Colby Chandler

Colby Chandler spent 24 years as a vital member of the team at Ballast Point Brewing, developing many of the beer styles in its current portfolio, traveling around the world as a brand ambassador and educating people about the history of the company, craft beer and the San Diego brewing community. While the longest-tenured employee at one of the county’s longest-running brewing companies, his role in building, shaping, connecting and advancing the cause of San Diego as one of the world’s foremost craft-beer destinations can not be understated. With more than 150 collaboration brews under his belt and beer-and-food-pairing experience on five continents, he has worked with nearly every local brewery, plus scores of quality U.S. and international interests. He also worked with colleagues and contemporaries to help put San Diego on the map while serving as president of the San Diego Brewers Guild for a record six consecutive years. Today, he maintains hundreds of relationships, and leans on them when giving San Diego Beer News readers a behind-the-curtain glimpse at the county’s vibrant and ever-evolving brewing industry.

Neighborhood: RanchPo Bernarway (i.e., where Poway meets RB)

Family: Appreciative husband, father to an autistic red-haired pistol of a boy, and enamored owner of a yellow lab that’s the best animal I’ve ever been around

Favorite Beer Style(s): IPAs, smoked lagers, amber ales, saisons and lagers you just drink and don’t dissect

Favorite Local Beer Events: Southern California Homebrewers Festival, anything to do with food (especially beer dinners hosted by Tyson Blake), Chef’s Celebration at The Lodge at Torrey Pines, San Diego Lager Fest, the German American Societies of San Diego Oktoberfest in El Cajon, other breweries’ Christmas parties and Sundays in my backyard with beer peeps

Craft Beer A-Ha Moment: Sitting at the bar of Big Time Brewery in the University District of Seattle in 1988, drinking three different IPAs on tap and being amazed at not only how flavorful they were, but also how different each one was…I’ve been immersed in hops, barley, yeast and water ever since for the taste and the culture around it!