Ballast Point expanding to Little Italy

Last year, I broke the news that local company Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits was searching for a large building to house their third and largest brewhouse to date. And back in February, in a post about the company’s new Homework Series of beers paying homage to its original Home Brew Mart homebrewing supply store, I shared news that Ballast Point had purchased a five-barrel brewing system and was looking for a space in San Diego proper in which to house it.

This week, I’m able to report the location they’ve selected for that pilot brewhouse. It’s a 9,000 square foot building on the corner of India Street and Ivy Street in Little Italy. Craft beer enthusiasts will know it better as being “right near the Bottlecraft beer store.”

Specialty Brewer Colby Chandler, who spent years managing Home Brew Mart, will move from Ballast Point’s original Linda Vista location to head up operations in Little Italy. Chandler has been responsible for a great many of the company’s most popular and commercially successful beers. Having a space like this devoted to working on new recipes with others from BP’s brewing staff will allow the company to tinker with many more trial recipes, thus bolstering their already extensive portfolio of beers which includes everything from West Coast IPAs to Old World ales and lagers to Belgian standards, sours, barrel-aged beers and more.

This addition in no way changes Ballast Point’s current structure or future plans. They are still in the market for a large facility and will continue to run their primary 50-barrel system-equipped production facility and tasting room in Scripps Ranch as well as Home Brew Mart (which will soon undergo an expansion) and the new 15-barrel brewhouse installed earlier this year. All of these means of production are necessary for the rapidly growing company which was recently named the 46th largest craft brewery in the United States. It’s nice to see a company growing while staying true to its homebrew roots, a key element of their make-up that got them where they are today.