Fossil Cove Brewing and the growth of Arkansas craft beer | Ep. 308
Fossil Cove Brewing shows Arkansas is stepping up in craft beer
We did it. We finally got an Arkansas craft brewery on the show! Since I’ve lived all around The Natural State I’ve wanted to feature some AR craft for a while. Done.
Fossil Cove Brewing Co. is located in Fayetteville. (Arkansas, not Georgia, as much as I mixed it up in the show.) Fayetteville is the cool part of the state. Home to the University or Arkansas, a bustling art scene, and a handful of craft breweries. There’s also the bonus that it frequently ranks near the top of places to live and has a strong job market. Rock on, Fayetteville.
To share some of this coolness with us Andrew Blann (Marketing Director), Benjamin Mills (Owner), and Tyler Horne (Distribution Manager) joined us on the show this week. They tell us why they think Fayetteville is cool and we dive into the growing craft beer scene in Arkansas. They admit that things still trend towards the lighter side for many craft drinkers in the state, and you may not find many (any?) Smoothie IPAs on tap. Sorry, LactoBros. But, there is a growing selection of drinkable IPAs, brown ales, porters, stouts, and more. And there’s no shortage of big DIPAs, either. The friendly brewery laws in Arkansas make it appealing as well. Mills tells us it’s pretty easy to open a brewery in most areas, they are able to self-distribute, and some pre-existing brewery laws give them an edge in some areas for selling and serving.
We sample a few Fossil Cove brews as we talk dinosaurs and beer. The Session IPA was great with bright citrus and a pleasant resinous pine that offered great balance. Their La Brea Brown helped me continue to rethink my stance on the style being boring, it’s a really tasty beer, and their #1 seller. To step up it up a bit we also enjoyed their Frost Fest DIPA while we learn about the festival that goes along with a beer.
Then things started getting weird. Brian’s Bad Ideas started coming out and we learned about a collaboration for a beer called Old Toe Sucker which was apparently a once popular beer, despite the name’s efforts against that.
If you find yourself in Fayetteville definitely look to make a visit to Fossil Cove Brewing. Just make sure to guard your toes.
The Beer List
- Fossil Cove Brewing Co.
- Blackberry Cream
- Frost Fest DIPA
- La Brea Brown
- Session IPA
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