Earlier today, Forbes reported that Stratford, Connecticut-based Athletic Brewing, a non-alcoholic beer brand, has acquired the Trade Street facility formerly owned by Constellation Brands and operated under the Ballast Point Brewing brand. The acquisition was made possible thanks to a recent money raise that brought in $17.5 million. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Located near Ballast Point’s headquarters on Carroll Way in San Diego’s Miramar neighborhood, the space comes in at 80,000 square feet and fulfilled myriad uses for Ballast Point between 2017 and 2019. The facility was essentially cut into thirds, with a third being used as a QC lab-equipped fermentation and packaging space for sour beers, another third being used for storing and packaging barrel-aged beers, and the remainder utilized for warehouse space.
Following disappointing sales, Constellation Brands shuttered Trade Street last April (along with Ballast Point’s two-year-old brewpub in Temecula, California), dumping its inventory of barrel-aged product and laying off employees in the process. It was described as a course-correction moved by Constellation Brands, which officially completed its sale of Ballast Point to Illinois-based Kings and Convicts Brewing last week.
Athletic Brewing was established in 2017. It produced 10,000 barrels of beer in 2019 but could have brewed more had its production capabilities been greater. This move figures to solve that problem, increasing capacity “tenfold” according to Athletic co-founder Bill Shufelt, as Athletic increases distribution to include new states. Its expanded footprint will include California and its new San Diego stomping grounds. Shufelt plans to move to San Diego to head operations here while co-founder John Walker remains in Stratford to lead East Coast operations.
