Founder Jack White developed a taste for beer in college. He and his college roommate Pete A’Hearn began
home brewing in their apartment at
UCLA. They found they had trouble obtaining the various supplies and ingredients they wanted, and had no access to other home brewers to share ideas with. In 1992, White opened Home Brew Mart in San Diego, selling the supplies and ingredients needed by home brewers. The shop also became a place where home brewers could communicate and share ideas with each other. Many of Home Brew Mart's customers went on to found breweries of their own, and the store has been credited with helping to launch San Diego County's reputation as a craft beer mecca. While White ran Home Brew Mart and dreamed of starting his own brewery, A'Hearn went off to the
University of California, Davis, to get a master brewer's certificate. He became the company's founding brewmaster; however, he left the company soon after the launch of the brewery and became a science teacher. The two hired Yuseff Cherney, an award-winning home brewer, as Home Brew Mart's first employee. A'Hearn and Cherney developed a “back room” brewery behind the shop, and in 1996, Ballast Point Brewing was born. The company takes its name from
Ballast Point, a historically important site on
San Diego Bay in
Point Loma. By 2004, Ballast Point had outgrown its back room location and moved into a larger production brewery in
Scripps Ranch. In September 2013, Ballast Point added a third location: a brewery, tasting room, and restaurant in San Diego's
Little Italy neighborhood, which functions as the company's laboratory for research and development. By the end of 2013, Ballast Point had outgrown Scripps Ranch. In mid-2014, Ballast Point finished construction on a 107,000 square foot brewery in the
Miramar area equipped to support the brewery's growth. Two large copper kettles discovered in a brewery in Lohr, Germany are the centerpiece of this new brewery headquarters, which also features a laboratory, tasting bar, and restaurant. In 2008, Ballast Point Spirits was founded, with Old Grove Gin as its first product released. The Ballast Point Spirits family eventually included 14 spirits, as well as 2 cocktail mixers: Bloody Mary and Mai Tai. White served as CEO from the company's inception in 1992 until 2015. In 2012 Jim Buechler became the company's president and general manager, and in June 2015 he became president and CEO, leaving White with the title of Founder. Cherney is the company's chief operations officer and head brewer. In October 2015 Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits Inc. filed an
initial public offering of stock. This offering would make it the first of San Diego County's breweries to go public. The acquisition, which was completed in December 2015, was financed with a combination of debt and cash. By July 2016, four of the founders of the company, including founder White, chief operating officer Cherney, and CEO Buechler, left the company to "pursue other interests". Marty Birkel was named the new president of the brewery. The departures reportedly stemmed from disputes with the new owner, Constellation Brands, over the status of Ballast Point's distilled spirits operation, which was not part of the sale. In December 2019, it was announced that Chicago-based brewery Kings and Convicts was buying Ballast Point from Constellation for undisclosed terms, which industry observers estimate to be between $75 million and $200 million. Constellation was reportedly having trouble integrating the brand with their larger operations. It is unclear if the beer is now produced as contract brew in third party breweries or within the former Saint Archers Facilities in Miramar. As of December 2019, they sold 16 different styles of beer. ==East Coast expansion==