We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chad Marshman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Chad, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

Solaris began as a homebrew outfit with a deep focus on experimentation and creativity. Everything was fair game back then. Each 25 gallon batch of beer was split 5-ways into 5 gallon carboys. Each carboy would be its own little test in a larger study. Sometimes we would try 5 different yeast strains, sometimes 5 different hop varietals, sometimes water profiles, you name it. Nothing was off the table. Our only self-imposed limit was to not introduce too many variables which would make the results hard to interpret.

At that time, craft beer was booming. We would regularly see lines forming at local beer releases. Bottle shares were always happening. Everyone seemed to be doing well, and people seemed genuinely excited to try the latest and greatest offerings from their favorite producers. We couldn’t wait to get in on the action and decided to take the leap. We were finally doing it. That’s when COVID hit. Fast forward to today, and there is no denying the damage that lil bugger did to the industry as a whole. We’ve seen nearly half the breweries in our area close as a direct or long term side effect.

Anyways, yeah, I wish we had opened a few years earlier and had gotten a chance to taste the sweet sap of better times in beerland.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am known to some as Chad Marshman, owner and brewer at Solaris Beer & Blending in Murrieta, CA. I spent my younger days in and out of recording studios and touring the country in a handful of bands. A bit later in life I got bit by the homebrew bug. That bug bit hard, too! I burned through every brewing book, research paper, and beer-related article I could find. I became particularly seduced by wild beer and mixed-culture fermentation thanks to online groups like Milk the Funk. While the market for traditional sour beer has dropped off considerably, I still hold a huge place in my heart for the styles, practices, and philosophy of wild fermented beverages. I am proud to have helped build a beautiful mixed-culture beer program at Solaris.

Solaris has also been slowly growing into a pretty decent music venue that promotes the local music scenes that don’t have places to play otherwise. I am also deeply honored to play host to the many amazing bands that have played here recently — TSOL, D.R.I., Urethane, D.I., Ignite, and Agent Orange to name a few! Music has always been a huge part of our lives here at Solaris, and shows its influence pretty heavily in our HiFi tasting room, BYO Vinyl nights, and concert series.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met Skyler Irish, cofounder of Solaris, many years ago through a mutual friend. We were pretty much best buds right off the bat. We’d spend countless hours discussing movies, rock climbing, and drinking beer. He was actually the person who got me into home brewing to begin with. So if anything goes wrong with this career path, it’s his fault. Skyler started the Craft Beer Advocacy and Homebrew Club at Cal State Fullerton. Eventually, Skyler decided to move to China and left his home brewing equipment with me. While I was learning the ropes on his old rig, he was teaching English on the opposite side of the world. One day I called him up and asked if he’d like to move back and open a brewery. He said yes, and here we are today.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

Being a manufacturer of alcoholic beverages, we are pretty limited in where and to whom we can sell our products. We sell the majority of our product straight out of the tasting room, but what about the rest of California? We needed a way to promote and sell our products across the entire state. Towards the end of last year we decided to launch an online store offering direct to consumer shipping anywhere in California. The online store has really shown us the importance of getting involved in festivals and events and with breweries from other areas. It’s a great way to build awareness and brand credibility. It is incredibly difficult to sell product to people who have never heard of you.

Contact Info:

• Website: solarisbeer.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/solarisbeer
• Facebook: Facebook.com/solarisbeer
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/solaris-beer-and-blending-murrieta
• Other: Online store: shop.solarisbeer.com

Image Credits
Photos by Skyler Irish