RAR BREWING

Heading towards Ocean City from Baltimore, I stopped in historic Cambridge to visit RAR Brewing for a tour and interview with Co-Owner JT Merryweather. The Taproom and Chessie Burger (RAR’s restaurant) were both filled with local art, beautiful handmade wooden tables, and plenty of space indoor and outdoor to gather with friends. Head over to RAR in Cambridge this summer for some of the tastiest brews and burgers around!

SEEING THE PRIDE THAT MY TEAM TAKES IN THEIR WORK IS INCREDIBLE AND THEY KNOW WE’RE ALL ON THIS SHIP TOGETHER.

What’s with the name? Our name is an acronym for Real Ale Revival and basically you can pronounce it ‘rawr’ or spell out R-A-R. It’s a fun little debate to hear people get hype with each other about and they always ask me, ‘Well, what is it?’ And I’m like, ‘You can say it either way.’ And they’re like, ‘That’s bullshit!’

What made you get into brewing beer? Basically it was a hobby. We were all kind of hanging out in the same group of friends and hunted beer in our spare time. We were always stuck hanging out with each other and someone would be like, “I was in Pennsylvania and had the best beer from Victory Brewing or Troegs.’ Keep in mind this was 10 years ago when craft breweries really started getting hot. One day we finally had the bright idea to try making our own beer. It was something we really just wanted to have fun with, and six or seven of us together chipped in a couple hundred bucks each. It became clear who was the most interested in it, and my business partner and I were there almost every week trying to brew. We were watching the evolution of beer and thought about how cool it would be to do it ourselves. We realized that mentally, we were in a similar place to many of the craft breweries that were operating. That’s when we stopped treating it like a hobby and started treating it like a job.

Where do you draw inspiration for the flavors in your Out of Order series?

Everywhere honestly, it happens very serendipitously and by the time we sit down for our monthly meeting we already have tons of ideas in our heads. For instance, the All Inclusive from the last drop (lactose based sour beer conditioned on pineapple, coconut and vanilla soft serve), we knew we wanted to be a ‘painkiller’ cocktail type beer. We kick around tons of ideas, maybe get a little elevated and come up with some ideas. We’re also group texting constantly, so if someone is out at a restaurant and has a crazy drink, dish or dessert, they’ll text the group, ‘Guys, we gotta make something like this.’ We are trying to be creative AF with this stuff - we have never not released an Out of Order flavor we created.

What is your favorite thing about coming to work? Seeing the people I work with and knowing I get to create that environment, workplace and vibe that we have. It’s also the little things, like making sure the guy who cans the beer can get out on beer release day and see the people freaking out about his hard work. Seeing the pride that my team takes in their work is incredible and they know we’re all on this ship together. We’re going to keep making the best beer that our customer base responds to and offering it at a great price - I hope you guys like it.

Do you think craft beer and craft Cannabis have room for collaboration?

I do. I have recently become aware of THC being water soluble, which means you can possibly have a Cannabis beverage that would act similarly to alcohol. With a two minute onset, you can be halfway through your Cannabis seltzer and you’re feeling a buzz already. To me, that is the future of intertwining those two worlds. You can’t smoke alcohol, but you can certainly drink THC - and THC beverages could bring the smokers in from outside.

What does the future hold for RAR? We are currently in the process of converting 10,000 feet of storage space into our new production facility, just a few miles from our current one. Pre-COVID, we had plans to open new spots in both D.C. and Ocean City, which has been temporarily put on hold. For now we are looking to expand and we have our ears to the tracks.