Diamond Bear Brewery

Diamond Bear Brewery in North Little Rock (Pulaski County) revived beer brewing in the state of Arkansas. Its name is derived from two previous monikers used by Arkansas: the “Diamond State” and the “Bear State.”

Russ Melton, president and chief executive officer of Diamond Bear, served in the military in Germany for four years, where he acquired a taste for fine beers. He and his wife, Sue Melton, came up with the concept of a local brewery in 1999 and, along with seven other owners, started production in the fall of 2000 at a Little Rock (Pulaski County) facility. The original mission statement of the company was: “To provide the people of Arkansas and the surrounding region with their own local brewery, which produces great premium all natural beer products, which reflect favorably on Arkansas and the surrounding region.”

All of Diamond Bear’s draft beers were brewed on-site from the beginning. The bottled beer was first brewed and bottled in Minnesota, but after purchasing a bottling line from a company in Wisconsin, the brewery was able to produce all of its products on-site. This allowed the brewery more flexibility in the varieties it could offer. The water used in the beer production originally came from Lake Winnetoka outside of Hot Springs (Garland County). Less than a half dozen people were employed at the brewery full-time early in the history of the operation, but the brewery had many volunteers who assisted in keeping the operations running smoothly. The brewery later moved to canned rather than bottled bear.

The brewery specializes in craft beers, which are beers that contain no adjuncts, chemicals, or additives. Most beers are also brewed in accordance with the German Beer Purity Law of 1516, which means they contain only barley, hops, water, and yeast. Among Diamond Bear’s beers were Southern Blonde, Honey Weiss, Pale Ale, Irish Red, Presidential IPA, Two Term Double IPA, Paradise Porter, Rocktoberfest, Strawberry Blonde, and Dogtown Brown. Some of these later changed names or were discontinued. The brewery also has a premium soft drink called Big Rock Root Beer.

Diamond Bear Brewery has won several national or international awards for its Pale Ale and Irish Red. Diamond Bear Pale Ale was ranked the best “Classic English-Style Pale Ale” in the world for the second time in a row by international judges at the 2006 World Beer Cup. This competition had over 2,000 entries from 540 different breweries located in over fifty countries.

Diamond Bear began distributing its beer in 2000 throughout state of Arkansas and beyond. On April 18, 2011, Diamond Bear announced plans to build a 20,000-square-foot brewery in North Little Rock. The official grand opening of the new complex was celebrated on April 21, 2014. The complex includes a taproom and restaurant. In 2023, the restaurant area underwent extensive renovation after Diamond Bear partnered with restauranteur Bart Likes to take over food-service operations at the brewery.

In September 2024, Arkansas Business reported that Melton planned to sell the property on which the brewery was located.

For additional information:
Diamond Bear Brewery. http://www.diamondbear.com (accessed August 26, 2023).

Eifling, Sam. “Crafting Suds.” Arkansas Times. July 22, 2010, pp. 10–13. Online at http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/crafting-suds/Content?oid=1239399 (accessed August 26, 2023).

Klump, Edward. “Craft Beer Breweries Expanding: LR Company Cooking up More Flavors for Arkansas.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. October 3, 2003, pp. 1D, 6D.

Van Zandt, Emily. “Russell Scott Melton.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 6, 2014, pp. 1D, 8D.

Nicole Chenault
Chenault & Gray Publishing