Craftbeer and more

Summer is here and the memories of enjoying a refreshing puckering glass of ice cold lemonade after a long day of play are coming back. Now that we’ve all grown up, why not satisfy that seasonal craving for the satisfying sour bite with one of a unique set of beer styles that are quickly growing in popularity. Generally referred to as sour beers, these tart beers are brewed with wild yeast and a mix of friendly bacteria that help create their acidic, tart characteristics.

Our friends at Yard House are featuring a wide range of sour beers on the Chalkboard Beers Series for you to enjoy through the Summer months. And if you’re still apprehensive about trying a sour beer, not only are they delicious, but now you can unlock a brand new badge. Check-in to three (3) different sour style beers (accepted categories: Sour Ale, American Wild Ale, Lambic, Gose, Berliner Weisse, Flanders Red Ale, Flanders Oud Bruin, Gueuz, Faro) while at any Yard House location June 6th - July 4th and the “Sour Beers of Summer” badge is yours! Be sure to add Yard House as your location for the check-in to count toward your badge.

Just as our thermometers hit 80 degrees for the first time this year, we finished our newest beer, Claire, A Dry Hopped Farmhouse Ale.  Claire is an American daughter of traditional Belgian Farmhouses and Saisons. 

Claire was brewed as a traditional Farmhouse ale with a modern, Ozark twist which is something we love about being an American Craft Brewery; the ability to use newer techniques on older styles as a bridge between the current and the former beer drinker. 

Hopped & Dry Hopped with the relatively new German hop, Hüll Melon, Claire’s Farmhouse roots run deep in her malts and the Belgian yeast strain she employs.   The new German hop variety was bred at the Hop Research Institute in Hull and released in 2012. Known for their crisp, fruity and peppery characteristics, this beer is no exception to the Farmhouse rule.  The fruity nose is apparent from the first sniff, and it is those traditionally fruity esters that meld so deliciously with the melon and berry characterstic of Hüll Melon. 

(X marks roughly the spot of Hüll, Germany.)

From the first few days of this brew several of us noted strawberry tones and even some fruit-candy like aromas.  There was a faint straw nose and over time the pepperiness of the yeast almost completely receded. 

As the dry-hop bloomed in the beer, the hops’ floral and melon characteristics came out. 

Landing at 5.36 on the ABV scale, chilled, filtered & carbonated this golden & crisp Dry-Hopped Farmhouse is just in time for those 80 degree days we are starting to work in.  

 Traditionally a ‘workers beer,’ Farmhouses and Saisons are some of our favorite styles to brew in the brewhouse, for their traditional and almost ancient allure, for their malleability to modern techniques, but most importantly, for their almost transcendently refreshing nature that is so satisfying after a long days work in the Ozark Summer. 

 (Brant filters Claire.  Notice the right sight-glass vs. the left one.  The right is unfiltered Claire entering the filter, the left is filtered Claire leaving the filter.)

Claire, A Dry-Hopped Farmhouse Ale is now available in our taproom and will be pouring soon at several outlets across NWA.