Read Part 1, published last Friday, here.
In February of this year, Home Brew Mart will be taking over the suite to its west, adding 1,056 square feet to the property that currently takes up 5,314 sq ft. The tasting bar, home brew supply area and behind-the-scenes storage will all increase substantially. To manage it all, Ballast Point has hired a new Director of Retail Operations: Jeremy Kirby, former Mission Valley and La Mesa BevMo! General Manager. Kirby will oversee the Linda Vista facility, as well as the tasting room at Ballast Point’s Scripps Ranch location and its upcoming, unannounced third spot somewhere in San Diego. Colby Chandler, who doubled as Home Brew Mart GM, is set to take on more business travel and specialty brewing.
“We’re quietly crushing it,” said Chandler, whose recent work includes a re-brew of Boob Check, a pink ale made in collaboration with the White Labs “Beer for Boobs” walking team that features Oregon cherries, lime, orange blossom honey and hibiscus.
The next time he brews the beer, it’ll be on new equipment. Home Brew Mart’s 17-year old 15-barrel (BBL) brewhouse by New World Brewing Systems is set to leave Linda Vista and be displayed at the San Diego History Center’s upcoming “Bottled & Kegged: San Diego’s Craft Brew Culture” exhibit from April 5, 2013 to January 20, 2014. If all goes as planned, you’ll be able to sneak a peek at the fourth-annual Taste of San Diego Craft Brews event, happening February 16. Chandler told West Coaster that he plans to send the brewhouse off in style by making Winter San Salvador, the local oyster-infused black lager for which he won a Good Food Award this past Friday night, the last batch brewed on the system.
Soon after, locals Premier Stainless Systems will come in with a new 15 BBL kettle, 20 BBL mash tun and 30 BBL hot liquor tank. A new glycol system is also being put in.
After that, it’s go time: Director of Operations Ryan Glenn told us that 85,000 BBLs is the projected capacity for Ballast Point in 2013 after several separate fermentor and brite tank additions in Scripps Ranch this past year. That number is nearly double what the company produced in 2012 (47,503 BBLs), and if they hit their goal they will leapfrog Karl Strauss into the number two spot for local breweries based on production numbers (KARL produced 48,700 in 2012 and is on track for 60,000 in 2013. Stone leads the list with 177,200 in 2012 and 210,000 projected in 2013.)
The company is also looking to put out a fresh, new look in the new year. In addition to an updated logo and tagline, “Dedicated To The Craft”, artist Paul Elder will be re-painting all of the labels for a bottled beer packaging change in the first half of 2013. According to VP of Sales & Marketing Earl Kight, new packaging on the spirits side of operations is set to be completed in the first quarter, and the company’s unreleased (yet award-winning) Devil’s Share Whiskey should be out in just a few months. And last, but certainly not least, is the new canning line that will be “cranking out product within three months,” said Kight on January 3. 12 oz cans of Pale Ale, Longfin Lager, and Sculpin IPA will hit markets in California and Las Vegas first.