Growlers: Slate Rock Grand Opening, Bath Haus Brew Festival, Flyway Double Release

After years of planning and hard work, Slate Rock Brewing is set for its grand opening. The microbrewery will open Thursday, April 19, in the small town of Amity. When it does, it will become the first ever brewery in Clark County, which only began allowing alcohol sales in 2011. Husband-and-wife brew team Shawn and Orianne Burgess have been on the scene for a couple of years and built their brewery and taproom themselves (the taproom in particular is attractive). Slate Rock’s grand opening weekend lasts through Monday, April 23 and will stay open until 7 p.m. each evening. Slate Rock doesn’t have a dedicated kitchen, but it will allow you to bring your own food. They are looking for food trucks to come out for grand opening week as well.
The first beer festival of 2018 is this coming weekend in Hot Springs. It’s the new Bath Haus Beer Festival hosted by 103.7 The Buzz at The Arlington Hotel downtown. Festival organizers say it’s a celebration of Arkansas craft beer as well craft styles from around the country. The festival event page doesn’t have a lineup of the breweries that will be featured, but you should of course expect Hot Springs-based Superior Bathhouse and Bubba Brews to be on hand. Tickets to the event are $30. The Arlington also has a special room rate for those attending the festival so you don’t have to worry about how you’ll get home afterward.
Flyway Brewing has a couple of new releases this week you won’t want to miss. The brew team’s brand new release is an American Gose, a mildly tart ale that has been lightly dry-hopped with Citra hops. It’s only a small batch, so it probably won’t last very long. The other new release will, however; it’s the spring seasonal Audu-Blonde blonde ale that’s now in its third year. It’s a classic blonde ale that’s a very easy drinker at 5 percent ABV. As in years past, $1 from each pint of Audu-Blonde sold will be donated to Audubon Arkansas, which works to preserve the habitats of birds and other wildlife in the Natural State.
Lost Forty has another installment in its Wild Barrels Project sour series out today. The Freshcut Monday release is called Double Berry Wild Ale. Lost Forty blended its Blackberry American Wheat Ale with a blonde ale and aged it with mixed culture in a wine barrel. The team then refermented the brew and conditioned it on blueberry puree. Expect a sweeter sour with tons of berry flavor, but at 6.7 percent you shouldn’t take it too lightly. As with all Wild Barrels Project releases, this one is available in bottles either to take home or to enjoy at the taproom. Freshcut Monday kicks off today at 4 p.m.
Coming up on the two-year anniversary of Rebel Kettle Brewing Company, and the brew team is putting out a release that was on when they first opened. Plum Season is a 6.7 percent ABV farmhouse-style ale that was aged and then refermented on fresh plums. The stone fruit flavors really come through to mellow the brew somewhat while also bringing out some of the more funky qualities of the yeast. This one is out for the brewery’s regular 4:30 Thursday event at the taproom.
And it’s a bit of a different week at Diamond Bear Brewing Company. The team will be making its classic Big Rock Root Beer this week to put into cans. I haven’t gotten an answer yet as to whether this is the first time cans of Diamond Bear’s root beer will be made available, but I also can’t find anything besides bottles available around town. Big Rock Root Beer is actually pretty solid and more than acceptable to order in place of a brew at the Arkansas Ale House. Diamond Bear will also be canning its Irish Red this week as well.
By the way, we reported last week that Core Brewing was opening its public house on South Main Street on Friday. While Core was ready, it turns out the city of Little Rock was not. Owner Jesse Core attributed the delay to some unspecified “last minute red tape” that he said he hopes clears up some time this week. We’ll let you know on our Facebook page when Core on South Main does indeed open its doors.
Do you have some beer news you’d like to share with us? Email steve@rockcityeats.com.

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