Photos by Asia Morris.
Ballast Point officially opened its first Los Angeles County brewpub in Long Beach today, calling all fans of the San Diego-based brewer to enjoy its new seaside views, whilst sipping on a Sculpin IPA, or any one of the company’s award-winning brews.
Officially dubbed the Ballast Point Tasting Room & Kitchen, the owners of Bancap Seaport Village, Inc. (Alamitos Bay Landing), released the announcement Thursday morning. The Long Beach location is also the brewer’s largest, with 670 seats and three bars located throughout the premises.
“We are excited to welcome Ballast Point to Long Beach and Alamitos Bay Landing,” said R. Whitney Latimer of Alamitos Bay Landing in a statement. “What a perfect location for them and their patrons with views of Catalina, Seal Beach and Alamitos Bay.”
The American craft brewery and distillery was founded in 1996 in San Diego. This will be Ballast Point’s sixth location, now established in place of Khoury’s Restaurant. As of 2015, Ballast Point was the second-largest brewer in San Diego County and the 17th-largest in the country, according to the release.
The Long Beach location will also be used for Ballast Point’s new sour program, where Chris Klein, brewing manager and Long Beach resident, will be overseeing the souring of several brews.
“This is completely new for us,” Klein told the Long Beach Post. “This first beer that we’re doing will be our first main production beer that’s fermented with 100 percent brett, which is a naturally occurring bacteria. And then we’ll be brewing beers specifically to be put into these oak vessels and then infect them to sour ‘em over six months to two to three years.”
Klein said you can’t have sour production around your main beers because of the risk of cross-contamination, so not only does Long Beach give Ballast Point a sought-after location for their Los Angeles and Orange County fans, but it provides them the space to make this new program a reality.
“It’s exciting, and sours are still something that not a lot of breweries do,” Klein continued. “We’ll be brewing specific beers for Long Beach up here, some kettle-soured, some stainless tank-[soured], which we’ll hopefully get done in six weeks to two months, and then these will be years, sitting on oak. It’s all very new for us, so it’s awesome.”
For more info, check out the website here.
Ballast Point Tasting Room & Kitchen is located at 110 Marina Drive.
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