Red Bear Brewing Coming to an REI Near You

On December 1, we learned that Red Bear Brewing will be the latest craft brewery to join the DC market. Brought to you by the team of Bryan Van Den Oever (front of house and marketing/public relations), Simon Bee (brewmaster), and Cameron Raspet (operations), the three Seattle natives are hoping to bring a taste of the Pacific Northwest to the other Washington. Red Bear Brewing will be opening up as a brewpub first in the renovated Uline Arena next to the NoMa metro. While the team is busy gearing up for their fall 2018 opening, Bryan and Simon were kind enough to take some time out of their schedules for an interview with the DCBeer staff. Below is an edited transcript from that meeting, lightly edited for clarity and length:

How did your team meet and decide to make the crazy decision to open up a brewery? Was it via external signaling of being 30-something males with beards?

Bryan:   We actually started out as buddies in Seattle who homebrewed together. One year, driving back from a