Natural State Beer Company- Mark Smith & Dan Clous

In this week’s Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we’re talking with Mark Smith and Dan Clous of Natural State Beer Company, but before we get to them?!?! FOOD NEWS!!! The Hive at 21C made a prominent national magazine. We’ll tell you what magazine and why they’re in there! Speaking of The Hive, they’re now selling tickets for their No Kid Hungry Fundraiser. We’ll tell you how and where to get them. Zelli Pasta has a new home! Co-owner Mitchell Owen will tell us what’s different about it. Desi Fusion opened in Springdale on Monday. We’ll hear from owner Lucky Sadthra about their fare. NYC Express Deli opened their second location- their first in Benton County. We’ll tell you where! The soon-to-be AQ Chicken House had folks over yesterday for graffiti. Kind of. We’ll explain. We MIGHT have a grand opening date or week for Ozark Charcuterie & Wine Bar’s cheese and wine shop in Rogers. Brewski’s and Natural State Beer Company have Chili Cookoff’s soon! If you’ve been missing Renzo’s Italian Steakhouse, there’s now a way to have it! Happy anniversary to Bella’s Table and Dodo Coffee! In this week’s Flavors Flashback, we’re talking about hairy pasta! True story. Mark Smith and Dan Clous met in a home brewing club here in Northwest Arkansas. Their love for a unique certain style of brewing eventually led to them getting into business with each other. They talk about how they found their peaceful and serene spot to build their brewery. Once you’re there, you don’t feel like you’re a quarter mile from I-49. Soon after opening, they had to survive covid. You’ll hear how they did it, and they were able to because of their location. Also, Dan had to leave NWA for a few years, and you’ll hear why. Oh, and that Chili-cookoff. Taproom manager Haley Arnell will give you the lowdown. And finally, the beers. We had a live-to-tape taste-test, and I do NOT regret it. That’s all next here in the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas.