Ballast Point – Scripps Ranch

Second time here. I like their limited edition beers and how many there are to choose from. I like the black marlin and their limited edition thai coffee beer. I also liked the red velvet stout. The food places they bring in have been good too. Their tour is free and they offer 3 tasters for $ 5. I would definitely come again.

We’re from Beervana – Portland, Oregon – where the hops go down all in all sorts of styles all over town. San Diego county is so well known for its hops too! So we’re out with friends tasting. First stop in Scripps Ranch is Ballast Point. I’ll make the point now – great line-​up on tap and here is what we liked best.
Pass on the flagship Sculpin IPA? We know it is great tasting! No way, let’s taste it fresh outta the tap. Ah, so delicious!
Sculpin nitro IPA. Like it too – frothy, bubbly and so smooth so more mellow without the bitter bite like the flagship IPA!
Ginger Bigeye IPA – you like ginger and IPA, then, give it try! We did. We like.
Calm Before the Storm teases my pallet wth coffee and vanilla – very good. But don’t tease me, please me! Bring on big brother at 2x more alcohol with a deeper coffee flavor – give me Victory at Sea, one of the best beer’s ever. Portlander’s love coffee and beer and it one swallow of Victory at Sea you get both. Good news, I can get it in Portland.
Dorado double IPA = good. Grunion hoppy pale ale goes down easy like an IPA with less pop in the hop.
Bottom line now I got a good buzz I can honestly say – so so so this place place place is a winner winner winner!

Perfect tasting room right off the 15, small interior with high tops and the bar itself and about 6 tables outside. I love going here versus their epic location off Miramar because more often, I’m flying solo or with a friend and this is a much more approachable, less chaotic ambiance. Also, you can’t get fresher or cheaper pints of Sculpin anywhere in San Diego (unless you’re privileged enough to brew Sculpin for Ballast and have access to taking a sample straight to the dome from the tank).
They offer taster sizes and pints and those tiny shot glass sized pours that are simply embarrassing to be caught with. No beer at Ballast deserves such a minuscule image.
They have food trucks which I also love because I don’t need much food, but I like it to be damn delicious. Two visits ago, in early January, Happy Food Catering truck was parked out front and I was as excited as a child visiting Disneyland for the first time. Swedish food truck?! I hope they have Swedish meatballs…
They did. And wow. Sweet and savory paired with all kinds of pickled veggies and a heaping pile of dill-​filled mashed potatoes. Could not ask for a better buzzed meal than that.
Now for my favorite beer to be produced by Ballast Point yet…
Imagine those Dole Pineapple Whips you get at the entrance of Adventureland. Now take a small bite and let it coat your mouth with vibrant tropical creamy goodness. Then, take a swig of the king of west coast IPA’s and delight in the VIP party with the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness on your tongue. I LOVE pineapple and I LOVE sculpin so I’m 100% in love with this new production.
All in all, I choose this tasting room to any other in San Diego. It has the appearance of a fishing shop in a business park. A writer’s ideal treat and retreat in one location.

Love Ballast Point! Delicious beer!

You know Ballast has a fan base when said fans go to a location that has little parking and no inside seating. This location tends to be laid back and I like the patrons here the most (out of all the locations). Bartenders (attitudes) vary but for the most part they’re alright here. I like their merchandise selection at Scripps but getting help/​service has been tough in the past. Growler fills have mostly been easy and they do have a great selection of beers at this location.
Make sure to check the food truck schedule here. Look for Famoso as they make excellent tacos that pair well with the Ballast beers.
We recently stopped by for a growler fill and also purchased a six pack of Mango Even Keel. Never seen that before so friends were pretty excited about the purchase. Their outdoor patio has heat lamps so that’s always a plus on chilly SD evenings.

Ballast Point! What’s not to love? Hmm best pumpkin seasonal beer I’ve ever tasted. And they have Root Beer! (Soda) Yum!

My personal favorite location for tasting (drinking) and growler fills.
Josh, Pat, Kelly, and the crew always know how to help what the palate is craving, or know the look on your face on a Friday happy hour and know you are going for the regular-​grapefruit sculpin.
Down the street from work, so close enough for a quick pint mid day, or dangerous close enough to not return to work doing that on a Friday.
Always a huge selection of the great main stays with a twist.

Top Notch brewery. Great tasting Beer at its finest. Lots of beer on tap. Seasonal and rare beer is available which is fantastic. They also give tours for their brewery and a new spirit tasting room. Both tours are great. We did both. Just a heads up. The beer tour was free and a great way to see their process of making their beer. The spirits tour was 10 bucks. But offered a tasting room and a great explanation of how they create their spirits. I highly recommend this place if you love beer and in the San Diego area

I really love this location of Ballast Point. Don’t get it confused with its megalocation counter part in Miramesa. The Ballast Point on Old Grove is the OG with a small tasting room and rotation of food trucks.
This location has one of its walls open so that guests can walk freely from inside to outside. The rotation of food trucks they have is excellent. Side note: If they ever have Screamin Pete, you absolutely MUST get his food. It’s the best bbq!
In my opinion, Ballast is my favorite of all the local craft breweries. I love the classics like sculpin and victory at sea, but I’m also a fan of all of the different creations they make. The last time I was in there they had a bunch of passionfruit and mango flavored beers. I’ve also once had a vanilla big eye that was so good! I highly suggest trying out one of their experimental concoctions or beers on cask or nitro!
Parking is typically pretty easy as there’s a lot available on the street! Great place to stop for a beer and also enjoy a free tour! The tour of the brewery is free (and you get to wear cool goggles). If you’d like a tour of the spirit speakeasy style room, it’s $ 10 but includes drinks.

Super cool brewery. Free parking, good beer, $ 10 spirits tour.
I thought we would be able to walk through the entire brewery, but we only saw a small portion where the spirits are distilled. The room was resembled a lot of a speakeasy.
Not knowing much about spirits, I was really nervous to go on this spirits tasting tour. Once the tour started, I felt really comfortable. Our guide took us on an adventure talking about how the spirits are made, what we should smell, and what flavors we should expect. We tried 6 different spirits, .5 ounces each.
My favorite was the Barrel Rested Gin, which is what I’m going to buy on my next trip to Trader Joes!

Great place, great beer! Very knowledgable staff. Love hearing the history of the company. Outdoor sitting area, standing only inside, but great vibe. Totally recommend this place.

This place has a more casual/​relaxed vibe. You order at the front, menu is right above the bar. You can sit where ever there is an open spot. We only came here to take a look at their t-​shirts since they didn’t have my husbands size at the Miramar location. Seating is outside front patio with umbrellas. Food truck parked to the side of the curb. Nice place.

This is a first rate brewry! Lots of styles and choices. They have a nice long friendly bar with very attentive bar tenders. They’ll fill any growler as long as it’s their own or the logo of another’s is covered. My favorite beers are the Sculpin IPA and Even Keel session, but there are more than a dozen other choices as well. They have light food fare and a reasonable amount of seating. The place has a great vibe! Don’t miss it.

Came to balllast point to meet a friend to have a few beers. This place is much smaller than the miramar location. If you are looking for a mellow ballast point, this is the one. Miramar is more of your big loud crowds yelling over each other to have a conversation type atmosphere.
Parking is not that bad, there is parking all over the streets. They also have food trucks every day so there is food. They also have beef jerky ($ 8.99– they have a habanero sculpin jerky, but did not try) and peanuts that they sell as well.
Inside– Standing room with belly bars
Outside– picnic table umbrella tables, along with standing belly wall tables
Pints range anywhere from $ 5-​$ 6
Flight of ANY 3– 4oz pours for $ 5
Beers:
Victory at sea– Coffee and Vanilla Porter, Not thick, easy to drink. 10%. This was really good. I believe it was a 10oz pour.
Fathom– Had a pint of this, India Pale Lager, 7%. Was pretty light, but refreshing to drink.
I had a splash of their curry beer. It literally taste like yellow curry from a thai restaurant. It was interesting, but i think a splash is just enough. A 4oz taster or a pint would be too much for me. Same goes with the Habanero Sculpin.
Easy parking and Easy to find room to sit or a belly bar to stand at. If youre wanting ballast crafts and dont want to deal with parking being a pain and super loud crowds. Go to scripps and enjoy.

Obviously Ballast Point creates great beers. Did you know that they also distill spirits? Well, yes they do!
Their distillery is at this location and after a brief tour I was able to try some of their craft spirits. The horchata vodka and Opah digestif were excellent.

Visited this location as part of our brewery tour.
The bar area is fairly small and can get crowded, but the bartenders work through the crowds pretty quickly. More of a beachy, laid back bro vibe here than at other breweries. Bartenders were helpful and fun, and always willing to make suggestions.
I tried the standard sculpin, the grapefruit sculpin, the victory at sea, the copper ESB with nitro, and the habanero sculpin cut with bloody mary mix. All were good, especially the bloody mary habanero — however, be warned that this will wreck your palette for a while. Get that one last.
The sunny patio provided a great place for us to kick off our tour. Very relaxed and pleasant atmosphere here.

