Jesse Core, founder of craft brewer Core Brewing & Distilling Co. of Springdale, is busier than ever these days, but he took time earlier this month to fill Arkansas Business in on his rapidly expanding enterprise, founded only six years ago.
- As most folks know by now, Core opened a taproom in North Little Rock on March 11, at 411 Main St., the former location of Starving Artist Café. This is Core’s first location in central Arkansas.
- Core partnered with airport concession company Paradies Lagardère to open Core Public House, a full-service restaurant with 10 taps, in the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport on Feb. 25.
- Core said he’d just signed a lease for a new pub on Main Street in downtown Bentonville, close to the square.
- He also has inked a letter of intent for a new location on Emma Avenue in downtown Springdale. Core’s timing is good. Tyson Foods is constructing a two-story, 44,000-SF office building nearby. That building is scheduled to be finished next year and is part of a revitalization of downtown Springdale that has seen various Walton family members buying property. The city is producing a Downtown Master Plan that calls for $20.5 million in improvements.
- Core has just installed new fermentation vessels, three 160-barrel fermenters and a new 160-barrel bright — sometimes spelled brite — tank, which BeerAdvocate.com tells us is a “vessel in which beer is placed after primary fermentation where the beer matures, clarifies and, is naturally carbonated through secondary fermentation.”
- He and his VP of operations, Derek “Thor” Salmonson, were preparing to visit Germany “looking at our new canning line, which will do 250 cans per minute.” That equipment, made by the German manufacturer Krones, is scheduled to be shipped to the U.S. in April and be operational by summer. “It’s world-class,” Core said.
- His director of sales and marketing, Jay Richardson, has recently signed deals with distributors in Nashville, Tennessee, and Atlanta.
“Other than that,” Core said, laughing, “we’re busy.”
The new and planned pubs in North Little Rock, XNA, Bentonville and Springdale join existing locations at 2470 Lowell Road and 7702 W. Sunset Ave. in Springdale and one each in Fayetteville, Rogers and Fort Smith. And Core products can be found in the club level in Razorback Stadium.
Core Brewing has made a couple of investment offerings, the latest in January, up to $3.5 million in shares. “We used that money to fuel our expansions — like we’re putting in a new 2,500-SF walk-in cooler at the plant,” Core said, referring to the facility at 2470 Lowell.
Currently, Core Brewing is producing 500-600 barrels a month but expects to be up to 1,200 barrels monthly by the end of the year, he said. The company, as of earlier this month, had 24 full-time workers and 25 part-time workers and was looking to hire three more for a second shift in packaging.
Further down the road, Core is still planning a distillery in the 36,050-SF former Southwest Times Record press facility at 1000 Rogers Ave. in downtown Fort Smith. But press equipment is heavy and cumbersome, and removing it from the building takes time. “It’s going to take a good two months just to get the equipment out,” he said.
But, Core said, “It’s a great building and a great location, so it’s going to make a fine distillery.”
Core and his wife are both from Fort Smith, and he’s excited about locating a distillery there.
However, Core said, his goals are statewide. “Our goal is not to be just a northwest Arkansas brewery,” he said. “We want to be the brewery for the state of Arkansas.”
Core beer can be found in more than 500 locations in Arkansas and southwest Missouri, but a distributorship agreement for Memphis and the new agreements for Nashville and Atlanta mean additional growth for the brand. “We’re moving fast and furious,” he said.
“We’ve done very little marketing,” Core said. “Our goal has been very simple: If we work hard to make beer that Arkansans are proud to call their own, then we’re going to be just fine.”
Sign up for Daily E-news
