At first, their beers were only available in San Diego County on draft—and in very limited supply at that. Now, they’ve ramped up production exponentially. Expect the ramping to continue in light of last fall’s $1 billion acquisition by Constellation Brands. Ballast Point beers are available in bottles and cans on shelves all across the country—and they’ll be in all 50 states by the end of this year.

There are myriad factors at play contributing to this meteoric rise, but a major part of what this company has accomplished can be traced back and attributed to a beer called Sculpin. To tell its story, we rounded up a few of the people who created the beer, got them together in a room drinking, and asked some questions. Then we called some folks who have sold the beer over the years, and emailed some others. At least one of the interviewees was very drunk when he talked to us. It was fun, which is why we’re mostly staying out of the way below, letting the people involved tell the story as they remember it, a pseudo-oral-history of one of the best beers ever made.