Ballast Point Brewing Co.

Well, I have returned from my trip to San Diego and I must say it was more than what I 

had hoped for. I was fortunate enough to visit 5 breweries while I was there and each of them 

were great experiences. The first stop I made was Ballast Point.  This brewery was started like many other microbreweries, by a couple guys who love to homebrew. Originally they had opened a store called Home Brew Mart(which is still around), but now run a brewery full time.

 

It was located in the middle of an industrial

 park and wasn't that easy to find. Luckily someone else was driving me!  

 They had 9 beers on tap and I didn't wait very long to fill up my sampler glass. I ended up trying the Even Keel(twice!), Brother Levonian Saison, Sculpin IPA, Fathom India Pale Lager and the Yellowtail Pale Ale, with my favorite being the Even Keel. A %3.5 American Pale that is pretty hopped up - one of my favorite beers that I tried on my trip. 

So in the middle of sampling our beers we went on a little tour of the facility, which is in plain sight behind the tap handles. It is a very small place but they are making some big beers in there. After we all put on our protective glasses we took a walk around. They have some oak barrels for the aging of 

some beer and they have also just started a distillery on one end of the warehouse, so be on the lookout for Ballast Point Spirits! All in all this was a great start to my brewery tours for the weekend and I was delighted to able to try 4 beers from them that they don't bottle. One of the guys who works there was even from Jersey..and happened to be a Phillies fan.