Ballast Point Brewery

We popped down to Ballast Point the other weekend for a tour and some grub. And it was good!
First, the place is pretty. It used to be a Bumblebee Tuna factory but they converted it, imported some super cool copper equipment from an old German brewery, and got to work. The factory is clean and well lit. It churns out a LOT of beer and other tasty drinks. And they are clearly proud. The tour is fun — a bit over ½ hour and worth the time.
The restaurant? Pub? Place to nibble while quaffing good beer? Whatever, it’s also pretty. It has a nice ambiance, is well lit and spacious, and makes good use of design features to create an air of intimacy. This means you can sit with friends and chat without being deafened by the table of 20+ people plus toddlers right next to you! The sound deadening is brilliant.
Also, despite being filled with beer, it’s not sticky. This is an important point as pretty much every place I’ve been that serves large amounts of beer is apparently permanently sticky.
The beer. The beer is really good. And I’m not a beer drinker, so that’s saying something! They have «rich and malty» beers, «crisp and bright» beers, «fruit and spice» beers, and «hops and more hops» beers. Plus wine and stuff. But it’s the beer you should try. They offer $ 2 4oz tasters ($ 3 for the select Victory at Sea variations) and $ 5 – 7 for the 8oz glasses.
I started off with a Barmy Ale — strong honey ale with tart apricots. It was beautiful. Smooth and rice with a nice meady smell. With lunch I moved onto a Flight of Three — that’s 3 of the Victory at Sea tasters. These are all Porters, so quite rich and malty. If I’m going to drink beer, I do prefer a darker, more hoppy one. And, seriously, who wouldn’t want to live a little and check out a Mole, a Cherry Oak, and a Orange & Chocolate? The Mole had a strong chilli kick that offset the «beer» flavour very nicely. The Cherry Oak smelt almost like cherry liqueur and was lighter in flavour than the others. But the Orange & Chocolate was my favourite. It strongly reminded me of a chocolate orange!
We picked up food to go with the beer and here was where I was totally blown away. The food was of fantastic quality. Definitely not «pub fare». There were three of us and we decided to go to town (especially since two of us missed breakfast and it was now 2:30!).
I can thoroughly recommend the Duck Confit Nachos. The duck was perfect. The blue cheese sauce and port syrup complimented each other nicely, settling the flavours well, and offset the duck very tastily. The contrast of textures with the creamy cheese, the crisp chips, and the smooth duck worked as well. This I could have eaten as a meal!
Our other appetisers were also delicious. The Crispy Calamari was gorgeous. I am not a caper eater but the caper remoulade married nicely with the calamari. We had the Home-​Made Pretzel and its simplicity was a nice counterpoint to the richness of the duck in particular. The Truffle Fries were good — although the sweetness was a touch disconcerting. Still worth eating though!
After that we picked up a couple of the fire roasted flatbreads. The Pepperoni was good. Simple and unsurprising but nicely done. The Caramelised Onion & Brie was incredible. No stinting on brie by the way. Slabs of it laid over sweet caramelised onions and dotted with sliced grapes. Very nice.
Finally, my burger. I decided to try the Ballast Point Burger and I am very glad I did. I like my burgers the rare side of medium rare but it’s unusual to get anything other than medium. This burger was perfectly done. That alone would make me happy. When combined with perfectly gooey bleu cheese and an actual brioche bun (rather than a bun calling itself such), I was in heaven!
I strongly suggest getting tasters with your food. Food changes the flavours that dominate in a drink. And drinks can make or break food. Tasters enabled me to combine the dark chilli mole with the sweet rich duck confit. A food that needed a strong drink to enhance the undertones in the port syrup — and a drink strong enough not to be overwhelmed by the cheese. The lighter Cherry Oak, however, married brilliantly with the lighter flatbread and calamari. And the smooth, even tones of the Orange & Chocolate brought out the burger quite nicely.

