Laura Peters|The News Leader
A new brewery is in the works in Stuarts Draft, a new Caribbean restaurant is coming to Staunton andDraftco expands — here's the buzz.
New Brewery
A new brewery is underway in Stuarts Draft on U.S. 340 called Blazing Barrel Brewing Company. The new spot is set to open some time next year. This will be the first brewery in Stuarts Draft.
The old industrial building which will house the new business is being renovated by the owners, Stephen and Jessie Sample. The Samples bought the building early this year and have been steadily working onthe space.
The couple moved from Colorado last year with their young daughter. Stephen works as an electrical engineer for Innovative Refrigeration Systems in Lyndhurst, while Jessie telecommutes and designs breweries in Colorado. Stephen has been home-brewing for more than a decade.
The couple chose Draft as the site oftheir brewery for its mountains and countryside.
The two didn't want to be located in a strip mall, so they founda building on the outskirts of town that has served as several different businesses — Dave Brook's Electric storage space, a cabinet maker and an old service station.
"We wanted something a little bit rural," Jessie Sample said. "The character and the bones of this building gives us a lot to work with. We prefer the rural lifestyle."
The building has 2,000 square feet and another 2,000 square feet will be added with the addition of afinished basem*nt for a barrel room.
The Stuarts Draft location will serve as the flagship brewery to an enterprise the Samples hope to grow. They plan to branch out to other areas.
The Draft location willstart out with smaller batches serving up to 30 taps and the two are still trying to figure out a specific number of barrels the brewery will have and what type of brewing system will be utilized. The spot will feature more barrel-aged beers and sours. They are also trying to use locally sourced goods in their beers.
"It's fun to brew beers that have a punch to the palate," Jessie said. "We want to provide a solid amount of examples of beer styles to lock down your palate."
The two are financing the venture on their own. They are also working on getting the brewery on the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail, which encompasses breweries from Harrisonburg to Natural Bridge.
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"I like the fact that it's going to be the first," Stephen said. "I like how theVirginia politics are with beer, it's very pro-beer here. The area is very underserved and it's very underserved in barrel-aged and sour beers and we aim to change that."
Caribbean restaurant coming
A new Caribbean-style food restaurant is coming to Staunton in the former Rolling Pin Pastries building on Central Avenue.
It's called Island Sol Cafe and it's set to open in October.
Some menu items will include jerk chicken, curry chicken, ox tails as well as conch dishes.
"The closest Caribbean restaurant that resembles anything close to decent Caribbean food is 87 miles away in Richmond," owner Jerome Dericho.
Dericho is originally from Miami, so he's drawing a lot of food inspiration on how he grew up. His expertise is in opening restaurants and training workers for them — although he is cooking a lot more.
Dericho has opened up numerous Cheesecake Factories throughout the country and has worked with two James Beard chefs — David Brock and Michelle Bernstein down in Miami.
"I've been around a lot of people who know what they're doing," he said.
But, the dishes will remain somewhat simple, with experimentation with different spices.
"Staunton is up and coming with a lot of new things," he said. "You've got the Salvadorian place next door and you've got Chicano Boy right there in the Howard Johnson parking lot. I feel like people's palateare ready."
Central Avenue hasbeen adding different restaurants and businesses in the past year — Gloria's Pupuseria opened a storefront last year, Chicano Boy Taco also opened last year on Central Avenue across from the Howard Johnson and a new brewery called Mossy Creek Brewing was announced to be locatedat the formerDixon Studioon Central Avenue. Also last summer a new running store was opened just a few blocks down from where the Caribbean restaurant is located.
Dericho's wife is originally from Staunton and he's been living in the area for almost seven years. The owners of Rolling Pin are family friends of Dericho and had decided to retire. Dericho is financing the restaurant himself and renting the building. For more information visit Island Sol Cafe on Facebook.
Draftco expanding
Stuarts Draft-based Draftco Inc. will be expanding its manufacturing operation in the county with 16 new jobs. According to a release by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the company is investing $450,000 to make improvements to its quality inspection room and purchase new machines and welding and testing equipment.
“Draftco’s increase in capacity and capability is in support of the forecasted rise in national defense spending and local customer needs,”said Kevin Reed, Draftco Inc.'s quality manager, in a release. “Draftco has recently taken on additional leadership and is excited about the changes and prospects which lie ahead. The work ethics of the folks in the valley, coupled with the skills and training many of our employees received through Valley Career and Technical Center and Blue Ridge Community College have contributed to Draftco’s success, as a competitive and capable machining and manufacturing ‘build to print’ company.
"The support of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership will certainly aid in our planned growth," Reed added."These are exciting times for Draftco and we are certain that our future growth will be beneficial to Draftco and to our friends in the Valley.”
Draftco was founded in 1965 and is a fully equipped precision job shop. The operation involvesconventional machine work, Computer Numerical Control machine work, welding and fabrication work, sheet metal fabricationand machine and equipment building.
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“With a rich history vested in Augusta County, Draftco, Inc. has served as a leading machine and fabrication shop since the mid-1960s," saidAugusta County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tracy Pyles, in a release."Having the chance to have home-grown jobs harvested by our eager and well-prepared young people brings a great sense of pride to the County Board.”
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership will support Draftco’s new job creation through its Virginia Jobs Investment Program. The program provides consultative services and funding to companies creating new jobs or experiencing technological change to support employee training activities, a release said.
As a business incentive supporting economic development, the partnership's programreduces the human resource costs of new and expanding companies, a release said. The Virginia Jobs Investment Programis state-funded and Augusta County will match thatfunding awarded to the company to support the expansion project, the release said.
“We look forward to following the growth of Draftco and the new opportunities created by this expansion, which will bring 16 new positions to the citizens of Augusta County,”said Mike Shull, Augusta County Board of Supervisor for theRiverheads District where Draftco, Inc. is located, in a release.“Manufacturing is Augusta County’s largest employment sector, and it is expansions like this that maintain our strong reputation as a center for manufacturing.”
The buzz is a short recap of area business trends. Send ideas to reporter Laura Peters at lpeters@newsleader.com or follow her @peterslauraand @peterpants.
