BBALLAST POINT WAS ROLLING , with new locations popping up all around the San Diego area . To keep up with demand , Cherney ’ s team went from brewing 15 barrels per day to 1,500 , and his role continually exercised that “ Renaissance man ” skill set . Beyond just brewing , he found himself collaborating on facility design , commissioning production and canning lines , even scouting defunct breweries in Germany to source legendary brewing equipment . He lights up when talking about Old World copper : “ Anchor Steam , Sierra Nevada , all the breweries I used to geek out on , they all had huge , beautiful copper kettles , the kind of thing no one makes anymore . You can ’ t find that kind of craftsmanship .”
Even as Ballast Point was reaching the next level , Cherney kept tight with UC San Diego in his teaching efforts , which evolved from the Craft Center into UC San Diego Extension and ultimately the brewing certificate program . As the lead instructor , Cherney finds rock stars of the brewing world to lead seminars while he and Chris White teach their own courses , from classes on yeast to the cutting-edge Technology of Brewing . In five years , the program has enrolled over 300 students , with over 100 graduates currently employed in the craft beer industry .
Cherney also stayed true to those scrappy , back-room roots with what he saw on the horizon for Ballast Point . “ San Diego didn ’ t yet have a distillery , and I wanted us to be the first . So I asked Jack if we could set up a small still in a corner of the break room .”
“ What will we use for a break room ?” asked Jack . “ My office ,” said Cherney . And with a flipped-over fermenter serving as a still , so began Ballast Point Spirits in 2008 . “ It was definitely a learning process ,” says Cherney , “ but it ’ s really just the next step in the alchemy of turning one thing into another . Knowing fermentation science and having a background in brewing definitely gave me a head start .” The distilling started off very much a side project for the company ,
A NEW VOYAGE With the sale of Ballast Point , the team continued its longstanding distilling operations with a new name .
but as the spirits began to bring home awards as well , construction started on a full-blown distillery .
Then came the morning of November 16 , 2015 , which Cherney expected to remember only for the installation of the giant , custom-made German brewhouse that had arrived the day prior . He recalls watching it being lifted high over the open roof when the news broke over his phone : Ballast Point was to be sold to Mexico ’ s Constellation Brands , Inc ., makers of Corona and other behemoth beers , for the equally behemoth sum of one billion dollars .
It was a “ B ” heard ’ round the world — the beer world most resonantly , and to mixed reaction . The craft scene plays upon passion , for better or worse , and when a brand ’ s heart and soul is often equated with its size and scale , there can be a fine line between simply selling a company and “ selling out ,” especially when a corporation is involved .
“ HAVING HOMEBREWED WITH YUSEFF FOR SO LONG , I KNEW HOW MUCH HE UNDERSTOOD THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SCIENCE IN HIS TECHNIQUE . AND I KNEW THAT HE WAS JUST A REALLY , REALLY GOOD BREWER ."
— Chris White , MS ’ 93 , PhD ’ 96
40 TRITON | SPRING 2018