Diamond Bear To Be Bottled In Little Rock

Story by Sonseeahray Tonsall Posted 7/1/2003 9:35:00 AM

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An Arkansas homegrown enterprise is flourishing. In fact, business is so good you could bottle it.

For the last three years, when you've seen Diamond Bear Beer at bars and stores, it's actually been shipped here from a contract bottler in Minnesota. That'll change in the next few weeks.

From the name on its label to its location, Diamond Bear Brewery is all about a love affair with Arkansas...and of course, beer.

Charlie Kling, a master brewer, tells News 4 Arkansas, "beer, in my opinion, should be brewed and drank locally. That's how it started in the Middle Ages. Every town had its own brewery and its own local flavor."

The local love added to this product has been there through the whole process for draft drinkers, but Diamond Bear recipes had to be brewed and shipped from elsewhere for them be enjoyed in a bottle--until their new bottling equipment came.

"It will do about 220 bottles a minute and it should support us for many years to come, as we grow and become more of a regional brewery," says Russ Melton, the Diamond Bear Brewery Owner.

Good bottling lines start around a quarter of a million dollars, but after selling 650 barrels of the sudsy stuff last year, it was time for Diamond Bear to make this investment.

Customers will drink up the changes, as Pat McCrackin, of The Flying Saucer, tells us. "Diamond Bear is very popular. It's our only local brewery. It's a great product and we sell a lot of it."

And for that, Diamond Bear will keep pouring out the pride.

Besides the bottler, Diamond Bear plans to be offering a new taste called Ultra Blonde, by Labor Day. It's low-carb and low-cal for all those folks on the Atkins Diet. Plus, there’s another brew in the works: a premium root beer to be made on-site.

Thanks to the addition of the bottler, Diamond Bear has added two positions. Owners say more jobs will be created, since the company buys all the supplies that it can right here in Arkansas, any expansion has a ripple effect.


Watch News 4 Arkansas for more on this story!