Suds of a different kind.
TheSuperior Bathhouse Breweryin Hot Springs , Arkansas , perplex some strange calls , but one query put up out . “ We had a phone call one time — ‘ do you require clothes ? ’ ” says Brand Manager Jami Smith , laugh softly . “ That was the first time I had heard that particular one . ”
But to the naive visitor , it ’s an understandable mistake . Red - bricked and flat - topped in Classical Revival trend , the retro stack green trim the window of the Superior Bathhouse Brewery hearken to the time when the townsfolk was nicknamed “ Spa City , ” its bathhouses a magnet for grievous hitters Al Capone , Lucky Luciano , and the weary pearl of the musician inspect for MLB Spring Training ( held in Hot Springs from 1886 to the 1950s ) . The Superior Bathhouse opened on February 1 , 1916 , and operated until 1983 , the minor and most - low-cost soaking blot on Bathhouse Row , known as “ the people ’s bathhouse , ” offering basic hydrotherapy , mercury , and massage services .
After sitting empty for 10 , it reopened with new purpose in 2013 as a brewery , those mint - shave windows now streaming sunlight onto dark forest table and Ag farmhouse chairs , which seat on original white - penny roofing tile floor . The marble barroom , once the original impediment - in desk , now holds a hard cash registry . Behind it on the wall are small orthogonal lockers , formerly guarding keys and personal property of bathers , now just decorative flair . Hanging above the marble measure , beer tap with gullible levers and , dominate it all , the original neon Superior preindication .
Bathhouse? Or brewery? (It’s a brewery.)|Photo by John David Pittman for Thrillist
“ I think the layout of the [ front ] elbow room is passably tasteful , bang that where we model and have food and drinks is where the bathers hung out , ” says Smith . “ And the back where we brew is where the actual bath were . Where the fermenters now sit was the Man ’s area . ”
Today , if you ’re looking for somewhere to surcharge at the Superior , you ’re out of luck . But what you will get is something found nowhere else : meticulously craft beer from the only brewery in the world that utilise thermal raging springs water , in the only brewery located in a US interior commons .
And yeah , if you want that , you father ta be wear upon apparel .
The marble bar is the original check-in desk.|Photo by John David Pittman for Thrillist
Picture a town promise Hot Springs , one nestled in the Ouachita Mountains and embrace a national park of the same name , and you probably envision a steamy paradise , woodlet of greenery speck with fond natural pool just inviting you to settle in . You ’re part correct .
Therearelush forests and 47 live springs ( plus a few cold ones ) , create when rain and melted snow seeps down into the rock , heating up as it catch deeper into the footing , and boiling up , breaking through the surface . Vaporsdorise from the ground through grates , creating mysterious fog on cold day and exhort the moniker “ Valley of the Vapors . ” But attempt to pass your prat directly into the 143 ° F water , and that would make for a much - repent decision .
autochthonal occupant were already utilizing this watery oasis when the former bathhouse were constructed , just canvass tents and wooden shacks establish by pilgrim who believed the thermal waters had healing powers . In 1832 President Andrew Jackson signed legislating delegate the springs - filled parcel as Union Edwin Herbert Land , technicallymaking it the country ’s first national commons , predating Yellowstone by forty age , though it was n’t formally declared as such until 1921 . In 1876 , the US Supreme Court ruled against private ground claims on the springs , check that the water supply would be available to all ( well , their narrow definition of “ all ” back then . The bathhouses were not integrate until the 1960s ) .
You want hot springs? You got hot springs.|Photo by John David Pittman for Thrillist
Vapor Rises From the Ground in This Arkansas Vacation Town
It’s is mist-ical. It’s mobster-y. It’s a magnet for misfits.
Eventually , the brook was cover to avoid contamination and hugger-mugger bathymetry was put in , funnel the water to the Modern steel , fire - immune bathhouses built in the later 1890s . They were aesthetically pleasing and luxurious , offering hydropathy , massage , exercise , and general health to the upper echelons . Some , like theFordyce — now a museum — feature marble fountains and tubs and a gorgeous stained - methamphetamine hydrochloride solarium - gash - music room , used for parties or general socializing .
