Once again, Ballast Point Brewing Company has new owners. This time it was sold to Kings & Convicts, a small brewery from Illinois.
Constellation Brands, the owner of Modelo’s U.S. beer company, sold Ballast Point to Kings & Convicts for an undisclosed amount.
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Kings & Convicts CEO Brendan Watters said his focus for Ballast Point will be on creativity, community and letting its employees engage with the direction of the brewery.
"They grew from homebrew roots and they loved being that independent brewer and so I think that's what a small company like us can come and deliver to Ballast Point and sort of unshackle them again," he said.
Kings & Convicts has nine employees, whereas Ballast Point has 560. Kings & Convicts plans to keep all of Ballast Point's current employees and hire up to 70 more people.
"The people that are in the company are fantastic, so we're going to lean on them. So part of this is, we might be rookies in craft brewing, but Ballast Point isn't," Watters said.
Ballast Point’s new owner will be moving its headquarters to San Diego.
Watters joined Midday Edition on Thursday to discuss the future of Ballast Point.