Great beer shop for the home brewer. Brilliant beer selection on tap to try the casks and specialties. Love love love

Oh the adventures I’ve had here… if walls could talk these ones would die from giggling at the silly things they have seen… at least from me. I’ve been here a few times, some I may not recall so well. What I do remember is they always greet you with a smile and are quick to get you a nice cold pour of your favorite brew. I always have to taste a few until I find my favorite. Love me some tasters!
On occasions they have had food trucks there that smell quite good but I usually order plate lunch from next door, the sweet man delivers. Enjoying your favorite Ballast Point beer along with good food is my happy place. This location definitely delivers.
They always have a good bottle selection as well. For those days I can’t stop in to have a beer I pick one up to enjoy at home. If you are one of those nifty people that brew beer they have tons of stuff you may be interested in. Definitely check it out if you are in the area.

Ballast Point has the widest variety of incredible beers available of any brewery in San Diego, in my opinion. My go-​to range from the Dorado, to the Habanero Sculpin, to the Longfin. I have never eaten here, but I have seen and heard great things about the food. The service at the bar is always quick, and the bartenders are friendly. The location is convenient, and never overly-​crowded like their primary location.
Parking can be tough at peak hours, so keep that in mind. I would Recommend this place to all family and friends.

I started off with the Ginger Big Eye moved to the India Conundrum then the Habanero Sculpin next up was the Calm Before the Storm, Victory At Sea and finish my night with the Calico and of course had to fill my grawler up with some Sculpin

My plane landed in San Diego. My little brother picks me up and immediately takes me to Ballast Point. In the mind of a 27 year old, he must have thought that I’d want to grab a brew right away… or maybe he was the one that needed a beer. Either way, I’m happy he took us there because they do have a really great selection of craft beers there. It’s a large place with plenty of seating and you can tell it’s a popular local hangout. They have a lot of flat screens for all the sports lovers as well.
Beer flights are a good choice if you want to try different beers. I believe they were 3 for $ 5 with generous pours. I tried a sip of the Curry Export Stout which was very unique tasting. I would never have thought curry and stout go together but they were married pretty well. We also ordered fish/​shrimp tacos (two for ~$ 15) which were good but a little pricey for what it was. Highly suggest going for beers but not necessarily the food.

This is a rough review for me since I work in the beer industry. I have to give it 5 stars since I been coming here to fill my growler, and for drinks with family, and friends before the remodel. For the people who have been coming here, and know what in talking about know that they have upgraded, and have made way much more room, and comfortable seating for a larger amount of people.
They have supplies for novice beer makers, and advance beer makers as well. They have flight of beers for a good price, merchandise for you out of state visitors or just plain oh beer lovers. Careful though the college kids raid the shit out of this place during school hours!

We decided to stop by here on our way home from dinner. This place was great to grab a couple of tasting flights. The staff was friendly and super helpful with flight selections. The bartender even made a suggestion that I try my habanero beer with a splash of Bloody Mary mix! Very tasty! Everything we sampled was great. It’s a cool place with a relaxed atmosphere where you could also grab your at-​home-​brewing supplies. Cheers!

Here’s a list of beers (flights) I had. It was a blast. I hope selling yourself for 1 billion dollars doesn’t change the quality you have consistently had. Love u Ballast Point!
Pale Ale Shandy — don’t like. Nothing like I expected with pomegranate, cranberry, & lime
Blood Orange Wench — couldn’t taste blood orange as much as I thought I would. Sour but not the most sourest beer they have
Homework #6 — great coffee flavor. I would buy a 6 pack of this easily
Calico — not bad. Dunno how to describe this but it’s not at the bottom of my list
Black Marlin — porter. Gold medal definitely deserves it. I love coffee beers and this one is good
Skulpin (nitro) — different, has a creamy taste. No CO2 in it
Victory At Sea — u can smell the coffee, very aromatic. The vanilla notes is really good
Grunion — good, variation of Hangar 24 type beer
Thai Chili Wahoo — smells like soap to me, other ppl didn’t agree. Thai chili after taste. Not my cup of tea but I was intrigued by the slowly creeping chili taste
Strawberry Wench — nice semi-​light (avg strongness?) strawberry flavor, sour, but not too sour. Highly recommend if u like strawberry flavor
Apricot-​Peach Wench — the sourest beer I’ve ever tasted. I love sour but it’s too sour of a beer for me. My fiancé loved it though

