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| You idiots! I said "catch-up" not ketchup! Really, WTF? Get me Graphics on Line 1. Goddammit, heads are gonna roll this time!! Who's in charge around here? I pay you to do one simple thing! Appropriate graphics! That's it. So simple. Were you dropped on your heads as babies? Geez! |
And so, as we sometimes do in life, I threw the pause button on the two-day event that will fill, no doubt, at least two blogs (I am not known for my brevity) to circle back and take a quick boo at this other stuff.
Okay, last time I sat down to tap-tap-type one of these out, we had just learned that a little-known Highwood, Illinois brewery called Kings & Convicts had bought out industry giant Ballast Point Brewing from mega-distributors Constellation Brands. So I wrote about it the same day in the same "WTF just happened?" daze that pretty much everyone shared. The only thing I knew for certain was that Constellation had really effed up when they purchased Ballast Point for $1 billion back in 2015. But everyone knew that.
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| Everyone's favourite Hamilton cartoonist-artist David Buist has actually visited the Ballast Point Brewery in Long Beach (they have four locations in southern California) and reported that while very busy, it was quite something to see. You can watch the sunset over the ocean while sipping. |
When I first posted the picture of Kings & Convicts provided to me by former Chicago Tribune reporter Greg Trotter, it was Monday night, the day it was announced. Trotter noted the brewery was closed on Mondays and took a night shot with the brewery illuminated by only the office lights inside.
Beside it, I posted a picture of one of the Ballast Point facilities, apparently the one from Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.
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| I have taken Greg Trotter's photo of Kings & Convicts Brewing, which is literally down the street from his home, and lightened it somewhat so you can get a clear sense of its size. It's small. Far too small to be buying a brewery the size of Ballast Point. So how did this happen? Well, an industrious reporter for goodbeerhunting.com dug a little deeper and by morning, she had interviewed co-owner Brendan Watters over the big news. There's still a lot of questions on this but she did get some answers. |
The general consensus from Twitter was disbelief. "Money laundering" was a close second.
Well, an industrious reporter named Kate Bernot had dug a little deeper and by Tuesday morning, she had interviewed Kings & Convicts co-owner Brendan Watters, the Australian half of the team with British owner and brewmaster Chris Bradley. Bernot, a Montana resident, wears a lot of hats within North American craft beer writing world but in this case, her story was for the website goodbeerhunting.com.
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| Kate Bernot was the first one to actually speak to a Kings and Convicts owner to uncover some information about their purchase of Ballast Point. She found out a fair bit but got shut down on who the investors were and the cost of the deal. |
Noting that Kings & Convicts' annual output was 600 barrels annually (a barrel is the equivalent of 31 gallons or 117 litres) as opposed to Ballast Point's 200,000 barrels a year, Bernot tried to pin down the "but how?" of the deal. Watters acknowledged to her that his brewery had a "small group of investors" behind it, revealing only that they were outside the beer industry. (Small group with huge pockets, I would surmise.) He would not identify them to Bernot.
Neither was he willing to put the purchase's price tag on the table though $100 million is the figure most bandied about within the industry. However, Watters did note that in the course of constructing a new 48,000-square-foot facility in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, his group reached out to Ballast Point for some tips in July. That lead to Watters meeting a senior Constellation Brands executive where eventually, he struck up the idea of Kings & Convicts purchasing Ballast Point.
And while Kings & Convicts and Ballast Point will now clearly be under the same umbrella, Watters admitted to Bernot that they would remain separate entities. Why? "This is one company with two brands. We've got one that does 600 barrels and then we've got a big boy." He further cited loyalty to their first brand, Kings & Convicts in the case of keeping the two entities separate.
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| The entrance to the main Ballast Point brewery in San Diego. It will soon by owned by a brewery that produces 600 barrels of beer annually. That is equivalent to 0.3 per cent of what Ballast Point currently produces. A bit odd? Yeah, you could say so. But it looks like the deal will go through. |
That new Wisconsin facility will now be exclusively used by Ballast Point, Watters noted, to produce Ballast Point beer for sale in the Midwest and East, once the deal closes. (Constellation Brands held onto Ballast Point's Virginia-based production facility as part of the deal.) Watters told Bernot that their intention was to hire dozens of new staff to reignite passion for Ballast Point, which has been seen by many as flagging after the Constellation Brands purchase. At their peak in 2016, Ballast Point produced 431,000 barrels of beer, more than twice their current output.
