After less than a year in business, San Diego born organic hard kombucha brand Juneshine is gearing up for a massive expansion that includes moving into the Scripps Ranch facility that long served as the headquarters for Ballast Point Brewing Company.
Founded by University of San Diego graduates Gregory Serrao & Forrest Dein, Juneshine opened in Spring 2018 in the former San Diego Brewing Company space within North Park's CRAFT by Brewery Igniter. Marketed as "California's first organic hard kombucha brewery", Juneshine promotes itself as a transparent alcohol brand that caters to a healthy and active lifestyle. Like Saint Archer Brewing, which was purchased by MillerCoors in 2015 for nearly $100 million, Juneshine has used a team of professional surfers, skiers, adventurers, artists, and creatives to be "brand ambassadors" of the company in order to boost social media growth.
Backed by funding from Bird Rock Capital LLC, Juneshine will expand its brewing operations this spring into the 24,000 square-foot Ballast Point Brewing Old Grove facility in Scripps Ranch, which served as the San Diego craft brewery's headquarters from 2006 until 2014. Ballast Point is still open for business on the property but they are expected to close at some point in April 2019, at which point Juneshine will move in.
The much-expanded footprint at the Scripps Ranch property will allow Juneshine to substantially increase production of its hard jun (honey) kombucha. Brewed by director of brewing operations Joshua Makler - who was previously a lead brewer at South San Diego County's Boochcraft - JuneShine’s 6% ABV kombucha varieties are made with green tea, organic ingredients, and honey, with no sugar is added. Expect the company to use its ample new space to increase canning operations and expand into new markets across the country in 2019 and beyond. The new facility will also house a tasting room and lounge area similar to North Park. There is no word yet on whether the company intends to close the Brewery Igniter tasting room.
We reached out to Juneshine for comment and more information about the opening of their new, full-scale brewery, and received the following from company founder, Greg Serrao, after refusing a request to hold off on publishing this article:
"When we are little kids we dream of who we will be when we grow up. Usually it is a heroic figure, or a rockstar, or a person who helps others. I wonder - when you were a little kid, and people asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, did you reply, 'I want to be a slimy piece of shit who publishes fake news and fucks with start up companies who are putting it all out on the line to make a change?' I doubt it. Fuck you."
Juneshine hopes to be operational at 10051 Old Grove Road by June 2019, just in time for the company's one year anniversary. In the meantime, visit Juneshine's current tasting room at 3052 El Cajon Boulevard, Suite A, within the Brewery Igniter building in North Park. For more information, visit juneshine.co.