This was the first location my husband and I visited for Ballast Point.
This is a tasting room off of Old Grove Way. The site has the tasting room, a merchandise shop and a fairly extensive patio for enjoying food trucks that set up of on the weekends. We had a delicious sandwich and picked up a set of tasters. This location is also the first place wet tried the Sculpin IPA, which is a big hit in our family!
I previously worked for a vineyard that paired up with Stone Brewery and I must say Stone has some healthy competition since Ballast Point has been on the scene. Ballast Point did begin offering some mixers for Bloody Mary’s — as they grow a newer distillery side of their business.
We stopped by recently to pick up some grad gifts for an event we are hosting at the new Miramar location.

One of my first San Diego brewery visits was at this Ballast Point location! A bit small and narrow, so it was hard to navigate through the crowd that was already in the bar. It was hard to find a place to stand too and even more difficult to find a table to place our beers. We came in a fairly large group but were lucky enough to claim a tiny table in the corner.
Most of us just kept getting flights after flights. A lot of good options to choose from on tap. Bartenders that served us were helpful and quick. A few beers into our visit, an employee announced a free brewery tour that would be starting in a few minutes. We decided to go since why the hell not? It was a short but sweet tour and we were allowed to bring our beers in with us. I wasn’t done with my flight so there I was double-​fisting haha.
The new location off of Miramar is waaay bigger so that spot has been my most visited now (separate review to be done, of course). This location, however, will always hold a place in my heart as it was my first. :P

I suppose this is my first real experience at a brewery. Definitely didn’t know what to expect until arrival.
This specific location is ALOT smaller than what I was expecting.
First of all, once you walk in, there is a small hallway with a bar like setting but with bright lights and a few tables. No chairs inside. Everyone just orders their drink and stands around or hopes to get a table.
No one greets you. No one to explain how it works. No one to talk to you about their flavors. The servers behind the bar don’t seem too interested in asking you if you need help or if you want to order a drink or if you want some recommendations. They just stare at you blankly waiting for an order.
There is also a small seating area outside with a bunch of tables/​benches.
It is basically a free for all here. You have to find your own available table and if they’re all full, then you have to stand around and wait.
Personally I think that the concept is only ok if they had more tables!
But I do like that they have different food vendors serving at their establishment each day of the week. Unfortunately by the time we got a table, when we went to go order food, they had decided to stop taking orders and were closing down the food. I was so disappointed that they don’t give you a warning on what time the food closes. They closed an hour early before the brewery closed! Sooooooo sad.
Overall, other than the poorly designed establishment, the beer is good.
Each regular size cup of beer is about $ 4 each.
Or you can get a taster flight of 3 choices of beer (4oz cup each) which is a good deal if you want to taste multiple beers without getting too faded.
I would like to check out Ballast Point’s other location, which I hear is a lot bigger.

San Diego County Craft Brewery Road Trip Week!
When the beer nerd friend I homebrew with (& fellow Unilocal Elite) planned a week vacation down in San Diego with the wife & kids, he asked if I might want to take that same week off & go down there too. Hmmm, a whole week of drinking beer at craft breweries all over San Diego County? Oh Hell yeah!
& though my 1^st visit to Ballast Point was years ago, it still remains 1 of my favorite breweries to visit when I’m in SD. Oh sure, I’ve already toured the brewery. & during that tour, the tour guide pointed out that there is also a distillery on premises. But that distillery was always more conceptual than real to me.
Ultimately, I guess that’s because I’d never seen nor tried any Ballast Point Spirits. That all changed this time around. While cozying up to some great Ballast Point beers in the tap room, I noticed a sign for their recently begun tasting tours of the distillery. I love their beers, their spirits must be worth a try.
The tour was $ 10 with 6 small tastings. Oddly enough, I was the only taker so I basically got a private tour. The distillery is tiny & you can actually see most of it during the brewery tour. For sure, the highlight of the distillery tour is the cool-​looking tasting room & the tastings.
I got to sample: Old Grove Gin, Barrel Rested Old Grove Gin, Three Sheets Rum, Barrel Aged Three Sheets Rum, Fugu Vodka & Devil’s Share Moonshine. All were spectacular. Easily some of the best sprirts I’ve ever tasted. Even the Moonshine, which usually does not inspire high expectations, was remarkable.
But that’s not quite all. Ballast Point makes their own Bloody Mary & Mai Tai Mixers. I tried both (without alcohol) & both had sensational flavor. Just then I had an epiphany for the ultimate Michelada: Ballast Point Bloody Mary Mix & Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin. They whipped it right up for me.
Oh yeah, if you like Micheladas & you like all kinds of spicy, this really is the ultimate Michelada. Wow, Ballast Point. I already liked coming here alot. & I love the beers here. Adding the distillery tour & getting to try the spirits raises all that to an even higher level. Exceptional beers & spirits all in 1 building? You know I’ll be back