Take a 501c3 charity named Beer & Hymns and it already sounds like a partnership made it Heaven. Add some professional players from the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra (APO) and, well, you're just making a wonderful offering sound even sweeter. The APO partners regularly with Beer & Hymns to help raise funds for local charitable causes. Cheers!

Beer & Hymns began in 2016 as a small gathering on a brewery patio in Bentonville, Arkansas. As interest grew, so did our vision to expand its scope. By summer 2018, Beer & Hymns was a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit funneling money from monthly fundraising events to local charitable organizations. A year later, crowds topping 300 packed into venues, eager to experience the magic of coming together to make our community a more caring and hopeful place.

Our Story

The brewery patio is crowded tonight. Benches line long community tables. Seats and pint glasses are full. Their contents are as varied as the crowd: IPA, oatmeal stout, Belgian wheat; root beer, Cabernet, Diet Coke. The place is just humming.

At one end of the patio, an older couple laughs with friends. At the other, millennials add to their Instagram stories. Young parents bounce babies in carriers. Kids play with dump trucks and dinosaurs in the pea gravel. Bartenders chat with regulars. Suddenly, the strum of a guitar draws all attention to the front of the taproom, and we sing.

From "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," to "How Great Thou Art." On to a barn-stomping medley of "I'll Fly Away," "I Saw the Light," and "When the Saints Go Marching In." The set list is also dotted with cover songs following a monthly theme: Love Songs, Songs of the 60s, Piano Legends, Road Trip, Christmas Carols.

This is Beer and Hymns. A motley mix of of locals filling up this space once a month, shaking hands and passing song sheets. Some know these hymns by heart; others have never sung them before. Some are regular churchgoers; others have sworn off organized religion. (And most everyone gets on board with "Purple Rain" and "Let It Be"). But in this place, something special happens. As voices and glasses are raised, divisions dissolve, and hearts are softened. Hands reach across tables, and powerful connections are made. This is a truly communal experience, bringing people together and reminding us that we're not that different after all.

We end every Beer and Hymns gathering with the same song, called "All of the Hard Days are Gone" by Kevin McKrell. People throw arms around shoulders, lift their glasses high, sway, and sing with gusto:

All of the hard days are gone
It's all beer and whiskey and songs from now on
We'll laugh at the darkness and dance until dawn
All of the hard days are gone.

That's what we're doing at Beer & Hymns: laughing at the darkness—that claims our differences are too great; that keeps us sheltered and comfortable; that denies a brewery can be holy ground.

Pull up a seat. Let's laugh at the darkness together.