Video: Welcome To Brewcyrus

Here's a great little video from Rural Missouri Magazine on one of my favorite breweries in the world, Piney River Brewing, which just happens to only be an hour or so past the Arkansas border. I've been there twice myself and plan on making it at least an annual visit and if you haven't been, well shame on you. Go see it! Worth a drive even if you live in Alaska. No, seriously.

Check it out:

"When Brian and Joleen Durham decided to build a brewery on their farm outside of Bucyrus four years ago, their friends thought they had gone insane.

Turns out, they were just beginning to have the time of their lives.

In just a few short years, the couple has turned the tiny Texas County hamlet into "Brew"cyrus as they've introduced the Ozarks to their craft beer. What began as a home-brewing hobby in the family's kitchen has now become Piney River Brewing Co., a seven-barrel commercial operation distributing beer to most of central Missouri and all of southern Missouri and Arkansas."

Video: Free Beer Vending Machine

Just brilliant marketing from 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

"To celebrate the release of our Summer seasonal beer, Swill, we hit the road with our Swill beer vending machine giving away free beer wherever we went. Get ready for #SwillSummer"

Fayetteville Ale Trail All In A Day's Work

Trust me, there are several problems with trying to visit 8 breweries in 1 day and document it along the way. The biggest is that by the end, I was just totally forgetting to snap photos and even checked a beer into the wrong location on Untappd. Wonder why? Sober driving friends and taxis are very handy and we even walked the last few. Well, sort of walked.

All in all it was a spectacular day though. I'll be back soon to do it over a more spread out weekend, and give things a proper write-up. I promise.

But for our 1 day adventure we started at at new kid on the block Ozark Brewing (which I LOVED), then hit Apple Blossom for wonderful lunch, then Saddlebock for a guided tour by Steve Rehbock which was just fantastic. After then checking in to the hotel and chugging quite a bit of water during a 90-minute beer break, we were off too Core Brewing where Jesse and Jonas gave us another fantastic tour of the new facility and taproom (new to us), then off to Fossil Cove. Next was Tanglewood for dinner and finally finishing with West Mountain and Hog Haus. Just for good measure we hit Sideways for a Mother's beer on the way to the hotel.

Whew.

Here's some pics I did remember to take. Too many tales to share, just know that the Northwest Arkansas brewing scene is kicking ass right now. Great people everywhere, great beer easy to find. I'll be back in June.

Cans for American Pale Ale at Ozark Brewing.

Ozark Brewing taproom.

Selections at Ozark Brewing.

Ozark Brewing

Apple Blossom Brewing

Saddlebock Brewing

Saddlebock taproom

On the deck at Saddlebock

Future plans for Core Brewing's offsite taproom

Selections at Core Brewing taproom

Core Brewing

Core Brewing

Fossil Cove

Tanglewood Brewing

George Reisch Beer Dinner

I had the pleasure of attending this great event a few weeks ago (I even pop-up in the video at 1:17). George Reisch, AB Brewmaster, has a vast knowledge of beer, literally growing up around it. A fifth-generation brewmaster, Reisch’s family operated the Reisch Brewing Co. for 117 years. During his career, he worked for Schlitz and Miller before finding a home at Anheuser-Busch. He's a great storyteller as well, which seems to be a prerequisite in the beer industry lately. The food and beer pairings were great and the setting made everything even better.

Check out the very well done video below from the guys at Beer Loves Little Rock recapping the event a bit:

We're at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library for a Anheuser-Busch sponsored dinner! The AB Brewmaster, George Reisch, lets us in on his vast knowledge of brewing and GREAT food parings! 

Don't forget to like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeerlovesLR
Also, follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeerLovesLR

Videographer: Shane Sandefur
Editor: Ryan Murphy
'Lightning-Upbeat Background Music' by Anoop Harihara
'Vanilla Ice Cream' by Nicolai Heidlas

Video: Apple Blossom Commercial

Check out the cool video for Fayetteville's Apple Blossom Brewing Company. Very sharp!

Thanks to the folks over at @uarkjournalism, we now have a fantastic commercial! Check it out! https://t.co/CrBTVHetfI
— A.B.B.C. (@ABBCBeer) May 5, 2014

Apple Blossom - Video Immersion 2014

Publish date: May 1, 2013
Project: Apple Blossom Brewery
By: Ben Schmuck and Brian Stark
Supervisor: Daniel Henkel
Faculty Advisors: Hayot Tuychiev, Robyn Ledbetter

Welcome To Arkansas: Horny Goat Brewing Co.

Here comes another one! Start looking for Milwaukee's Horny Goat beers in Arkansas this week. If you can't tell from their name alone, they seem like a brewery with a pretty good sense of humor from what I've seen. Here's some various info to get you jump-started on them:

https://twitter.com/HornyGoatBrewCo
http://www.youtube.com/user/1HornyGoatBrewing

https://www.facebook.com/Horny.Goat.Brewing.Co

 

Horny Goat Brewing was established in May of 2008 with the mission of providing great brews to craft beer lovers while keeping it light-hearted. All of our carefully crafted beers are developed at our brew pub in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Our Brew Master, Dave Reese, consistently pushed the envelope with creative and outstanding beers, using a small-batch, 10 barrel brewing system. If a new beer makes the cut at our brew pub they might end up in your favorite stores. We try our best to live up to our motto of “Carefully Crafted, Famously Fun.” ~~ Horny Goat FB page

I'm not sure which of their brews we'll see, but these are their year rounds:

WisconZin IPA - 7.1 % ABV | 70 IBUs
This big IPA has a medium malt backbone and is generously hopped with Citra and Amarillo hops. We add the juice of real Zinfandel grapes to the fermentor which adds some heavy notes of blackberry, raspberry, and pepper.

Exposed – Cream Ale 5.3% ABV | 21 IBUs
A session beer in the truest sense, this smooth creamy ale brewed with pale malt, wheat, and oats is both refreshing and dangerously easy to chug.

Hopped Up ‘n Horny – India Pale Ale 6.3% ABV | 41 IBUs
This IPA has just the right amount of hop love. We finish this brew off by dry hopping it with fresh Cascade hops, giving it a wonderful fresh citrus finish.

Horny Blonde – German Blonde Lager 5.0% ABV | 20 IBUs
Lagers are an American tradition, and so are blondes. You’ll find this pale lager both bright and crisp up front, and perfectly balanced by a hint of German hops on the end.

 

Several other intriguing seasonals on their lists, like Laka Laka Pineapple Hefeweizen, Stacked Milk Stout, Brownie Porter and Baby Got Bock (damn I love that name). I think one of the current seasonals we'll see is:

 

Watermelon Wheat 5.6% ABV | 19 IBUs
You asked and we listened. We’re showing our melons! The backbone of this brew is heavy on the wheat with just a touch of Vienna malt for complexity. We add real watermelon to our tanks during fermentation, leaving a fruity essence on the back end. German hops balance the fruit perfectly in this wheat ale for a slightly dry, extremely refreshing finish.

 

A few awards:

 

Brownie Porter - International Beer and Cider Competition: Gold Medal for Fruit and Spice Category

Exposed Cream Ale - International Beer and Cider Competition: Bronze Medal for Cream Ale Category

Horny Blonde Lager - International Beer and Cider Competition: Silver Medal for Premium Lager Category

Stop! Growler Time.

Another victory! Arkansas is trying hard to keep up with the rest of the craft beer world. The latest bit of good news is that growler sales have been approved for places other than breweries/brewpubs (i.e. liquor stores), and I've heard it's effective July 1st.


Here's some highlights:

The Growler Endorsement may be added to the following permits:

• Retail Beer
• Native Retail Beer

(Native Brewers and Micro-Brewery Restaurants are not required to obtain a growler endorsement; however, they must comply with all other growler regulations.)

A Growler Endorsement permits the sale of the following:

• Retail Beer Permit holders may sell malt products, not in excess of 5.0% abw / 6.3% abv, in growlers for off-premises consumption.
• 
  Retail Beer Permit holders who also hold a Retail Liquor Permit may sell malt products, not in excess of 21% abw / 26.3% abv, in growlers for off-premises consumption.
   
• Native Beer Retail Permit holders may sell any malt product, not in excess of 21% abw / 26.3% abv, produced by an Arkansas-licensed Native Brewer or Micro-Brewery Restaurant in growlers for off-premises consumption.

Growler sales may occur on days and within the operating hours as dictated by the current permit.

No Growler sales on Sunday

Growler is defined as any glass, can, bottle, vessel, or receptacle of any material whatsoever used for holding alcoholic beverages. The container shall bear a twist-type closure, cork stopper, or plug.

A growler must have a minimum capacity of 32 ounces.

At the time sale, a paper or plastic adhesive band, strip, or sleeve shall be applied to the container or bottle and extended over the top of the twist-type closure, cork, stopper, or plug forming a seal that must be broken upon opening of the container or bottle.

At the time of sale, the growler must identify the date of sale, the name of the retail outlet, name of the product, the name of the producer brewery, and the alcohol content, by volume, of the product. This information may be printed on the container or affixed to the container by label or tag.

Customers may not open a growler on the premises.

Customers may not consume product from a growler on the premises.

Growlers may not be given to customers by the retail outlet.

Growlers may be sold to customers by the retail outlet.

Retail outlets may re-fill growlers at their own discretion.

Retail outlets may create a “growler exchange” program allowing like empty growlers of the same size to be exchanged for a full one without the necessity of purchasing a new growler. Signage explaining the exchange program must be prominently displayed in the outlet.