Rebel Kettle Brewing Company is preparing a major expansion into Conway. The Little Rock brewery aims to be the first legal beermaking operation in Faulkner County after state lawmakers approved Act 681, which allows for the operation of microbrewery/restaurants in dry counties. Rebel Kettle is looking to start things rolling with a new facility at 1090 Spencer Street, complete with production brewery and brewpub.

“The city of Conway reached out to us to see if we’d be interested in bringing a restaurant/brewpub in and obviously we feel like it’s not too far away from home and it’s a good location. It’s just a great town,” Rebel Kettle founder/head brewer John Lee says. “Conway is an up-and-coming city in Arkansas, and the city council is really trying to boost the economy and one of the things they’re missing is a brewery.”

The new brewpub will be producing beers just for the Conway location. Plans are to keep the same format as their Little Rock location with four or five year-round beers. The rest will be “Conway exclusive” rotating beers, all brewed by Rebel Kettle. All beer will have to be consumed on premise; with the new law there will be no growler or crowler fills. The tentative plans are for approximately a 3 to 4 bbl system depending on when they get in their building and look at how placement will work out, then maybe adding a few 7 bbls and some 3.5 bbls tanks.

“The building that we’ve placed an offer on is about 5,000 square feet, with some outdoor patio space as well,” Lee says. “The restaurant side is going to be a little smaller than our current location as far as the kitchen. We’re going to push the beer more there with more entertainment space including foosball, pool tables, shuffleboard and stuff like that for a fun atmosphere. So pending closure, hopefully by the end of summer we can get going and we’d love to be open at the location by the end of the year.”

We will keep an eye on this story and update you on construction progress and the opening day when it is announced.