Texas Road Trip: Day 8 - 20,000 miles to an oasis

 Day 8 - Texarkana, TX > Little Rock, AR

We said our goodbyes the night before, as Justin had to work in the morning. Well, we said goodbye to old Major, Justin's trusty little pug who's still kicking it at 15+ years old. We packed up the car and began our three-day journey back to PA.

It was a lengthy four-and-a-half drive to our first stop of the day, which was in Texarkana, TX, for lunch and our first brewery on the way home. Unfortunately, it wasn't worth the drive... although in all fairness it was "on the way" to Little Rock, AR, and broke up the drive nicely. Besides, a man's gotta eat, right Bobandy? Plus I always wanted to visit Texarkana because I dig the R.E.M. song of the same name. Thanks Mike Mills. Twenty thousand miles to an oasis, indeed. 

Pecan Point opened in October 2014 as Texarkana's first brewery. Located next to the historic Perot Theatre, the small brewery serves small batch beers brewed in-house as well as guest taps, rotating wines, and custom cocktails.

Inside, Brooklyn-based architect Justin Scurlock peeled back the layers of the building's history to reveal its original structure, where customers can enjoy an intimate dining room experience or a more traditional beerhall vibe in the bar area. 

Outside Texarkana's Pecan Point.

Sadly, Pecan Point was the furthest thing from an oasis, I'm afraid. I'll be honest; I didn't have high hopes for this place, as it looked like a cookie cutter brewery with your typical blonde ale, cream ale, porter, IPA, etc. But the place looked nice enough with an open floor plan, plenty of seating, and a friendly staff. We parked at the bar and perused the beer and food menus. 

Trusting my instincts, I suggested to Brewslut that we share a sampler, which is always a safe way to test the waters of a questionable brewery. I have a funny way of sniffing out a subpar brewery. Well, folks, my Spidey Sense was tingling at this place. We settled on the following flight:

• Twin City Pilsner
• Swampdoodle IPA
• Grim Porter
• Bell's Dairy Milk Stout

Sadly, all four beers fell squarely between lackluster and undrinkable (mostly the latter). Even Brewslut, who typically "takes one for the team" since I do the vast majority of the driving (all of the driving on this trip, actually), couldn't mute her olfactory senses and plow through the remaining beer. 

Pleeps looking rather tentative at Pecan Point.

By design, I suppose every beer trip we take has to have a "worst brewery". If so, then Pecan Point easily gets my vote for this trip. Beer aside, we both got chicken salad sandwiches, which were passable but not great. I hate to be so critical about a brewery, but if you ever find yourself in Texarkana on your way to Little Rock and are thinking about stopping here, just keep driving. 

After another two hours or so on the road, we landed in Little Rock, Arkansas, at our first-ever brewery in the Natural State (whatever that means): Stone’s Throw. I'm glad we took Deuane's advice and went "the back way" home instead of re-treading our original route. Not only did we get to hit a couple of great little breweries, we crossed off another state on our "brewery bucket list". While we only got to three different breweries, we made our time in Arkansas count. 

Welcome to Stone's Throw!

Stone's Throw was founded by four friends who met at a local homebrew club called the Central Arkansas Fermenters. Bringing their collected brewing knowledge together, the four friends turned two old Little Rock buildings into successful neighborhood nano-brewery taprooms, both of which are just a - wait for it - stone's throw away from Little Rock's vibrant neighborhoods and local attractions. Of the two locations in town, we visited the Stifft Station Taproom. The other location is situated in downtown Little Rock. 

Once we got cozy at a table and perused the beer options, I decided to go with a flight of four different beers. I started with Amadeus Vienna Lager, which is a reference to some old musician named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I think he played piano and wrote pop songs of the day. All kidding aside, I actually had the opportunity to visit Mozart's "Geburtshaus" in Salzburg, Austria, when I went to Europe with the German club. (True story: I had my very first beer at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, Germany!) Though he was born in Salzburg, he spent the majority of his professional career in Vienna. See where this is going? One of Stone's Throw's year-round offerings, Amadeus features a healthy dose of Vienna malt and Noble hops to create a traditional copper-colored lager with caramel notes, a hint of toasty malt and a tinge of grassy, herbal hops around the edges. 

Pleeps is always a stone's throw away from good beer!

Up next was Cover Crop IPA, a classic American IPA brewed with a few twists, the first being the addition of rye in the grist. Rye, one of the world's most widely-used cover crops, lends a hint of spiciness in the backend. Columbus and Cascade - two tried and true American hop varietals - brings in plenty of citrus notes to tie it all together. This was nicely balanced and flavorful, and the rye spiced things up a bit.  

I was in a hoppy mood, so I made sure to include a pour of Ancestral IPA. This one is brewed in the more hop-forward West Coast tradition. More assertive than the Cover Crop IPA in its bitterness, I'm not sure I liked it better. Rounding out my flight was Barrel Aged Anni Stout, Stone's Throw's anniversary stout aged in bourbon barrels from Little Rock's own Rock Town Distillery. All in all, it was an enjoyable flight and enticed me to try something else before we moved on to the next brewery.  

