It was a hot and humid weekday afternoon in Rogers, and it was quiet in the taproom. Behind glass windows, amid stainless-steel tanks, hoses, and pallets of cans, lurked the new co-owner of New Province Brewing Co.

John Lee welcomed me to sit at a makeshift table near the loading dock. His laptop was open and paperwork was strewn about. These were the marks of a busy man.

“I’m usually here until about four or five o’clock,” he said. “And then I’m on my laptop at my apartment working again.”

Lee is no stranger to the brewing industry. Many know him from his days at Rebel Kettle Brewing Co., which he co-founded in 2016. He was also the head brewer, and he made great IPAs such as Easy Roller, Headbangers Ball and Alphaholic. A loyal fan base developed around both brewery and beermaker.

Lee won’t say much about his exit from Rebel Kettle in March 2020. From the outside looking in, it seemed strange. Lee was the creative force behind the brewery, its heart and soul. “It was a good run, and it was fun while it lasted,” he offered. “Immediately afterward I thought, ‘Hey, maybe this is just the way it’s supposed to be.’ ”

Rebel Kettle was rebranded as East Sixth Brewing Co. following Lee’s departure. It closed just six months later. It might serve as a case study for how a thriving brand can decline and die in a short period of time.

Following the split, Lee took a job with Crow Burlingame Auto Parts as a district manager. He covered Southeast Arkansas and was responsible for 11 stores. He spent a lot of time on the road, away from his family. It wasn’t the path he thought his life would follow, but he seized the opportunity to sharpen his business skills.

“It’s really about people,” Lee said of lessons learned with Crow. “As long as you are taking care of your customers and your employees, they take care of you. It’s as simple as that.”

I asked him how the New Province deal came to be. It wasn’t public knowledge that the owners were seeking to sell.

“You have to be looking for an opportunity,” he said. “If you’re not looking you’re on the outside with everyone else.”

Lee has partners at New Province, including Heather Parker-Foster (whose husband Matt Foster co-owns Flyway Brewing in North Little Rock) and a few others who are silent.

“We all sat down about a month ago and talked about what we want these first steps to look like,” said Lee. “We’re still trying to feel things out.”

When news broke of the deal, many wondered if Lee would brew fresh batches of Rob Gnarley, Black Reign or Redrumpum. He made those beers at Rebel Kettle to great acclaim. It was natural to think he’d want to brew them again.

“I appreciate the people that still talk about Rebel Kettle,” said Lee. “But the focus isn’t on me now. It’s about where we are taking New Province. It’s about doing more of the good things they’ve been doing here since 2016.”

New Province is one of the bigger beermakers in the state, producing just under 2,000 barrels of beer per year. Philosopher King IPA and Fallen Queen — a Belgian-style witbier — are ubiquitous in northwest Arkansas. Seasonal releases and other one-offs are also popular with the region’s beer drinkers.

Head brewer Kort Castleberry, who joined New Province in October 2017 after a stint at Fossil Cove Brewing Co., should be credited for much of the brewery’s success. Lee said Castleberry’s creative approach and commitment to quality won him over when he considered the purchase.

“It’s all about Kort,” Lee said. “He’s been doing this for five years now, and I don’t want to change that up. He’s doing a great job and he’s a big part of our future plans.”

New Province has been distributed to Central Arkansas since late 2021. The brewery was warmly welcomed, but sales have not met expectations due to capacity restraints at the brewery. Lee said one immediate goal is to produce enough beer to adequately serve Pulaski County.

The 15-barrel brewhouse is big enough to increase production, but existing fermentation space is limited. New Province is in the process of obtaining several large fermenters from a recently closed Fayetteville brewery.

“There’s definitely room here for more tanks,” Lee said of New Province’s 8,100-square-foot footprint. “We just need to do some minor renovating to accommodate them. We’ll need to extend the trench drains and glycol runs, for example.”

Castleberry will continue as head brewer, but Lee said he knows he’ll get the itch soon. At some point he will make a beer of his own. In fact, he recently announced on social media that his first batch is already under his belt.

“Do I want to get back up on the brew deck?” he asked rhetorically. “Sure, I’ve got some things I didn’t get done [at Rebel Kettle] that I will want to do in time. I’m going to try and focus on taproom-only releases and small batches when I brew.”

Lee’s first beer at New Province is called West Hudson (named for the road the brewery calls home). It’s a hazy IPA brewed with Citra and T-90 hops. In the future, Lee will likely make some fun fruited sours and other push-the-envelope stuff. He has some ideas, but his ideas do not dominate his thinking right now. He has other things to worry about, such as growing the business he is now responsible for.

“The priority is to produce the best product possible and give people what they want,” Lee said. “And then the next step is to make more of it.”

Growing the business through distribution — both inside Arkansas and across state lines — is the plan. Adding staff to build sales will go a long way towards doing that. Increasing taproom traffic is also important to Lee. And he sees one obvious way to do it. People like to eat while they drink, after all.

“We need a consistent food source,” he said. “We have food trucks a couple days a week, but it’s not always consistent. Getting more reliable options will bring more people in, and they’ll stay longer while they’re here.”

Lee has been commuting to Rogers from his home in Sherwood since the New Province deal closed in April. He has an apartment in Bentonville, but due to the intense workload, he hasn’t had time to explore the area. Time away from his family is difficult. He and his wife thought about moving to Northwest Arkansas, but they aren’t quite ready to uproot their two young children.

“It’s not out of the question,” he said. “But it’s OK for now. I was living in hotels for my last job, so it’s not much different than what I’m used to. In fact, this is like a dream compared to some of those trips.”

There is a lot of work to do before the full vision for New Province’s future comes together and any noticeable changes take place. It’s obvious the brewery’s new owners appreciate its history, its products and the people who made it what it is today. Only time will tell what improvements can be made to what is already a well-respected Arkansas brewery.

Despite the long commute, the lonely apartment, and the hefty workload, Lee is happy to be back on his proper path.

“It feels really good to be back in brewing,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to describe because I’m so busy trying to figure it out. But it feels like I’m home, and it’s cool.”

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