Arkansas Beer

Arkansas’s booze scene had a promising start, with America’s biggest brewing families, Busch and Lemp, investing in Little Rock just prior to Prohibition. However, by 1915, the state had passed the Newberry Act, banning the manufacturing and selling of alcohol. It was not until sixty-nine years later that the state welcomed its first post-temperance brewery, Arkansas Brewing Company. After a few false starts, brewpubs in Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Little Rock found success. By 2000, the industry had regained momentum. An explosion of breweries around the state has since propelled Arkansas into the modern beer age.

Author Biography

Brian Sorensen is a freelance writer based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. His work has appeared in the Fayetteville Flyer, All About Beer magazine and Southwest Brewing News. The University of Arkansas graduate is a human resources director for a Fortune 100 company based in northwest Arkansas. His gateway beer was Sierra Nevada Stout, and he learned to brew by way of the Methodist Church (true story). Sorensen enjoys traveling to beer destinations across the United States with his wife, Megan.