Ballast Point – Collaboration and Distribution News + More

We just got a wheel barrel full of Ballast Point news on the heels of San Diego Beer Week 2011.

Topics include new packaging, distribution, their spirits production, a collaboration,bottled on dating, and more.

Enjoy, TFP

Sculpin IPA was bottled in 6 packs yesterday and will begin shipping today to Southern California markets and Philadelphia as well.

Our new still arrives Monday from Vendome Copper Works in Kentucky. It is a 500 gallon copper still that we will use for our whiskey production.

Head Brewer Yuseff Cherney will be heading to the Czech Republic to do a collaboration brew with the Kocour Brewery in northern Czech Republic in 2 weeks. The beer will most likely be a Double IPA, however, we are still in the final stages of recipe design. The Kocour or “Tomcat” brewery is one of but a few breweries in CZ that produce ales, and have specialized in brewing American styles, such as IPA in the past. Here’s a link to their website. http://www.pivovar-kocour.cz/en/

They  have just designed a variety 8 pack which will hold 22 ounce beers. It will have 2 each of the following beers: Sculpin IPA, Big Eye IPA, Black Marlin Porter, Calico Amber Ale. It will be released by next month.

Ballat Point  will be shipping beer to Puerto Rico in the next 2 weeks, which should include all of main production beers.

Both this and the news that Sculpin 6 packs are being shipped to Philly raised questions for us. We wanted to know how Ballast Point determines what markets get their beer and what markets don’t. Here is the reply:

“We do not go into every market that request our products. We don’t just fill the pipeline and hope our beers sell like many craft brewers seem to do. The markets we choose have a great turnover because the people are clamoring to get their hands on our beer, and the re-orders come naturally. Philly, for example is one of our best markets outside of San Diego, and Bella Vista feverishly courted us and so we succumbed. We don’t have enough beer to go around right now, so distributors that are engaged and realize that our beer is fun to sell and enjoy discussing our beer with consumers and retailers are the ones that get our product. The company in Puerto Rico is an all craft distributor, and the owner of the distribution company is a “beer geek” with a market that is 99% bottles. We can, therefore, send beers without the usual requirements of draft support. There is also a burgeoning home brewer community there as well. Certain distributors have the certain something that makes us take notice, and those are the ones that get what limited product we can give them. Hopefully they realize we are trying to make more and soon not only will we have more beer for them, but also the new markets that really like our products.”

Ballast Points White Rum, Three Sheets, will join the brands out for distribution next month. We currently have our Old Grove Gin and Three Sheets Barrel Aged Rum out in stores.

We also wanted to know Ballast Point’s stance on bottled on date/best enjoyed by dating on the bottles. As of press, Ballast Point does not date their bottles, which has been a point of contention with the die hard Sculpin fans, who yearn for a fresh as possible bottle. Here is the response:

We are working on the date coding issue. We currently batch code our beers and plan to have some sort of consumer accessible date coding by the 1st quarter of next year. The problem with coding is making it clear either that it is a “born on” date or a best before date. Budweiser spent millions with born on dating ads that made people realize that this was not an expiration date code. Micros have a harder time educating people about the coding and simply ink jetting a date on the bottle may not do all that people hope it will. We realize the importance of fresh craft beer and also realize that putting a date on something does not necessarily make the problems associated with bad storage practices, non rotation of product or poor placement go away. You might also already know that “born on’ dating was actually a way to keep beer on the shelves longer, and not necessarily protect consumers, as the campaign seemed to profess. As soon as we solve these concerns we will let you know and maybe you can help spread the word for us.

That’s all we have for now. Stay tuned for more info on their future collaboration and a follow up to their bottle dating challenges.