USA, CA & VA: Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits to open new brewery in Botetourt County

San Diego-based Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits announced on May 24 that it will bring a new brewery in Botetourt County, Virginia.

Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits plans to invest about $48 million to convert an existing building in the Greenfield industrial park into its East Coast manufacturing and retail operation. The expansion will create about 175 jobs.

“In our quest to provide the best quality, freshest beer to all of our customers, an East Coast brewery started to make a lot of sense to us,” Ballast Point founder Jack White said in a written statement.

Ballast Point is the 11th largest craft brewer in the United States by sales volume, and its move marks the second round of good news this year for a Roanoke Valley beer and recreation culture that for years has longed for a big-name player.

In March, Deschutes Brewery announced that it will build its $85 million East Coast production brewery in Roanoke.

Officials with the Roanoke Regional Partnership and Botetourt County reached out to Ballast Point more than a year ago as part of a campaign to attract craft brewers to the region. They were able to capture the attention of the West Coast brewer with an available building — a 259,000-square-foot former auto parts manufacturing building that is currently owned by Lawrence Transportation.

Ballast Point has agreed to purchase the building, which comes with the necessary infrastructure as part of the Botetourt Center at Greenfield industrial park in Daleville.

The Greenfield park has sat largely vacant for more than 20 years, but saw a growth spurt this year that has been boosted at least in part by improvements in water quality for its tenants.

“We are able to welcome Ballast Point to Botetourt County because of the decision by the Board of Supervisors in 2015 to join the Western Virginia Water Authority. Without that partnership, we would not have been able to provide the quantity and quality of water demanded by this project,” Botetourt County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Leffel said in the announcement.

Ballast Point began in 1996 with a small group of home brewers in San Diego. It quickly grew into a company that employs more than 500 people at four facilities in its home city, distributing beer that is sold in more than 30 states.

The brewer makes more than 50 styles of beer and bottles more than 20 spirit products, according to its website. Some of its better-known beers are Sculpin IPA and Grapefruit Sculpin IPA.

Regionally, the new brewery will have an annual economic impact of about $375 million and lead to the creation of about 540 secondary jobs, according to projections from the regional partnership.

Ballast point will receive a $2.4 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist with the project. The company will also be eligible for a $250,000 grant from the governor’s Agriculture and Forest Industries Development Fund.

Botetourt County will provide about $1.4 million in tax incentives, along with performance grants estimated at $650,000.

Last November, Ballast Point was purchased by Constellation Brands, a major producer of beer, wine and spirits with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Italy. With more than 7,000 employees and a list of brands that include Corona and Negra Modelo, Constellation is the third-largest beer company in the U.S, according to is website.

26 May, 2016