In the 1900s , Hot Springs attracted health searcher in droves , promote as a situation “ where crutches are throw away . ” If you could n’t yield a bathhouse , you could at least drink the drinkable water from the springs — something you may still do today via piddle outflow about town . land your bottles to occupy up , or buy your H20 fromMountain Valley Spring Water , bottled in Hot Springs since 1871 , afavorite of Elvisand later stocked by Bill Clinton in the White House during his presidency .
Today , there are seven historicbathhousesleft on Bathhouse Row . Only one , theBuckstaff , still maneuver as a traditional bagnio ( if you want to book a soaking , book too soon . Like , Good Book now ) . For drenching , there ’s also theQuapaw , which use thermal water but has been revamped into more of a modern mean solar day watering place . The other bathhouses have been restored for adaptative reuse for thing like hotel , tourist shops , and , in the case of the Fordyce , a museum bear on its prosperous retiring spirit .
The Superior Bathhouse , the runt of the litter on the end of the row , was posture empty when beermaker Rose Schweikhart laid eyes on it in 2011 . Surprised by the deficiency of breweries in the expanse , her purport was to retrieve a location to open one of her own . “ I figured a place with a robust tourism industry , a internal parking area , and renowned potable thermic spring water would be a perfect localization , ” she says .
“ We had a phone call one sentence — ‘ do you call for clothes ? ’ ”
so as to use the thermal body of water for commercial-grade use , she knew she first had to get permission from the national park and have a location on federal belongings within the common . That meant one of the vacant former bathhouses . She was n’t the first to have the idea — a few breweries had already try and failed in the Superior Bathhouse space . But Hot Springs ’ super responded to her email within just a couple of hours . “ We set up a tour , and from the moment I set foot into the construction , I was in love , ” says Schweikhart . “ I see so much electric potential in the outer space and straightaway start the process to earn the rental . ”
The Buckstaff Baths have been continuously operating since 1912.|Photo by John David Pittman for Thrillist
From the hitch to the signing took two years , including a patronage program , financial projections and historic refurbishment programme , as the Superior is listed on the National Register of Historic Places ( any new changes have a lengthy favourable reception summons ) . She also had to shew that the beer was an appropriate use of the spring water and insure that the project was beneficial to the interior green .
The rental was signed in March 2013 , with a restaurant and tasting room porta shortly after . The on - site brewery took an additional 18 months to complete . In the spring of 2015 , they brew their first beer .
Beyond a pretty well doohickey , there are quite a few benefit to feature your beer brew with thermal groundwater . First , it bring through meter and energy , an environmental benefit . In Superior ’s brewing process , the initial step is to ignite 400 gallons of water to 168 ° degree Fahrenheit — urine that come from the bounce at 143 ° F already does much of the work . say Schweikhart , “ The time and toll deliverance alone are wild , but I also love the sustainability angle that we are save Department of Energy by using that heat from the friction of the Earth . ”
Try one or try them all. (We’d try them all.)|Photo by John David Pittman for Thrillist
Then there ’s the bonus of the high temperatures killing potentially dangerous microbe , low cadence of hardness from the spring H2O , plus no indigence to treat the Cl and other chemical that would come from a municipal water source . “ Many brewery need to filter their water , treat with rearward osmosis , and re - address the water with appropriate minerals for brewing , ” pronounce Schweikhart . “ In line , a typical batch for us ask a bit of pH modification and nothing more . ” In other words , the body of water is a beer maker ’s blank slate .
Grab a soak, smuggle some ‘shine.
Environmental consciousness issue forth in other mode . The brewery get off mash to flow livestock at JV Farms in Bismarck , Arkansas , to eventually return to their tabular array as “ beer - raised and braise ” Superior Bratwurst and Superior Frankfurters .
But , of row , you wanna know how the beer tastes . And lecturer , it ’s practiced . There are 18 spread out styles on pat : observational sours , IPAs , barrel - senior stouts , blonde ale , and whatever else they fancy . attempt a four - ounce sample , opt for a trajectory of four , or try all 18 in a Beer Bath ( $ 35 ) , a pop option . There ’s a full menu to intoxicate it up , and in the future , you may be capable to have food utilizing the caloric waters . As Smith says , “ We ’re experimenting with the stuff . ” Keep your clothes on .
