Ballast Point Brewing Company

Ballast Point Brewing
& Spirits Company
Location San Diego, California
Opened 1996 (1996)
Key people Jack White (Founder) [1]
Jim Buechler (President and CEO) [1]
Owner(s) Constellation Brands
Website ballastpoint.com
Active beers
Name Type
Ballast Point Pale Ale German/Kolsch Pale Ale
Sculpin India Pale Ale
Black Marlin Porter
Big Eye India Pale Ale
Calico Amber Ale Amber Ale
Wahoo White Belgian Witbier
Tasting room in the brewery.

Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits Company is an American brewery and distillery founded in 1996 by Jack White in San Diego, California. Ballast Point Brewing Co. started in the back of Home Brew Mart, a homebrew supply store White founded in 1992. As of 2015, it was the second largest brewer in San Diego County and the 17th largest brewery in the country based on sales volume.[2] The company's main production facility is in Miramar. It also has brewery locations in San Diego's Little Italy and Scripps Ranch neighborhoods, as well as its original Home Brew Mart location in San Diego's Linda Vista neighborhood.[3]

Ballast Point is also the first microdistillery in San Diego since Prohibition. They currently produce 14 spirits: Old Grove Gin, Old Grove Barrel Rested Gin, Three Sheets White Rum, Three Sheets Barrel-Aged Rum, Three Sheets Spiced Rum, Opha Herbal Liqueur, Fugu Vodka, four flavored Fugu Vodkas (Horchata, Jamaica hibiscus, Pina, and Habanero), and the Devil's Share Whiskey family, including Single Malt, Bourbon, and Moonshine.

History

Founder Jack White developed a taste for beer in college. He and his college roommate Pete A’Hearn began home brewing in their apartment at UCLA. They found they had trouble obtaining the various supplies and ingredients they wanted, and had no access to other home brewers to share ideas with.

In 1992, White opened Home Brew Mart in San Diego, selling the supplies and ingredients needed by home brewers. The shop also became a place where home brewers could communicate and share ideas with each other. Many of Home Brew Mart's customers went on to found breweries of their own, and the store has been credited with helping to launch San Diego County's reputation as a craft beer mecca.[4][5]

While White ran Home Brew Mart and dreamed of starting his own brewery, A'Hearn went off to the University of California, Davis to get a master brewer’s certificate. He became the company's founding brewmaster; however, he left the company soon after the launch of the brewery and became a science teacher. The two hired Yuseff Cherney, an award-winning home brewer, as Home Brew Mart’s first employee. A'Hearn and Cherney developed a “back room” brewery behind the shop, and in 1996, Ballast Point Brewing was born. The company takes its name from Ballast Point, a historically important site on San Diego Bay in Point Loma.

By 2004, Ballast Point had outgrown its back room location and moved into a larger production brewery in Scripps Ranch. In September 2013, Ballast Point added a third location: a brewery, tasting room, and restaurant in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood, which functions as the company's laboratory for research and development. By the end of 2013, Ballast Point had outgrown Scripps Ranch. In mid-2014, Ballast Point finished construction on a 107,000 square foot brewery in the Miramar area equipped to support the brewery’s growth. Two large copper kettles discovered in a brewery in Lohr, Germany are the centerpiece of this new brewery headquarters, which also features a state-of-the-art laboratory, tasting bar, and restaurant.

In 2008, Ballast Point Spirits was founded, with Old Grove Gin as its first product released. The Ballast Point Spirits family now includes 14 spirits, all made and bottled on site in Scripps Ranch, as well as 2 cocktail mixers: Bloody Mary and Mai Tai.

White served as CEO from the company's inception in 1992 until 2015. In 2012 Jim Buechler became the company's president and general manager, and in June 2015 he became president and CEO, leaving White with the title of Founder.[6] Cherney is the company's chief operations officer and head brewer.

In October 2015 Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits Inc. filed an initial public offering of stock. This offering would make it the first of San Diego County's breweries to go public.[6]

On November 15, 2015, Constellation Brands announced it would acquire Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits for $1 billion.[7] The acquisition, which was completed in December 2015, was financed with a combination of debt and cash.[8][9]

Awards

In 2010, Ballast Point won three gold medals for their beers, as well as the "Small Brewery Champion" award, at the World Beer Cup.[10]

In 2013 and 2014, Ballast Point's distillery arm was named the California Distillery of the Year two years in a row at the New York International Spirits Competition.[11]

By beer:[12]

Abandon Ship

Big Eye

Black Marlin

Brother Levonian

Calico

Dorado

Even Keel

Fathom

Grunion

Indra Kunindra

Longfin

Navigator

Pale Ale

Pescadero

Piper Down

Reef

San Salvador

Sculpin

Sea Monster

Three Sheets

Tongue Buckler

Victory at Sea

Wahoo

Main packaged beers

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Ballast Point crew
  2. https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/brewers-association-lists-top-50-breweries-2015/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Ballast Point announces new brewery location in San Diego". Ballast Point website. November 4, 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  4. "Beer lovers learn to brew-it-yourself". San Diego Union Tribune. September 12, 1999.
  5. Elder, Adam (March 2010). "San Diego: America's Beer Capital". San Diego Magazine. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  6. 1 2 Graves, Brad (October 19, 2015). "Ballast Point, S.D.'s No. 2 Brewer, Files for IPO". San Diego Business Journal. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  7. "Constellation to Acquire Ballast Point for $1 Billion". Brewbound.com. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
  8. Tripp Mickle (November 16, 2015). "Constellation Brands to Buy Craft-beer Maker for $1 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  9. http://www.beveragedaily.com/Markets/Smart-investments-for-Constellation-Brands-beer
  10. "Past Winners: 2010". World Beer Cup. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  11. Levy, Adam (October 9, 2013). "New York International Spirits Competition 2013 Winners Announced". New York International Spirits Competition. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  12. "Beer Awards". BallastPoint.com.
  13. "Wahoo Wheat Beer".
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Ballast Point Limited".

External links

Coordinates: 32°53′54.66″N 117°6′39.43″W / 32.8985167°N 117.1109528°W / 32.8985167; -117.1109528

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