When I visited Red Bear Brewing Co.’s warehouse space in September, it was a bleak and miserable concrete cave of hollow beerlessness. But that’s not how co-founder Bryan Van Den Oever saw it. He was excitedly waving his hand from empty corner to wall like a conductor at the NSO. He pointed out where the 85-foot U-shaped bar would go and then the brewhouse, tables, games, stage, and drag queens. He could imagine all this and more. Less than six months later, it all became real, and on Saturday, Red Bear will open its taps and doors to the public to show it.
New breweries often start small and grow as they go, but Red Bear is starting big. For their soft opening on March 9, they’ll be pouring eight craft beers plus local ciders, wines, and meads in their 7,000 square foot space next to REI in NoMa.
Half of the space is made up of the taproom with a standing capacity of 260 customers. Some craft breweries feel like you’re standing around in a crowded concrete-lined warehouse while dodging cornhole beanbags. Others build a small tasting room that’s separate from the production area. But Red Bear has an open floor plan that feels both spacious and cozy. Co-founder and head brewer Simon Bee built several benches and tables (and the bar) using reclaimed wood from Community Forklift. Track lighting crosses the ceiling in artful arrangements, including a constellation of Ursa Major, the brewery’s ursine mascot. Pictures of space cats and Jeff Goldblum are featured in gender-neutral bathrooms (but unfortunately no pictures of Jeff Goldbum petting space cats). The taproom is slightly rustic, open, a bit silly, and inclusive.
Co-founders Van Den Oever, Bee, and Cameron Raspet moved here from Seattle to open the brewery together, which is now the city’s first 100 percent gay-owned brewery. They want it to be another hub for pride but also open to all beer-loving people. “We want to be a community space first. We want to be a space for anyone to be comfortable,” says Van Den Oever. “Red Bear doesn’t identify as a gay bar, but we are really open and inclusive.”
For example, Van Den Oever is taking American Sign Language classes at D.C. Public Libraries so he can better serve deaf and hard of hearing patrons; they’re creating menus in Braille; and the taproom is fully ADA compliant.
The taproom is divided into two zones that Van Den Oever calls the “front yard” and “backyard.” The front yard has several wooden tables and a collection of more than 100 board games. (Red Bear is sponsoring a few brand-new board games on Kickstarter that it plans to include in the space once prototypes are released). The backyard has communal tables and high-tops and a small plywood stage for events, ASL trivia nights, performances, and drag nights.
Dividing both areas is an 85-foot long U-shaped bar that seats 40 people and has two lower sections for wheelchair users. There are 24 tap lines feeding 66 faucets from the central keg house, making beer the physical and conceptual center of Red Bear.
Bee plans to brew three times a week using a 10-barrel brewhouse. He predicts they’ll brew about 1,500 barrels of beer the first year and produce several styles.
“We have a three-fold philosophy for brewing styles: nostalgic classics, beer made to pair with food, and more cutting-edge beers,” says Bee.
Nostalgic classics include Skookum, a red ale using Pacific Northwest hops, and Swampoodle, an oatmeal stout brewed in collaboration with Ireland’s Lough Gill Brewery. It’s also a nod to the former name of the NoMa neighborhood. A more experimental beer is Cupid’s Black Heart, a chocolate strawberry bock that Bee says he’s been lagering since December. It’s a beer worth smelling, as if you’re sticking your nose inside a box of chocolates.
Bee and Eric McGowan, a former brewer at Night Shift Brewing in Massachusetts, plan to age several beers in rum barrels from D.C. distillery Cotton and Reed. They’re also planning several experimental ales for spring release, such as a grape brut kolsch that will be highly carbonated and dry like a champagne. Van Den Oever wants to use it for cocktails and beermosas and plans to incorporate beer into several cocktails as part of a “small but mighty cocktail program” featuring local spirits.
For the soft opening they’ll also be pouring a double IPA, a porter, a white ale, and Mystic Storm, which Bee calls a “both coasts” IPA because it’s hazy like a New England IPA but uses west coast hops. It’s a beer that expresses their Washington-to-Washington connection and honors D.C.’s WNBA team.
Van Den Oever says their contracts for the kitchen fell through, so they’ll start without food. They are working to bring in pop-up vendors to serve food at the brewery until late spring, when Red Bear will assume the kitchen operation. Food will be ordered and served through a take-out service window.
Hanging out with the Red Bear founders for any amount of time is to see the compatible confluence of their colorful personalities. Van Den Oever quickly cycles through several imaginative ideas—ice sculptures, drag queens, Jeff Goldblum bathrooms, ceiling murals, ASL events—while making phone calls to see if they’re possible. Bee is usually making something, be it beer or wooden furniture. Raspet is off-screen somewhere, turning plans into spreadsheets. Together they’ve pooled their skills and creativity into a vision. And now they’re ready for everyone to come drink it in.
Red Bear Brewing Co. is located at 209 M Street NE. It will have its soft opening on Saturday, 4 p.m.-2 a.m. and Sunday 4 p.m.-11 p.m. It will be closed on Monday, and then hours will vary after that. The Grand Opening party is on March 23 when regular hours will begin: Monday-Thursday 3 p.m.-11 p.m., Friday (1 p.m.-2 a.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-2 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
