If the permits come through and everything falls into place, Fort Smith Brewing Co. should be up and running next year — the earlier the better, as far as Brooke Elder is concerned.
Elder, an accountant at Beall Barclay & Co. in Fort Smith, is a partner in the brewery business with Quentin Willard and brewmaster Micah Spahn.
Elder believes Fort Smith Brewing would be among the first breweries in the city since the Joseph Knoble Brewery, which operated from 1848 to 1881, according to the indispensable “Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture”.
Willard will be the general manager, and Elder will be handling legal issues, accounting and human resources.
The 9,000-SF brewery — 1,500 SF of that will be a tasting room in the front of the building — will be located at 7500 Fort Chaffee Blvd. in Chaffee Crossing.
She’s always wanted to be involved in a startup, Elder said. And because she has home-brewed before and craft brewing is booming and the immediate area didn’t have a brewery, starting one seemed like a good idea.