Breweries and Taprooms Around Bentonville: Three Personal Favorites

A good flight is one of my favorite ways to get to know a brewery. Around Bentonville and Rogers, these three stops stood out for different reasons: a memorable key lime pie sour, a relaxed brewery visit and a small downtown bar where we stayed through an entire movie.

Allegiant supported our Arkansas trip. We paid for our drinks at all three stops; none of these brewery or taproom visits was hosted.

These are places I personally enjoyed during our Arkansas travels, not a ranking of every brewery in the state. One is a taproom rather than a brewery, and that was part of the appeal: each stop gave us a different kind of experience.

Rendezvous Junction Brewing Company in Rogers

Rendezvous Junction felt like someone had set up a small bar right in the middle of a working brewery. The brewing tanks were visible behind the seating area, so having a flight felt connected to the place the beer was being made.

I enjoyed several of the beers, but Sweetie Pie, the key lime pie sour, was the standout. It was phenomenal, and it is the one I kept remembering afterward. If I were choosing a return visit around one particular drink from this trip, that would be it.

Sweetie Pie is a sour beer, not a cider. The brewery's description identifies it as a pastry sour with key lime and milk sugar, and the menu photographed during our visit listed lactose. Check the current tap list before making a special trip for it.

Rendezvous Junction is in Rogers, so this is a nearby addition to a Bentonville trip rather than a downtown Bentonville stop.

Social Project Brewing Company

At Social Project Brewing Company, I ordered a flight and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. My favorite was Rivers and Roads Single Hazy IPA. It was a nice place to sit with a good flight, and that is what made the visit work for me.

This stop does not need a bigger story than that. Sometimes the combination of a beer you really enjoy and a comfortable place to spend some time is enough to make you remember a brewery. Check Social Project's own updates for current visiting information and beer availability.

Bentonville Taproom downtown

Bentonville Taproom, at 109 S Main Street, had more of a small neighborhood-bar feel. We ordered a flight, and the bartender was knowledgeable about the beer. We ended up listening to music, chatting with them and watching all of Napoleon Dynamite on the television.

That is probably the best way to explain the atmosphere: we felt comfortable enough to stay for the entire movie. The beer was good, but the conversation and easygoing setting were just as much a part of why I liked it.

It is a taproom rather than another brewery tour stop. For me, it belongs on this list because a good place to enjoy craft beer is about the visit as a whole, not only where the beer was brewed.

Choosing a stop for your trip

Rendezvous Junction was the one with my most memorable drink. Social Project gave us a relaxed flight, while Bentonville Taproom was the place where conversation and a movie became part of the evening. I would choose based on which of those experiences sounds most like your kind of outing, rather than trying to fit all three into one session.

Tap lists change, so treat these as favorites from my visit rather than promised current pours. Arrange a sober driver or another safe ride if your plans involve drinking and traveling between stops.