Enter George Bros. Historic Arkansas Ale. This beer just sounded too interesting to pass up. Here's the story, courtesy of the folks at Stone's Throw:

Little Rock’s first brewers were German-born Alexander and Henry George who operated a biergarten in the mid-1800s on Rock Street. For the museum’s 75th anniversary, Ian Beard, Theron Cash and Leah Lambert of Stone’s Throw Brewing drew on their own research and that of our Arkansas-made team to come up with a tribute beer similar to a 19th century George Bros. brew. The George brothers came from a warm region of Germany which suggests that their beer would have been similar to Belgian-style farmhouse ale. Additional research revealed which brewing ingredients would have been available to the George brothers. With the addition of wild Arkansas yeast harvested by Grant Chandler (Lost Forty Brewing) from plums in Dunbar Community Garden, this 75th anniversary ale is an Arkansas-made ale of historic proportions!

All in all, everything here was solid and enjoyable. Stone's Throw was a fine introduction to the Arkansas craft beer scene, and it felt great to add another notch in our brewery bucket list. This would be our last "new state" of the trip, as we'd head back through Tennessee (one we'd just added earlier in the trip), leaving 18 more unexplored states for the Pour Travelers to traverse... hopefully some day soon. 

One last sample for Pleeps at Stone's Throw!

Our next stop, Little Rock's Lost Forty, was our favorite of the four breweries we hit on this particular day. We arrived right when their brewing shift must have been changing over, because a brewer came out with a big grin on his face, grabbed some beer to take home, and made some type of "life is good" comment to us and some nearby patrons. I can relate, because working at a brewery definitely has its perks, and I always say that my worst day at Tröegs is better than my best day at my last job (which, by the way, was in the Telecom industry). This guy was happy as a clam. 

The brewery takes its name from an historic forest, which stands on 40 acres of Arkansas's last truly virgin soil in Calhoun County. I don't know much about Arkansas at all (perhaps the only thing is that Bill Clinton was governor of the state prior to his presidency), but this place just felt like Arkansas. It's hard to explain. We'd never been to the state prior to this visit, but I'd wager you'd be hard-pressed to find a brewery more uniquely Arkansas as Lost Forty. 

My first beer, Easy Tiger, set the tone and reeled me in right from a get-go. Described as a Mexican Lager, this GABF silver medal-winning cerveza is an easy drinker, boasting aromas of toasted malt and fresh-baked bread with a hint of citrus zest. 

Pleeps was loving life at Lost Forty.

I followed up with a pour of Rockhound IPA, which seems like one of the brewery's flagship beers. Citrusy, resinous and aromatic, this one falls more on the "West Coast" side of the IPA spectrum with a balanced caramel malt character underneath waves of grapefruit and tropical hop notes. 

I decided to stay on the IPA path for the remainder of our visit. Up next was Dig the Ride IPA, which - if memory serves me - was my favorite of the three. This one packs a hefty citrus profile with a tinge of honey sweetness, but finishes on the dry side with traces of dank herbs and citrus zest. Squirrel Sailor, on the other hand, was closer to a NEIPA and akin to orange juice with a hazy appearance and heavy on tropical fruit. Great name, by the way. I couldn't help but think of our pet squirrel Dig Dug frolicking through a sea grass in our yard back home in PA. 

All in all, this was a fantastic visit, with memorable beer, atmosphere, people... and food, too. Yes, the vegan crispy cauliflower wings were amazing! I loved everything about this place and always hope that every brewery we visit can check off all the boxes. Lost Forty did it with ease.

Last but not least, we had time to swing by one final brewery in Little Rock. Flyway, a stone's throw from the banks of the Arkansas River, is situated in the Argenta Arts District part of town and operates on a 10-bbl brewhouse. This small brewery prides itself ourselves on preserving its local land, resources and inhabitants, sourcing local ingredients, and maintaining its small, independent DNA. 

The brewery's name is derived from the Mississippi Flyway. Running from central Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, it's the largest bird migratory route in North America... right Deuane? With this in mind, Flyway invites folks to "come be a part of the migration." 

Bunch of bird brains at Flyaway, I'd say!

Kestrel Kolsch was an enjoyable, true-to-style Kolsch with a light but crisp body and just a tinge of citrusy, grassy hops to keep things interesting. My next beer, Saison Avifaune, is - according to the brewery - "an expression of this season that we'd love to share with you." Flyway believes that each particular season offers its own unique pace, weather patterns and characteristics. I found this saison to be a pleasant snapshot of this specific time and place, with notes of fresh bread, straw, bubblegum, and orchard fruit. 

While we were here, we had a long conversation with a guy who was also visiting Little Rock. Talked with a local at the bar for about an hour. While the details are a bit cketchy, I think he said he was from Minnesota or Wisconsin or one of those cool states up north. Maybe I'm wrong. That's what happens when you wait until March to write about something that happened in July... especially when beer is part of the equation. Nevertheless, he was quite friendly and talkative, and made the time pass in a pleasant manner, which is always the sign of a positive brewery experience. And with that, it was time to stick a fork into Day 8. Stay tuned for our final descent into PA and the end of our epic summer trip. Until next time...