Mad Rooster Beer | Fayetteville, AR
Beer Trip: Mad Rooster Beer in Fayetteville, Arkansas
If you’ve never been to northwest Arkansas, then you don’t know what you’re missing - this entire region has blown up over the last 10 - 20 years and has turned into a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts and beer drinkers alike. One of the newer breweries in Fayetteville is Mad Rooster Beer. Having opened in 2023, this place now offers another spot with a great atmosphere and tons of unique beer.
The Brewery
Mad Rooster is located inside a white block building with plenty of parking available out front. It was raining sporadically during our visit, but they do have a small outdoor patio with picnic tables and sun shades that flow nicely into the indoor space via a large, overhead garage door.
A great outdoor space for a warmer day!
Sometimes an early afternoon visit means the place to yourself
One of the many eclectic art pieces
The inside is spacious and features wooden tables and seats along with many TVs. We’re sure many visit Mad Rooster to watch sporting events! The space is almost entirely black and white featuring small pops of color found in local paintings on the walls. These one-of-a-kind, chicken-inspired pieces are available for purchase if you find that you need to take one home.
The Beer
For a brewery of this size, we were blown away by the number of beer offerings that they had (25+ on tap)! The bartender informed us that they only keep a select few on draft at all times and replace the remaining beers with something else as they run out. One thing that stood out about their selection was that almost half of the menu consisted of brews of 7% ABV or higher - which is pretty different than the typical 5-6% you see. With so many different beers, they do a great job of offering a varying style selection and intentionally include unique finds like an extra special bitter (ESB), scotch ale, and a bock to compliment the more standard offerings of IPAs, sours, and stouts.
The more colorful the flight, the better for us!
We always enjoy a brewery that puts thought behind the names of the beer, and Mad Rooster does just that. Almost every brew that they serve is titled something that has to do with roosters or chickens, such as the Chicken Licker, Tofu vs. Chicken, and Yellow Feathers. With so many beers, they even go so far as using other dialects to name them - Huhn, which is German for rooster, or Araucana, a species of Chilean chicken.
One might think that the quality of beer would decrease if the number of offerings increases, but this simply isn’t the case at Mad Rooster. In fact, the brewer here creates so many different brews that he can push the flavor envelope with each new batch. We were only able to try a limited menu, as we were just passing through, but every beer we tried was spectacular. Our favorites of the trip were the Hen’s Juice, which is their Berliner Weisse base with varying ingredients added towards the end of the brewing process. Their Hen’s Juice offerings on this visit included strawberry, banana, pineapple, coconut, marshmallow, and white chocolate-covered blueberries - which were all fantastic.
Neat epoxy bar feature
Food, Merch, & More
Mad Rooster doesn’t have a full kitchen; however, they offer chips, nuts, soft pretzels, and even “gourmet hotdogs,” which are essentially hotdogs loaded with different toppings. If beer isn’t your thing, they produce their own seltzer with tons of different flavor additives, as well as soda and juice boxes. Their merchandise options include some cool hats and shirts, along with the classic brewery sticker.
Mad Rooster definitely made an impression on us and seemed to be developing into a local hotspot for beer lovers. Make sure to pay a visit on your next trip to the region.
Cheers!
