It was noon Jan. 12 inside the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, and everyone in Rotary Club 99, aka Rotary Club of Little Rock, was thinking about drinking beer as they reached for refreshing glasses of iced water or tea.
Such is the nature of Rotary lunches. There's always a speaker, and in this case, it was Russ Melton, co-founder of Diamond Bear Brewing Co. in North Little Rock. With the aid of a slide show, Melton shared the history of the craft beer industry in Little Rock and the history of Diamond Bear, which began in 2000. "We started producing on Sept. 21 ... October the 14th is when we sold our first beer to Flying Saucer [Draught Emporium]," Melton recalled.
Melton also spoke of "friendly competition" with other area breweries. He numbers 25 other craft brewers in the state who "bring more attention to the craft beer scene."
"So you've got more people out there saying, 'You need to be drinking local beer, you need to be drinking craft beer versus domestic, mass-produced beer."'
There's a tourist advantage, too. "People don't come to the city just to one brewery," just like they don't go to Napa Valley and visit one winery, he says.
"They go visit a bunch of them so from a tourism standpoint," it's "win, win, win."
The slide show included Diamond Bear facilities, as well as the cold, inviting products -- among them Pale Ale, Paradise Porter, Presidential IPA, and the interestingly named Southern Blonde -- which won the company seven national and international medals.
-- Story and photos by Helaine R. Williams
High Profile on 01/24/2016