Before Ballast Point Brewing was a company capable of commanding decuple figures, before it grew into San Diego County’s largest brewery and one of the biggest beer-producers in the country, before there even was a brewery called Ballast Point, there was Home Brew Mart (HBM). That Linda Vista hobby shop—one of the first to grace America’s Finest City—opened quietly in 1992 and, over the following quarter-century, has ignited a fire for recreational fermentation within a great many ale-and-lager neophytes. That includes individuals who now own breweries and brew professionally. Some of that contingent even worked for HBM in its early days. In celebration of the big two-five, Ballast Point is creating Family Reunion collaboration beers with those ex-employees as well as former BP brewers, an impressive assemblage of well-known, award-winning talent.
Several of the beers have already been released, while others are scheduled to be brewed in time for them to all be on-tap at HBM’s 25th anniversary event on September 24. The following is a breakdown of the collaborators, their creations and their past.
- Saludos Saison: The third brewing of a strong saison with lemon peel, orange-blossom honey and thyme inspired by Brasserie Dupont’s Avec Les Bon Vouex brewed with Tom Nickel. He was HBM’s sixth employee and now owns and operates Nickel Beer Company as well as O’Brien’s Pub and West Coast Barbecue & Brews.
- Loud & Proud: An English-style barley wine with cherrywood-smoked malt brewed with Cy Henley, the head brewer at Amplified Ale Works. He was a clerk at HBM before moving on to Alpine Beer Company and Green Flash Brewing.
- Name TBD: Ex-HBM clerk Larry Monasakanian is now with Fall Brewing and will help brew a 5% alcohol-by-volume saison based off the recipe for BP’s charity offering, Brother Levonian. This version will be brewed with grains of paradise, local sage and equally local wet hops from Star B Ranch, then fermented with a blend of Brettanomyces and saison yeast,
- Scripps Tease: An extra special bitter (ESB) made with toasted oats and Ethiopia Ayeahu RFA coffee beans from James Coffee Company (close to BP’s Little Italy brewpub) brewed with Nate Stephens and Clayton LeBlanc, the brew crew for Eppig Brewing. Both worked for BP, the former led Little Italy operations while the latter brewed at its Scripps Ranch facility.
- Swemiceros: A hoppy Kolsch dry-hopped with fruity, citrusy, herbal hops brewed with Nick Ceniceros, head brewer at 32 North Brewing. Nick worked at Scripps Ranch before moving to Fall Brewing and eventually his current digs.
- Bay to Bay: A black California common that’s “obnoxiously dry-hopped” with Mosaic brewed with Alex Tweet, who won a BP homebrew contest with his recipe for Indra Kunindra, a curry export stout the company still manufactures. Tweet went on to brew for Modern Times Beer before moving to Berkeley to open the popular Fieldwork Brewing.
- Name TBD: John Maino and Greg Webb, former Scripps Ranch brewers and co-owners of Temecula’s Ironfire Brewing, will help brew a wet-hop India pale ale (IPA) fermented with Brett.
In an effort to increase its current employee base’s knowledge on the history of BP and its eldest venue, vice president Colby Chandler asked each collaborator to speak to present-day brewers about their time with the company, how it was then and how it prepared them to venture out on their own. Many said that making beer at such a fast-growing brewing company provided them wide-ranging experience as well as reference points for overcoming myriad obstacles. According to Chandler, many brewery owners, in particular, felt their time with BP made it much easier once they were working for themselves.
In addition to the HBM anniversary event, BP is also holding a series of beer-pairing dinners incorporating the aforementioned collaboration brews at HBM. The next will take place on August 24 and include five courses served with Swemiceros, Bay to Bay, Scripps Tease and various other BP beers. Chandler, Tweet, Stephens, LeBlanc and Ceniceros will all be in attendance.