March 2, 2020
After being sold in late 2015 to NY-based Constellation Brands for $1 Billion, in December 2019 it was announced that Chicago-based Kings & Convicts Brewing Co. signed an agreement with Constellation to acquire Ballast Point and a number of its associated production facilities and brewpubs, excluding the production brewery in Daleville, Virginia, which would remain a part of Constellation’s Craft & Specialty division. As part of the transaction, Kings & Convicts acquired Ballast Point’s four brewpub locations in California, including Downtown Disney/Anaheim, Long Beach, Miramar, and Little Italy, as well as the newest Ballast Point brewpub located in Chicago’s Fulton Market District, which opened in May 2019, and Ballast Point’s original homebrewing supply and tasting room in San Diego’s Linda Vista neighborhood. Now that Ballast Point is officially back to being a "craft brewery", employees have issued an open letter:
An Open Letter from the Employees of Ballast Point
Born in San Diego, Ballast Point was founded in 1996 because we love beer.
Through every chapter, that fact remains constant.
What has changed since ’96, you ask? We’ve heard the rumors. And you’re right.
Quality has changed – it’s better.
Innovation has changed – there’s more.
Variety has changed – we’re creating more now than ever.
So, you’re right. Things have changed over the past 24 years.
It hasn’t always been perfect, but we are stronger today than ever before.
Through all of the change, all we’ve focused on is making great beers to share with you, our friends and neighbors.
The same great people, making the same great beer, endured a trying couple of years.
Why stay, you ask? Each other. Our passion. Our beer.
Longtime customers turned longtime employees still walk our brewery halls, and we’ve been here staying the course. Brewing the beer we want to drink.
We’re all in the same dream, with the same goal. Every day, we pour our heart and soul into the beer we brew and into the family we’ve made.
Ballast Point is back, but in fact, we never left.
Ballast Point Brewing Co. was founded within the walls of Linda Vista’s Home Brew Mart in 1996 by San Diego's Jack White. Current volume of Ballast Point has surpassed 200,000 barrels a year and is available in all 50 states as well as internationally in 19 countries including South Korea, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand. For more information, visit ballastpoint.com.
