Ozark Brewing Company

I had a couple pints of their IPA, a pint of their stout, plus 5 oz samplers of their pilsner and “X ale.” Their IPA, although sufficiently bitter, fell short on hop flavor, aroma, and malt backbone to stand up to the bittering hops. Since I love hops I enjoyed it anyway.. The stout had a good roasted flavor, but was way too thin in body-- it was more akin to a brown porter. The “X Ale” was dubbed an amber ale. It was thin in body, had a pleasant nuttiness with very low hopping, and finished slightly sweet. It was allright. The insipid pilsner lacked any notable Saaz character or subtle malt nuances that make pilsners distinguishable. I don’t want to sound too harsh. There weren’t any real problems with the brews, but they were all unremarkable. I ordered a Mediterranean salad w/ pita, hummus and tabouleh. They certainly don’t skimp on the feta! Not bad. The crab dip appetizer was pretty tasty, but the bread was stale! So I put it on my pita slices and it tasted fine. The service was good, and the place had a lively, brewpub/restaurant atmosphere. Rustic wooden decor added to the brewpub feel. If you ever get the chance to visit Fayetteville, just right up the road is a place called “Brewhaus”... an overwhelming amount of microbrews (e.g. draft Bigfoot) and imports on draft and in bottle. Hit Ozark Brewery then go there!

For those of you who do not know the OBC has closed and is up for rent. The owner blamed the Fayetteville smoking ban in resturaunts and the fact that people are not spending money as reasons for closure. However, he did not mention the fact that his food was overpriced and that he took the most popular item (pizza) off of the menu. He also fail to mention the fact that his beer was infected, might I add very infected, due to his serving lines not being changed or cleaned for quite some time. We informed the owner of this and all he had to say to us was that he sold everything that he made. He did know that we were members of the homebrew club and he did tell us that he had not maintained his lines.

Therefore, sad as it is to lose a brewing establishmetn, this one was lost for good reasons. There will be no more first time quality beer drinkers being turned away from quality beers because of the shit they were serving. Hopefully someone will rent the place out and run it like it was meant to be, with respect for beer in mind.