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This Saturday the brewing community will celebrate The Home Brewery’s 20th anniversary with a full day of events. Things kick off with live music, refreshments, and brewing demonstrations at the store – located at 455 E. Township St. – from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The festivities will continue that night with a party at Fossil Cove from 7-10 p.m.
Things have changed dramatically since Sparks first started selling small quantities of malt, hops, and yeast to area homebrewers. Making beer at home has exploded in popularity, and the craft beer options in stores seem endless. Perhaps most importantly to those who care, Northwest Arkansas has developed a brewing industry of its very own.
Last year two University of Arkansas journalism students made a film highlighting the popularity of homebrewing and craft beer in the area. Many of the professional brewers interviewed for Tapping the Ozarks pointed to their experiences as homebrewers as the inspiration for their chosen career paths.
“My roots in brewing start in homebrewing,” said Fossil Cove Brewing Co. owner and brewmaster Ben Mills. “So without homebrewing I don’t know that this would exist.”
Jesse Core of Core Brewing and Distilling didn’t beat around the bush when giving credit for the area’s brewing momentum.
“We as brewers need to be very appreciate of what Andy Sparks has done,” he said. “Andy, in a lot of ways, is the father of this brewing movement because he’s been teaching brewers [for many years].”
It’s easy to see that Sparks has been a big influence on amateur and professional brewers alike. But how exactly did he discover the hobby himself?
From new hobby to store owner
“When I graduated from college a friend gave me [Charlie] Papazian’s book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing,” said Sparks. “I read that book cover-to-cover for about a year before I decided to take the plunge.”
Unfortunately for Sparks there wasn’t a local source for homebrewing ingredients in Northwest Arkansas. He lucked out when his employer sent him on the road for a work assignment. There he found the ingredients he needed to brew a batch of beer, transporting them back home in his luggage.
“My first batch of beer was Rocky Racoon’s Honey Lager from Papazian’s book,” said Sparks.
The honey lager turned out pretty good, and his next batch was just as enjoyable. And just like that Sparks was officially in love with homebrewing.
With his new found zeal for the hobby he started looking for an ingredient supplier. That’s when he stumbled on a little shop outside Branson, Missouri called The Home Brewery. Ingredients could be purchased by mail order and shipped directly to Sparks’ home in Fayetteville.
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