Unbelievable selection of remarkable beers in a funky, casual setting. My sister and I ventured (and by ventured I mean ubered) out to Ballast Point to sip on some brews and definitely didn’t anticipate the sheer number of beers that were available on tap. Among the eight or so we sampled between the two of us, standouts included The Commodore (American stout), Calm Before The Storm (a lovely cream ale with coffee & vanilla — so smooth!), Victory at Sea (my FAVORITE — an imperial porter heavy on the coffee & vanilla), and Wahoo Wheat with Thai chili, lime & ginger.
Such a fabulous, laid back atmosphere — so glad I made it out to the brewery while in San Diego!

good place to go enjoy the beer.
Only reason why I am negating a star is because when it gets busy there needs to be more people on staff
I enjoy the beer and love fishing it works out perfectly
come here on a day when it isnt so busy and enjoy a quality brew

The new tasting room is so nice! I wish that had been around while I was still in school at USD. It’s got tons of space for tasting and they turned the old tasting section into a huge store for home brewing.
Ballast is my favorite local craft beer. I love how this location always has such great options on nitro or cask. I recently had the sculpin on nitro and it was a really nice alternative to the regular sculpin. Previously, I also had the big eye with vanilla on cask. I’ve never tasted anything so good! If you ever see this on the beer list again, you must get it!
Tasters are only 3 for $ 5. Perfect price to sample a couple of your faves and new brews.
During my last trip here, Screamin Pete’s was also catering! His BBQ is the absolute best so having him around makes Ballast even better!

This update is past due. Ballast Point revamped this tasting room and expanded its size. They often have some sort of food truck that solves your hunger problems.
Its very had to go wrong with this brewery. LOVE IT! Their Grapefruit Sculpin IPA is the only IPA I like primarily because I am more of a wine drinker but my husband who is a draft beer cotnnesiour loves few other beers. It is 2 miles away where my husband and I live and it serves us well when we choose to take a fast walk back and forth with a stop at the brewery :) oh… one more thing, they have a shop for home brewers selling pretty much everything you need.

I haven’t been on many brewery tours, but in general they’ve never lived up to expectations. That’s not the case here. Everything about our private tour during a bachelor party weekend was memorable. In short: less boring, more beer!
My pessimism coming into this stemmed from several local tours where I sat through long-​winded explanations about everything from how hops are grown to how the machinery works. Some of it was interesting, but most of the time I spent looking at my watch and hoping they would just cut to the chase. That’s exactly what they did at Ballast Point. Our guide started us out with a round of generous samples, then topped us off immediately with more. In the short half hour tour, he spent as much time just having a dialogue and answering questions as he did lecturing.
We finished off our visit in a private cabana area we’d reserved on the patio. It was a raucous atmosphere, with a neighboring birthday party and bachelorette party adding to the fun. We ordered beer samplers and appetizers and soaked in the San Diego sun. All in all a great time!

I love this brewery! I love the cool fish names for all the beers! I love the 3 samples for $ 5 bucks!!! This tasting room is oddly located in a strip mall. The Home brew sign is actually more prominent (since this was an still is a home brew beer place) Once inside the tasting room is large with long tables, gift shop, and food in the back. The choices are practically unlimited as they seem to have a beer for everyone. Some of the exotic specialty beers were very interesting, the spicy habanero beer, and the grapefruit beer were
2 of my favorites. Since I leave for fishing just down the way in the harbor its great to get a few samples of «Longfin», «Calico», «Bigeye», and «Yellowtail» right before we try to catch em! This is really some of the finest beers you will ever have… with definitely the coolest names. I hope they don’t run out of fish!

