in the isolation of eugenol, why is it necessary to extract the organic layer with enough base?

Question

I am not an organic chemist so check me on this. Isn't eugenol a phenol? Won't that make it somewhat acid? Won't the NaOH extraction make the phenol a sodium salt soluble in the water layer? To extract all of the eugenol you would want to use enough base to get all of the product.