But Bernot went onto LinkedIn and discovered Kings & Convicts has exactly six employees. It looks like that number is about to increase somewhat. Hell, you could even say significantly.
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| Hamilton artist-cartoonist David Buist, shown here with Collective Arts Brewing media coordinator Toni Shelton at September's fundraising Brewers' Ball, has his own special charity set up with Drunk Polkaroo where all the merchandise they sell sends money directly to charities. |
But one of the responses to my Twitter post was from Linzy Rother, who pointed out that the photo I used was the Ballast Point Disneyland facility. noting that if I thought that was impressive, I should really check out their Long Beach facility.
My Hamilton artist-cartoonist friend, David Buist, responded that he had been there and that the place was jammed. Not unusual, responded Linzy, but "you can catch the most beautiful sunsets there with a beer in hand."
David told me, "It was a huge building right on the water with a great balcony on the top overlooking the (Pacific Ocean). It was packed when we went and really busy. Huge list of beers."
Okay, moving along to our next bit of beer news!!! It seems that David and another friend, Rob, better known as Drunk Polkaroo, have gotten into the full spirit of the holiday season by creating a not-for-profit online merchandising business.
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| Who is this holly-jolly fellow? Well, don't tell your children but this is actually Drunk Polkaroo dressed up as Santa. Why? Well, on Saturday, December 14, Polk-as-Santa will be at Clifford Brewing from 4 to 7 pm. A new, unwrapped toy or even just $10 will get you a pint PLUS the opportunity to pose with Santa Polk! I suspect by Saturday night, there will be a large number of posts from beer buddies who parked it on Polk's knee. Probably kids too but... |
The pair have created a site called "Beer Saints" that sells clothing, greeting cards, postcards, coasters, tote bags and stickers, all adorned with David's art and inspired by the loquacious words of Polk. (Again, the link will be included at the bottom.)
Even though I know both men fairly well, it seemed like the whole thing just popped up unexpectedly out of nowhere.
Not quite, the pair confessed, as they've been looking to stop, drop and collaborate for quite some time now.
"We've been talking about it on and off for a little while and finally at the (Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion November 2), we talked again and decided to go for it," David told me.
Added Polk: "We've discussed doing a book a few times but I asked him if he was in to create some designs to go with my words and give the profits to charity if we could sell some merchandise."
Polk continued, "We both talked about how we have pretty good lives and wanted to give back (to the local community)." And so, the two did precisely that, setting up merchandise to sell through an online distributor with which David has previously dealt.
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| Paul of the Southern Ontario Beer Boys, who are no strangers to charity themselves, poses with one of Polk's and David's shirts, this one promoting beer diversity. If I am not mistaken - and I'm 99.9% certain I'm not - that's Ren Navarro in the bottom left of the cartoon. Can't think of anything more apt. |
"I've been using RedBubble for a while to do prints and shirts because they were a print-on-demand company that are fairly well-priced and seemed to have a reach around the world," David said. "We decided to go this way so we wouldn't have to worry about inventory or added problems. Polk set up the account and has the profits from products going into an account that we will donate."
Polk told me, "David uploads the images and the merchandise only gets made if someone orders it. (So we're) not having to invest in stock. I think we will get better at it over the next few months, looking at pricing and partnerships with breweries."
Colour me sold. You see that beer diversity shirt on Paul from Southern Ontario Beer Boys? I ordered that same shirt this past week. All in, it was $33. I can guarantee you that shirt's going see some Vegas face-time when I return for my Birthday Week in February. Live from Las Vegas, you two!
Okay, if you want to read up on the whole Kings & Convicts purchase of Ballast Point, Kate Bernot's excellent piece is right here at: I Still Can't Believe It!! And if you want to check out David and Polk's new venture, it's here at: Beer Saints Forever! But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Until next time with the Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion, I remain...
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