Little Rock Brewery to Offer Beer Made with Arkansas Hops

FRESHLY SERVED — Stone’s Throw Brewing, a Little Rock brewery, will be serving a keg of its Papa Geyer’s Imperial Pilsner at its downtown location at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 11. The beer was “dry-hopped” for seven days after the initial brewing process, using a blend of hops grown by University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture researchers. (Division of Agriculture photo.)

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Ryan McGeeney

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University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
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LITTLE ROCK — It often takes something special to make something special. To wit: Arkansas hops — a rarity in their own right — will soon add a twist of flavor to a limited-release batch of Arkansas-brewed beer.

Stone’s Throw Brewing, a Little Rock brewery, will be serving a keg of its Papa Geyer’s Imperial Pilsner at its downtown location at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 11. The beer was “dry-hopped” for seven days after the initial brewing process, using a blend of hops grown by University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture researchers.

“Dry hopping” is a term for adding hops to beer during the fermentation or conditioning stages of the brewing process once the other ingredients have already been boiled.

Megan Wylie, who is both director of operations for Stone’s Throw Brewing and director of the Central Arkansas Region of the Arkansas Brewers Guild, said she believes the pilsner “should pair very nicely with the hop blend.”

The beer is described as having “a straw-colored and crystal-clear appearance, a malty backbone, and a delicious balance from Old World hops,” Wylie said, and weighs in at 9 percent alcohol by volume.

The hops were cultivated at the Fruit Research Station in Clarksville, part of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the Division of Agriculture’s research arm. Amanda McWhirt, extension horticulture specialist for the Division of Agriculture, said the hops used in the new beer were grown in a trial funded by a Specialty Crop Block Grant from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture.

“We have been working on this project since 2018 and have been able to identify some varieties of hops that work well in Arkansas, figure out how to manage the hops plants for the Arkansas climate and determine how the aromatic quality is different for hops grown in the state compared to the Pacific Northwest,” McWhirt said.

“The missing component has been taking hops from our trial and getting them into a beer and getting feedback from the brewer and beer drinkers on their quality,” she said. “So, we are excited to be able to complete that step with Stone’s Throw.”

McWhirt was the co-primary investigator on research under the Department of Agriculture grant along with Renee Threlfall, a research scientist for the Division of Agriculture who has been involved in the division’s wine grape breeding program and currently serves on the board of the Arkansas Wine Producers Council.

Stone’s Throw Brewing is located at 402 E. 9^th St. in Little Rock.

​To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and Instagram at @ArkAgResearch.

To learn about Extension Programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit https://uaex.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AR_Extension.

To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.