Springdale-based Core Brewing and Distilling Co. plans to open on Friday (July 17) its first pub in Fort Smith. The location is 701 Rogers Ave. in downtown Fort Smith, just three blocks from where his father and Uncle Kit operated Core’s Grain and Feed bar.
“Uncle Kit is one of our bartenders at the Springdale tap room who is affectionally known as the ‘grumpy ole bastard,’ but he draws them in from all around because he’s so much fun. He is going to open the Fort Smith Pub for me and we have collected old Core’s Grain & Feed memorabilia to use at that location,” Core told The City Wire in this January 2015 interview.
The Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce is holding a ribbon cutting at 4 p.m., Friday, at the new location.
The 1,725 square-foot building was sold for $95,475. Core said in January that the local pub will offer aged Arkansas Whiskey, along with another new whiskey label named for the historic hanging gallows in downtown Fort Smith.
The new pub, Core Public House, will be open 7 days a week, serving all the company's brews that have made it the state's largest brewery. There is free popcorn and hotdogs are available for purchase.
Jesse Core, who is a Fort Smith native and 1991 graduate of Northside High School, has a history of operating in downtown areas. Earlier this year he opened a distillery in Northwest Arkansas and announced earlier this year plans to open a pub in a downtown Springdale in a portion of the former Ryan’s Department Store on Emma Avenue.
Core, a former Tyson Foods system analyst, is putting his Harding University master’s business degree to good use. He’s grown his beer brewing hobby from a family garage to more than 20 employees and counting in the past three years. He also has plans to open a location in Bella Vista.