To better serve Los Angeles-area consumers, Ballast Point Brewing will open its second tasting room and kitchen outside of the San Diego-based brewery’s home base this summer.
Ballast Point chose a Long Beach, California spot and has begun work on the facility for an eventual opening with hopes of also expanding its sours program on site.
Hilary Cocalis, Vice President of Marketing for the brewery, said the company wanted to better serve Orange County and Los Angeles County customers, and it looked at a few options in Huntington Beach and Long Beach initially.
“We looked at places that had the infrastructure to be able to host a potential brewery and also a tasting room and kitchen,” she said. “Something that was either formerly a restaurant or an open space.”
The new Long Beach space will complement a similar tasting room that opened late in 2015 in Temecula, California.
“Nothing else is planned on horizon but this had been in talks for a few years,” she said of the expansions which now gives Ballast Point, the 11th largest craft brewery in the country, another place to call home along with four facilities in San Diego.
Located at the extreme southeast tip of Long Beach, at a former banquet hall and restaurant, the new Ballast Point tasting room will be right on the water, overlooking the marina.
“It gives a great nautical vibe,” Cocalis said. “Probably even more so than any of our San Diego locations. It was a little off the beaten path. We like that. We aren’t in the heart of [downtown]. It’s more of a destination and we like that idea that people have to come there to discover it. But it’s still in a great area and it’s a great beer-loving town.”
Not much will be left of the former Khoury’s Restaurant by the time it opens. The building has been gutted almost to the foundation and Cocalis said the brewery will modernize the 11,000-square-foot facility with floor-to-ceiling windows, and outdoor patio and upgrades to the infrastructure for a brewhouse and cold storage.
“It has been part of the business plan to expand our presence in Southern California and serve fans that are north [of us] without having to come down to San Diego.”
A job fair was held earlier this week to look for front house staff while management positions will be filled by newly promoted members of the current Ballast Point staff at other facilities, which will give more opportunities back in San Diego.
“We always like to say with growth comes opportunity,” Cocalis said.
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