Ballast Point To Host 20th Anniversary Celebration At Del Mar Racetrack On September 4 With Live Performance By The Roots | Enter to Win 2 Tickets

August 19, 2016

Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits will celebrate two decades of brewing top-notch craft beer this Labor Day Weekend with a 20th Anniversary Festival featuring a live performance by The Roots, taking place at Del Mar Racetrack on Sunday, September 4. The event will also feature the final round of Ballast Point's 20th Anniversary Homebrew Competition. We are raffling off 2 GA tickets to the celebration, so read on for all the details and be sure to enter!


The seed for what would become Ballast Point Brewing was planted in 1992, when founder Jack White opened Home Brew Mart, which he filled with all the supplies and ingredients that brewers needed to make beer at home. His plan was to one day take this hobby to the pro level and start a brewery. Around that same time, Jack's friend, home brewing partner and former college roommate Pete A’Hearn went off to UC Davis to get his master brewer’s certificate. The duo soon found a collaborator in Yuseff Cherney, a fellow home brewer with a similar passion as well as a set of home brewing awards. Yuseff became Home Brew Mart’s first employee and was part of the team to open a “back room” brewery behind the shop in 1996, which is how Ballast Point Brewing was born. In addition to the original Home Brew Mart in Bay Park, Ballast Point Brewing, which is currently majority owned by Constellation Brands, now has a brewery restaurant in San Diego's Mira Mesa neighborhood, another in Little Italy, and the San Diego based brewery recently opened a 600-seat brewpub in Long Beach, California.

The Ballast Point 20th Anniversary Festival will be a private event within the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club & Racetrack that includes access to 50+ Ballast Point beers, and live entertainment from The Roots, Lady Dottie and the Diamonds, The Creepy Creeps, Fish and the Seaweeds, as well as access to food vendors, racetrack admission & more.

There will also be a BJCP sanctioned competition taking place leading up to the event that will crown 6 regional winners, who will each be brought to San Diego to brew their recipes at Ballast Point's Research and Development brewery in Little Italy. Each of the regional winners’ beers will be showcased at the 20th Anniversary Festival where the winner will be announced, and the grand champion will be distributed by Ballast Point as a packaged beer. The champion will also receive the opportunity to be eligible for the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am in partnership with Ballast Point.

"We've been looking forward to celebrating our 20th Anniversary in San Diego with our fans!" said Ballast Point Marketing Manager Nicole Ganz. "We’re excited to partner with the Del Mar Racetrack for a great venue to enjoy specialty beers, food, live entertainment, and to showcase our homebrew competition regional winners during Labor Day weekend."

Tickets to Ballast Point's 20th Anniversary Festival are $55 for general admission passes which gives the ticket holder access to the festivities starting at 5pm, ten 4oz tasters, a specialty tasting glass, and racetrack admission. The $70 early entry ticket provides access to the festival starting at­ 4pm. There is also a $35 designated driver ticket. This is a 21+ event and food is not included.

For more information on Ballast Point's 20th Anniversary Festival and to purchase tickets, visit ballastpoint.com/og20.