I remember during one of my first times down to SD for breweries and we went to the original Ballast Point Brewery. It was a small space with a small selection of beer. It is hard to believe that small brewery grew into this space today. Our friend actually lived across the street from this location. During our visits to her we watched the store grow from a simple home brew mart to a full fledge tasting room.
At first this space started out as primarily a home brew store, like I said. It still has a home brew store, which is great. I think that it is really awesome that a brewery that might inspire someone to brew also a has a store attached, probably a smart business move too. Because they run a brewery you can assume that they will know what they are talking about at the store and carry good stuff.
The tasting room has grown into basically another half of the building they occupy. The tasting room décor is also really fun. Ballast point is nautically themed, if that wasn’t obvious. They keep with that tradition and made the space feel very aquatic. It is fun and whimsical, without being childish and silly. There is also plenty of space to grab a seat at.
Now for the beer. I tend to review breweries of one of two things. Either a brewery makes the «classic» styles but they elevate them, or they swing for the fences. I think Ballast Point has always been a swing for the fences brewery that has really grown into their own. When I first had their beer many years ago I wasn’t blown away. Now their beer menu takes up two chalkboards. Picking a beer to drink is a bit overwhelming. I noticed though that a lot of their beers take interesting deviations. They will do the same style of beer but put a small twist on it, like aging it in a barrel. It reminded me a lot of White Labs, which makes the same type of beer with different types of yeast. The ability to try one beer in multiple forms is a unique opportunity.
The growth of this brewery has just been explosive, and for good reason. Definitely a regular go to for me.
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They just recently remodeled their tasting room area, and it is quite clean, spacious, and… just nice.
They switch out brews regularly (depending on season), meaning sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, sometimes many changes, sometimes a few changes.
The staff is very helpful and friendly.
A nice stop off if you’re looking to try a little taster of something new to the senses, filling up a growler of some Victory At Sea, or getting together with a couple colleagues to enjoy an easy-​going beer spot.
Not a brewer myself, but the Home Brew Mart seems pretty well put together!

Pretty cool brewery conveniently located near a college, someone did their research. The drinking area, from what my friend told me, used to just be the small bar by the register. Then they bought the store next door and expanded to a pretty decent bar. With lots of drinking room and flights at $ 5, it’s a popular stop.
I didn’t find a favorite beer when I stopped by but enjoyed the atmosphere and convenience. The next time I visit my friend will be the real test.

Less packed, big warehouse, no drunk bartenders, ample parking and a cool décor wall.
If you’ve been to the Ballast in Little Italy you know what I’m talking about. I dropped by the little Italy one to buy a half gallon grawler as a surprise to my BF but they didn’t have it and directed me to go to the LV one. So I made my way there. It was lunch time so it was quite empty. I don’t know if they serve food here but I’ll come back! I just had the grunion and it was so good, second favorite after sculpin.

Really enjoyed this brewery at their Home Brew Mart location! Though I’m definitely not brave enough to experiment with home brewing at this time, it’s amazing to see all the specific equipment and materials/​ingredients involved. The tasting room also has ample seating to enjoy your beer as well as order food from the food trucks that park out behind the place. My fiancée really liked the murals/​paintings all around of the illustrations on the different Ballast Point beer bottles.
I ordered a 3-​beer flight ($ 5 – awesome deal!) of the Sculpin Grapefruit Nitro, Thai Chili Wahoo, and Victory at Sea. I was unsure about whether to get the regular VAS or the mole one, and the bartender was nice enough to give me a sample of the mole VAS free of charge – excellent service! It was also my first time having a beer on Nitro (nitrogen infused) and really loved the clean taste it brought out. Now that I know I liked the spicy Wahoo, I will definitely be trying the Habanero Sculpin upon my return.