golden Ale, Robust Porter and Arkan-sas’ only barley wine. Core Brew-ing is expanding production, with a new four-unit, 20-barrel setup going online in November, and its beer is found at several of Northwest Arkan-sas’s better restaurants like Hog Haus, Tusk and Trotter, Kingfish, Brews-ki’s Draft Emporium and Greenhouse Grille, with Core also serving as the brewmaster at Hog Haus Brewing in Fayetteville. MR

DIAMOND BEAR BREWERY Russ Melton and crew have been brewing beer in Little Rock since 2000, but it’s really been since 2006 (the year they began bottling their beer in Little Rock) that they’ve become a quality craft brewery and one we’ve come to enjoy a great deal. Brew-master Josh Melton is in charge of producing Diamond Bear’s beers, from the Pale Ale that won gold at the 2007 Great American Beer Festi-val to newer brews like the summery Strawberry Blonde that debuted last year. Diamond Bear is available at liquor stores and restaurants across the Natural State, and the brew-ery operates a small taproom at its 323C Cross St. location in Little

Rock. Notable for being the only retail location in the capital city to sell bottled beer on Sundays, Dia-mond Bear also offers tours Friday through Sunday at 3 p.m. for $7, a price that includes a pint glass. MR

FOSSIL COVE The latest addition to Northwest Arkansas’s growing craft beer scene opened this summer in Fayetteville. After a stint working at Silverton Brewing Co. in Silverton, Colo., and completion of a six-month brewmaster course at the Univer-sity of California at Davis, Ben Mills returned home and opened Fossil Cove. The microbrewery offers about five beers at a given time, including its flagship Paleoale, which is an Ameri-can pale ale, and Belgian Brown, a brown beer with a touch of corian-der for a bit of extra character. Mills sells to nine restaurants and offers pints and to-go growlers from Fossil Cove’s taproom. The latest seasonal beer is a Pumpkin Ale. Some larger fermenters are in the works for later this month, which will allow Mills to sell more beer and possibly bottle some as well. They’ll be pouring the Paleoale and Belgian Brown. RB

HOG HAUS Kari Larson and Julie Sill were already well known in the Fay-etteville dining scene as the owners of the popular Common Grounds coffee house on Dickson Street before they renovated and re-opened the restau-rant and brew pub formerly known as the Ozark Brewing Co., serving up hand-crafted beers from brewmaster Jesse Core in addition to a selection of other imported and domestic beers. In addition to the beer, Hog Haus boasts an executive chef, Eric Lea, who previously worked for Ozark Brewing and James at the Mill. Hog Haus also offers an exclusive beer club. MR

Page 9: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

www.arktimes.com OCTOBER 24, 2012 27

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REFINED ALE BREWERY OF LITTLE ROCK One of the more ambitious craft-brewing upstarts Little Rock has seen in recent years, Refined Ale Brewery is the brainchild of brew-master Windell Gray, who turned a brewing hobby into a full-time occupation in 2009 after running a barbecue restaurant and working as a trucker for several years. The first and still the only black-owned brewery in Arkansas, Refined Ale has pretty much been a one-man operation from the start, with Grey overseeing all the brewing, bottling and distribution duties himself with the help of a very small staff. As you might have guessed from the name, Refined Ale focuses on what Grey calls “true ales” from traditional recipes, working in small, 35-gal-lon batches to create light, open-fermented, unfiltered brews. Refined Ale will have two varieties on hand for the festival: Its signature Refined Ale, and a Golden Light ale. DK

SADDLEBOCK At barely a month old, Springdale’s Saddlebock Brewing is the newest brewery to come online in Arkansas, but its beer is already avail-able in locations from Fayetteville to Eureka Springs. Saddlebock brews classic-style beers such as American Pale Ale, Hefeweizen, Dukelweizen and a Kolsch-inspired Dirty Blonde. Saddlebock’s brewery was designed with the environment in mind, with a gravity-fed delivery system sending its grain to the brewing system and into the cellar tanks, and skylights to eliminate need for most electric lighting and heat during the day. Like most Arkansas craft brewers, brew master Steve Rehbock began mak-ing beer out of disgust at the state of American beer, going from home brewing to creating kits for others to finally founding Saddlebock. MR

Page 10: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

Stepping into Vino’s, there’s the clank of the door’s rigged counter-weight on a chain, the rich smell of pizza, and a varied soundtrack that ranges from The Kinks to

Black Sabbath with every stop in be-tween. It’s an eclectic and electric place, mixing guys in suits from the downtown offices for lunch, families in for a slice or calzone, and hipster kids waiting on the night’s band to start their sound check and get the evening’s festivities going. Just off the main dining room, though, the scents change from baking dough and melted cheese into some-thing richer and warmer — the heady smell of barley malt coming from the small-but-effective brewing tanks of Little Rock’s longest-running brew pub.

