From a purely business standpoint, the handwritten letter pitching an Arkansas craft beer distributorship to Marshall Brewing Co. in Tulsa made little sense.
Typically, brewers like Marshall essentially piggyback with companies already moving larger, better-known brands of beer. A company built exclusively around moving specialty beers in a small state hardly seemed feasible.
Still, there was something about the letter that stuck with Marshall head of sales Wes Alexander. The passion for craft beer exhibited in the correspondence was enough to pique his interest, even if it probably shouldn’t have.
“It struck me as something you just don’t see anymore,” Alexander said. “I was reading it on the way back from a trip, and what really stuck with me was the passion they espoused for craft beer. We sell in four different states and, really, one of the hardest jobs I have is finding somebody outside of my home state who can represent my product with the passion, zeal and education that it takes to sell craft beer and get behind your brand. I saw that and wanted to know more.”
Shortly after an in-person meeting with the five founders of Arkansas Craft Distributors, Alexander and Marshall founder Eric Marshall agreed to give them a try. Marshall became the first craft brewery to sign on with Arkansas Craft Distributors, a company that now distributes more than 20 brands to liquor stores, restaurants and other retail outlets across the state.
Arkansas’ craft beer distributorship was the idea of a group of five 30-somethings living in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas. What the five original partners exhibited in passion and knowledge of beer they lacked in know-how on the business side of distribution.
That led the original partners, who declined to be named for this story, to veteran beer man George O’Connor of Little Rock. O’Connor bought into his first distributorship in Newport in 1993 and now operates three distributing companies in Arkansas as part of O’Connor Distributing, with major brands including Miller Lite, Coors Light, Corona, Smirnoff, Blue Moon, Dos Equis, Samuel Adams, Shiner and Guinness.
O’Connor is a 50-50 partner with Arkansas Craft Distributors, which has warehouses in Little Rock and Rogers. He also has warehouses in Hot Springs, Pine Bluff and Newport that aid in the distribution of about 2.5 million cases of beer annually through the three entities that make up O’Connor Distributing.
Besides the potential for making money, O’Connor was drawn to the Arkansas Craft Distributors endeavor by the excitement currently surrounding the craft beer scene. Interest in craft beer has grown tremendously in Arkansas, which had 18 registered small breweries and seven microbrewery restaurants in July.
A boom in craft beers made in the state has also generated interest for brands from outside the state.
“There’s an energy here that hasn’t been with the larger brands in a while,” O’Connor said. “You get new flavors. You’re meeting new people. There was a lot of energy 40 years ago when light beer was just coming out, and now you have that again. It’s been fun and I don’t want to be bombastic, but I’m really proud of what Arkansas Craft Distributors has accomplished.”
Arkansas Craft Distributors hired its first Little Rock employee in June 2012 and its first in Northwest Arkansas about five months later. As romantic as the notion of operating a business with “one guy in a van” and stockpiles of beer in people’s garages was, the realities of running a successful distributorship led the group to bring in O’Connor.
Since the first full year of business in 2013, the company said sales have increased 372 percent. Arkansas Craft Beer Distributors now has 20 employees, giving O’Connor and Associates nearly 100 total.
Within the past three months, they’ve added nationally known craft beers likes Lagunitas Brewing Co. of Petaluma, Calif.; Oskar Blues Brewery of Longmont, Colo.; and Victory Brewing Co. of Downingtown, Pa.
Landing Mother’s Brewing Co. of Springfield, Mo., was an early victory for Arkansas Craft Distributors. Mother’s began distributing in Northwest Arkansas in August 2013, and success in that market and Fort Smith helped persuade Mother’s founder Jeff Schrag to put off expansion in St. Louis, a traditionally strong market for beer, in favor of Little Rock.
Schrag remains happy with picking Little Rock in 2014.
“I am surprised, very pleasantly surprised,” Schrag said. “We hit at the right time in our evolution and the evolution of Arkansas and craft beer. I could see how it would work in Chicago. I was surprised it worked so well in a rural state, but it’s been a great decision.”