Now that he’s got the taps flowing at his new Loudoun County brewery, Solace Brewing Company co-founder Drew Wiles is raring to loop in his family’s other drinking operation, bicoastal Paradise Springs Winery.
Wiles opened Solace, a nearly 16,000-square-foot facility featuring a 20-barrel brewhouse, with partners Jon Humerick (director of operations) and Mike Arms (director of finance) earlier this month. The trio introduced themselves to beer-saturated Sterling, Va. — there are a half dozen local breweries within a 10-mile-radius of Solace, including Lost Rhino Brewing Company, Old Ox Brewery, and Beltway Brewing Company — with six seasonally inspired pours. Wiles tells Eater he’s planning to add three new beers in the next few weeks.
The newly minted head brewer’s more long-term goal is to get some barrel aging going with Paradise Springs winemaker Rob Cox. That planned collaboration — Wiles would like to season a stout in used cabernet franc barrels from the family winery in Clifton, Va. — would bring Wiles full-circle.
A Tulane University grad with a degree in cell and molecular biology, Wiles said he started home brewing about five years ago. “I made a few batches but it was pretty much a novelty thing,” he said of his early experiments. Wiles spent five years in the medical field before taking a job as quality assurance/quality control manager at Beltway Brewing (“I established the lab program there,” he said). Meanwhile, Wiles continued pitching in at Paradise Springs as time permitted.
Wiles said he’d like to prepare a barrel-aged stout in time for the fall. He billed a Belgian-style witbier (2 Legit 2 Wit) and the session IPA (Suns Out Hops Out) served to guests at the grand opening as Solace’s flagship beers. Solace has already completed its first neighborly collaboration: the Patiently Waiting available now in its taproom was produced in conjunction with Ocelot Brewing Company.
With plans to crank out about 3,000 barrels a year, Wiles is also looking to make his product more portable.
“We’re going to be doing a lot of canning,” he said, noting that the trio is already talking to a distributor to help grow the brand beyond Northern Virginia.