While Vino’s has been a respected name in Little Rock and wider craft beer circles for a while — then-head brewer Bill Riffle notably managed a gold medal win at the Great American Beer Festival in 2008 for an imperial red ale — it’s really been since brewmaster Josiah Moody took over in November 2011 that the beer has gone from solid to spectacular.

Moody is an experimental and enthusiastic brewer, and while Vino’s

is his first professional brewing job, he’s been an avid home brewer for more than five years. Vino’s is a small opera-tion in size, capable of brewing only three and a half barrels (or seven kegs) of beer at a time, but Moody says that the pub is on track to turn out more than 15,500 gallons of beer this year, an amount that Moody says makes him

“push that little brewhouse to its limit.”Moody has kept many of the beers

that long-time brewer Riffle made so popular at Vino’s, but he hasn’t lim-ited himself to someone else’s recipes. Within the past year, Moody’s own creations have started hitting the taps at Vino’s, including the crisp, hoppy Kolsch .45, the Rock Island Steam (which he rates as his favorite beer to drink) and the Saison du Roche, the first beer in the saison style to ever be commercially brewed in Little Rock. The saison in particular, a style known for using wild yeast strains and produc-ing flavors that beer-lovers refer to as

“funky” (but in a good way), is not only a shining example of Moody’s inventive-ness and ambition but also indicative of his skill at turning out a balanced, well-flavored brew. “For most of those beers, I haven’t even attempted to home-brew

first,” Moody says, “so for every one of those, I have that moment of ‘What if no one likes it?’ It’s always a very reward-ing feeling when those ‘babies’ are well-received.”

Moody enjoys being a part of Vino’s history. Its tradition motivates him to create quality beers, and says “the more I worry about the quality and consis-tency of the beer coming out, the Vino’s ‘perception’ will just take care of itself.” To this end, Moody has begun cask-con-ditioning some of his beers, a process that is unique to Vino’s among commer-cial producers in Arkansas. The process is a labor-intensive one, involving tak-ing almost-fermented beer, transfer-ring it to a hand-cleaned and sterilized keg, and then adding extra fermentable sugars and various other ingredients to change the flavor of the beer. For a keg of Saison du Roche, Moody added crushed peppercorns and extra hops, tweaking the flavor profile of a beer that was already experimental, and like most of Moody’s brews, it sold out within days.

These new brews coming from an old favorite mark just another part of the growing craft beer scene in Arkan-sas. Long seen as a beer backwater, the

state is finally catching up in terms of scope and quality, and it’s the dedication to craft of people like Josiah Moody that is leading the charge. Ten years ago, an Arkansas-brewed saison, hefeweizen, or cask-conditioned stout would have been the stuff of beer lovers’ dreams. Today, it’s available for less than five bucks a pint with some of the tastiest pizza in town. As American tastes in beer change, with craft beer being the biggest growth sector in the market, people who have had a long-abiding love of hand-crafting beer are finding a market, introducing the thirsty masses to styles and tastes previously unknown from local sources.

Moody wants to expand Vino’s brewing capabilities, something that may prove difficult in the confines of the 1909 building that houses the restau-rant. He views Vino’s as “one of the only places where a brewer is given freedom to try new things,” and it seems those new things are working well. What would he say to people who haven’t tried the beer at Vino’s during his ten-ure? That while the pub still offers its great regular beers and seasonals, “there is a new brewer who is trying to experi-ment and innovate, and I hope that folks join me for this journey.”

28 OCTOBER 24, 2012 ARKANSAS TIMES

NOT AFRAID TO EXPERIMENTBY MICHAEL ROBERTS

Vino’s builds on tradition with innovation.

BR

IAN

CH

ILS

ON

Page 11: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012
Page 12: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

30 OCTOBER 24, 2012 ARKANSAS TIMES

NATIONALAnchor Brewing Co.

❑ Anchor Liberty _____________________________________

❑ Anchor Porter ______________________________________

❑ Anchor Small ______________________________________

❑ Anchor Steam _____________________________________

Blue Moon Brewery

❑ Belgian White ______________________________________

❑ Winter Abby Ale ____________________________________

Brewery Ommegang

❑ Abbey _____________________________________________

❑ BPA _______________________________________________

❑ Hennepin __________________________________________

❑ Three Philosophers ________________________________

The Boston Beer Co.

