Read about our Fayetteville visit here!
Fayetteville breweries we visited
Columbus House Brewery and Taproom
J’s beer notes
Fayetteville is somewhat known for its breweries with the Fayetteville Ale Trail boasting 10 breweries (and one cidery) in the greater Fayetteville area. For our money, while we liked the town of Fayetteville quite a bit, we found the better brewery scene in Rogers, about 20 miles to the north. We knew we wouldn’t have time to visit all 10 of the area breweries, so we focused on the ones that looked the best from our internet searching and/or were the most convenient.
We started with the three breweries in Fayetteville proper: West Mountain Brewing Co, Columbus House Brewery and Taproom and Fossil Cove Brewing Co, in that order. West Mountain had nice staff and a large beer selection–11 rotating house-brewed beers plus a couple of guest taps–but it didn’t fit the bill for us. The place had the feel of a large 1970’s pizza parlor that had not been updated, and it still seems as much a pizza joint as a brewery. We also didn’t love their beers, a shame since it is smack in the middle of the downtown Historic Square.
We followed our West Mountain visit with a flight at Columbus House. Once again, Columbus House was a bit of a different place. The taproom features an eight-seat bar and then a handful of outdoor tables and chairs inside a tasting room that, aside from the off choice of furniture, felt more like a coffee shop than a brewery. They had two seasonal beers that were brewed with tea: a chai-spiced cream ale and a green tea IPA. We found those two interesting, but all in all wouldn’t be in a hurry to come back. Their flagship IPA and Pale Ale just didn’t suit our tastes.
Finally, we visited Fossil Cove Brewing Co, which had a groovy-feeling little tasting room attached to a decent-sized brewing operation. Fossil Cove had a nice atmosphere, a lively crowd and the best beer we had among the three Fayetteville-proper breweries, the Danktastic Double IPA
Two nights later, after hiking up north a bit, we went to Rogers, AR, home to New Province Brewing Co, Ozark Beer Co, and (temporarily) Bentonville Brewing Co. Overall, we thought New Province had the best beers among the six Fayetteville-area breweries we visited. They do a fair amount of Belgian brews–the only beer they currently can is a Belgian Wit–but their IPA was really good and their Pale Ale was strong as well. And while it was fairly empty when we were there on a Thursday afternoon, we did like their tap room, which features a single pool table surrounded by regular tables, all overlooked by a nice, long bar.
Following our visit to New Province, we stopped by Ozark, housed in a cool old building in downtown Rogers with antique tables and a concrete bar. On tap, we were intrigued by their 2 different Pale Ales and two different IPAs, plus a Simcoe Farmhouse Ale that looked really interesting. Unfortunately we didn’t fall in love any of them.
Finally, we stopped by Bentonville Brewing, which is temporarily housed in Ozarks Brewing’s former building while they expand their Bentonville operation. There are a few tables in the brewing area, but the main tasting room has more of the feel of someone’s house, with five dining room tables and chairs in a small room with low ceilings, off of an even smaller room with a little bar. The staff was friendly to us and to Bugsy, who got to come inside and snack on treats while we drank, and we liked the beer as well. I’m not sure what the future tap room will be like, but we liked the setting, and the beer, in this little Ozarks location.
It’s definitely worth exploring all of the breweries on the Ale Trail yourself, but if you are short for time, we would recommend New Province, Fossil Cove and Bentonville, in that order.
