By Megan Sullivan
Assistant Circulation Editor
For most surfers, the black ball flag symbolizes the end of surfing, but to two Costa alumni, it symbolizes the beginning of their beer brewing business.
Mira Costa alumni Steve Compas and Bruce Losson have taken their love for beer to a new level by starting their own brewery, Black Ball Brew Company. Black Ball Brew Co. aims to create a brand of beers that not only tastes good, but also stays close to both of their roots in the South Bay, Compas said.
“The black ball flag perfectly embodies what we are about because the flag is at the beach,” Compas said. “As a surfer, you hate the flag because it means you can’t surf, but we are turning a negative idea and making it positive.”
Photos: Black Ball Brew Co. is a home-run brewing company started by two Costa Alumni
The two decided to brew their own beer after stopping at a local bar while on a bike ride. They decided to purchase a home brewing kit, and as months passed, they began to update and expand their equipment and hobby into what would eventually become Black Ball Brew Co. Compas and Losson decided to take on the challenge of brewing beer in addition to their normal day jobs.
“Losson has always admired the quality of fine beers, so he would always taste new ones, and I have always learned from and been inspired by him,” Compas said. “So when I suggested we make beer, his eyes lit up. We went and bought a kit and made our first batch that day.”
Brewing takes approximately 10 hours on the actual day that the two brew and up to four to six months to filter and ferment following the initial brewing, they said. The two then taste their product and make sure that it is up to their own personally decided standards.
Link: The American Homebrewers Association gives detailed instructions on how to brew beer.
“We both work in the motion picture industry, and our schedules are all over the map, so our biggest challenge is trying to figure out a time where we both can brew,” Losson said. “The whole process takes a long time, so we are always on the phone trying to figure out when we have time to work on our hobby.”
Compas and Losson graduated from Costa in 1980 and have been friends for over 40 years. While at Costa, they used to surf at 8th Street in Manhattan Beach, earning their group of friends in high school the nickname, “Eight-Ballers.” When deciding the name for the brewing company, their old nickname shifted to “Black Ball” to keep their ties to their surfer roots.
“The beach is such a huge part of the South Bay culture,” Losson said. “Growing up here was the best thing because we live in paradise and people come here to vacation, but we get to live here.”
Compass and Losson currently cannot sell their beer because they do not have a professional liquor license and are still brewing in their garage; however, Black Ball Brew Co. hopes to expand the company in the future and start selling commercially. Compas and Losson would like to raise enough money to get their license so they can start selling their company’s beer commercially.
Link: To learn more about Black Ball Brew Co. visit their facebook page.
“It takes about 12 to 18 months and sometimes even longer to become legal to sell commerically, so you would be paying rent for all the equipment for over a year before you could even start brewing,” Compas said. “We have quite a few investors and, although the process is hard, it is not detracting us from reaching our goal because we know that once we can start selling our beer, people will start to love and buy it.”
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