❑ Samuel Adams New World __________________________

❑ Samuel Adams Stony Brook _________________________

❑ Samuel Adams Thirteenth Hour _____________________

❑ Samuel Adams Winter Lager ________________________

Goose Island

❑ Bourbon County Stout ______________________________

❑ Honker’s Ale _______________________________________

❑ India Pale Ale ______________________________________

❑ Matilda ____________________________________________

❑ Mild Winter ________________________________________

❑ Pere Jacques ______________________________________

Henry Weinhard’s

❑ Private Reserve ____________________________________

❑ Redwood Flats Amber Ale ___________________________

❑ Woodlands Pass IPA _______________________________

Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co.

❑ Lemon Berry Shandy _______________________________

❑ Snowdrift Vanilla Porter ____________________________

❑ Sunset Wheat _____________________________________

Laughing Dog

❑ Alpha Dog IPA _____________________________________

❑ Anubis Coffee Porter _______________________________

❑ CSB _______________________________________________

❑ The Dogfather _____________________________________

❑ Dogzilla IPA ________________________________________

❑ Huckleberry Cream Ale _____________________________

❑ Rocket Dog Rye ____________________________________

❑ Sneaky Pete IPA ___________________________________

New Belgium Brewing Co.

❑ Peach Porch Lounger ______________________________

❑ Shift Pale Lager ____________________________________

❑ Snow Day _________________________________________

North Coast

❑ Acme Pale Ale______________________________________

❑ Red Seal Ale _______________________________________

❑ Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout _________________

❑ Pranqster Golden Ale _______________________________

❑ Scrimshaw Pilsner _________________________________

Redhook Ale Brewery

❑ ESB _______________________________________________

❑ IPA ________________________________________________

❑ Pilsner ____________________________________________

Shock Top Brewing Co.

❑ Belgian White ______________________________________

❑ Lemon Shandy _____________________________________

❑ Midnight Wheat ____________________________________

❑ Raspberry Wheat __________________________________

❑ Wheat IPA _________________________________________

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

❑ Kellerweis _________________________________________

❑ Pale Ale ___________________________________________

❑ Stout ______________________________________________

❑ Torpedo Extra IPA __________________________________

❑ Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale _________________________

Widmer Brothers Brewery❑ Drifter Pale Ale_____________________________________❑ Hefeweizen ________________________________________❑ Omission Lager ____________________________________❑ Omission Pale Ale __________________________________

REGIONALAbita Brewing Co.❑ Amber _____________________________________________❑ Jockamo IPA ______________________________________❑ Purple Haze _______________________________________❑ Restoration Pale Ale ________________________________

Boulevard Brewing Co.❑ 80-Acre Hoppy Wheat ______________________________❑ Double-Wide IPA ___________________________________❑ The Sixth Glass ____________________________________❑ Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale ______________________________❑ Unfiltered Wheat Beer ______________________________

Charleville Brewing Co.❑ Half-Wit Wheat ____________________________________❑ Hoptimistic IPA ____________________________________

Choc Beer Co.❑ 1919 _______________________________________________❑ OPA _______________________________________________❑ Signature Dubbel __________________________________❑ Winter Stout _______________________________________

Crown Valley Brewery ❑ Big Bison __________________________________________❑ Country Carriage Cider _____________________________❑ Farmhouse Lager __________________________________❑ Plowboy Porter ____________________________________❑ Seasonal brew _____________________________________ ❑ Wooden Nickel IPA _________________________________

Marshall Brewing❑ Atlas IPA __________________________________________❑ Big Jamoke Porter _________________________________❑ McNellie’s Pub Ale _________________________________❑ Old Pavilion Pilsner ________________________________❑ Sundown Wheat ___________________________________

Piney River Brewing Co.❑ Black Walnut Wheat ________________________________❑ McKinney Eddy Amber Ale __________________________❑ Missouri Mule India Pale Ale ________________________❑ Old Tom Porter _____________________________________

Schlafly Beer❑ Coffee Stout _______________________________________❑ Grand Cru _________________________________________❑ Dry Hopped APA ___________________________________❑ Kolch _____________________________________________❑ Pale Ale ___________________________________________❑ Quadrupel _________________________________________

ARKANSAS TIMES CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL GUIDE

The Arkansas Times is proud to present Central Arkansas’s first craft beer festival. Tear this spread out and

use it to plot your course for sampling some of the 150 beers from more than 30 local and national breweries to

be represented in Argenta. National, regional and local breweries will each be grouped together in three tents.

Page 13: Arkansas Times Craft Beer Festival 2012

CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL

www.arktimes.com OCTOBER 24, 2012 31

Tallgrass Brewing Co.

❑ 8-Bit Pale Ale ______________________________________

❑ Buffalo Sweat ______________________________________

❑ Haylcyon Unfiltered Wheat _________________________

❑ IPA ________________________________________________

❑ Oasis______________________________________________

❑ Velvet Rooster _____________________________________

LOCALBoscos

❑ Famous Flaming Stone _____________________________

❑ Bombay IPA _______________________________________

❑ Isle of Skye Scottish Ale ____________________________

❑ Ray’s Honey Rye ___________________________________

Central Arkansas Fermenters

❑ Irish Red __________________________________________

❑ Various ___________________________________________

Core Brewing & Distilling Co.

❑ American Oatmeal Stout ____________________________

❑ ESB _______________________________________________

Diamond Bear Brewery

❑ Pale Ale ___________________________________________

❑ Paradise Porter ____________________________________

❑ Presidential IPA ____________________________________

❑ Rocktoberfest _____________________________________

❑ Southern Blonde ___________________________________

❑ Two-Term Double IPA ______________________________

Fossil Cove

❑ Brown Ale _________________________________________

❑ Pale Ale ___________________________________________

Hog Haus

❑ Seasonal beer 1 ____________________________________

❑ Seasonal beer 2 ____________________________________

Refined Ale

❑ Brewery Beer ______________________________________

❑ Golden Light Beer __________________________________

Saddlebock Brewery

❑ Dunkelweiz ________________________________________

❑ Hefeweizen ________________________________________

❑ Pale Ale ___________________________________________

Vino’s

❑ Ouachita ESB ______________________________________

❑ Pumpkin Spiced Ale ________________________________

MUSIC6 p.m.: Funkanites. Featuring members of Amasa Hines and other standout local musicians — like Velvet Kente’s poly-

rhythmic drummer Jamal Lee — this relatively new act specializes in jazz-infused instrumental funk.

7 p.m.: The Salty Dogs. Little Rock’s honky tonk heroes are led by Brad Williams, a man with a voice to rival Dwight

Yoakam’s.

8 p.m.: Weakness for Blondes. Mix most popular genres — rock, blues, jazz, funk — add a penchant for experimentation

and you get this local jam band extraordinaire.

FOODIncluded in ticket price.

Cornerstone Pub & Grill: Hot wings and honey BBQ wings

Cregeen’s Irish Pub: Beef stew and corned beef and cabbage

Reno’s Argenta Pub: Pale Ale macaroni & cheese and duck pate

VOLUNTEER POURERSThe Hat Club, a 65-plus member non-profit founded in 2010, supports meaningful community service activities.

Its primary function is to plan fundraising events in support of charitable organizations looking to achieve long-term

stability. In addition to hosting events, the Hat Club volunteers time and effort to multiple organizations and causes.

It has donated over $95,000 to more than 15 charitable organizations in the state. The club’s next event is the Third

Annual Miracle Wiff, an all day Wiffle ball tournament Nov. 10 at Dickey Stephens Park that benefits the Miracle League

of Arkansas.

SPONSOR NOTEThe Argenta Arts Foundation is a local arts organization. It produces art and cultural events, provides financial and

marketing support to art endeavors, and advocates for art, education and economic development in the Argenta Arts

District of North Little Rock. The Argenta Arts Foundation, with support of the Argenta Friends of the Arts, supports

the Little Rock Film Festival, the Argenta Film Series, the Thea Art Festival, Tales From the South, the Argenta Farmer’s

Market, 3rd Friday Art Walk, the Great Arkansas Talent Search, the Arkansas Sculptors Invitational, St. Patrick’s Day

Parade and the Main Thing at the Joint. The AAF also produces other cultural events such as Celebrate the Grape, a

Mardi Gras parade, the Argenta Tulip Festival, the Argenta Foodie Fest, Argenta Restaurant Weeks and the Big Dam

Bridge 100 Finale Fest. The AAF also started Art Connection, an after-school and summer teen work program that

employs 20 teens in the creative economy.

Located in the historic heart of downtown North Little Rock, the Argenta Arts District is committed to the visual,

performance, landscape and culinary arts as evidenced by the district’s 11 arts organizations, eight performance art

venues, 10 visual arts venues and 10 dining and drinking establishments.

November 2nd - 6 to 9 pm

Argenta Farmer’s Market Grounds6th & Main Street (Across from the Argenta Market)

Downtown North Little Rock(RAIN LOCATION: Dickey-Stephens Park)

Over 30 Breweries& Over 150 Beers

Buy Tickets Early - Admission is Limitedarktimes.com/craftbeerfest

$35 early purchase — $40 at the door.