CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — Popular South Bay brewery Novo Brazil is expanding its footprint in Chula Vista this month.
Novo Brazil Brewery will hold a grand opening for its new brewpub on Dec. 11 in Otay Ranch Town Center.
The 12,000-square-foot spot can host more than 950 guests and features a 300-seat restaurant, full bar, indoor and outdoor beer garden, two 14-foot-by-10-foot televisions, shuffleboard tables, and a kid's area with ping-pong tables, video games, and other activities.
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On the production side, the brewpub boasts 60 taps with about 40 of those dispensing beer and the rest a combination of Novo's kombucha and hard seltzer creations. Canned cocktails are also in the works for the brewery.
In addition to the restaurant and bar, the location will also house a five-barrel brewing system and fermentation tanks.
“Our goal is to shift the axis of brewing tourism to southern San Diego attracting downtown and northern San Diego residents and tourists to experience our work and our community. With other local breweries we can put Chula Vista on the map as an official destination of the beer and gastronomic map,” said Tiago Carneiro, founder of Novo Brazil Brewery.
Carneiro says they intend to brew more than 100 different beers using the massive system in their first year alone. The new brewery will allow Novo to brew specialty beers and test new recipes.
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A small retail section inside to brewpub will also offer Brazilian products, like coffee, to buy.
To capture Brazil's colorful flair, Novo's owners hired Brazilian architect, Gustavo Penna, to help develop the brewpub's design. The result is a black and white wave pattern across the building — inside and out— representative of Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach.
The bar, which owners say is the longest in the South Bay, curls around the facility and guests can kick back in furniture made from Brazilian wood around unique murals from Brazilian artists.
“Our story began in Brazil, where we learned the art of brewing and created the most awarded brewery in South America," Carneiro said. "We believe our difference is our Brazilian way of showing the colorful culture and happiness of four homelands. We were fortunate to find a sister city in South Bay, named after our hometown of Belo Horizonte (Beautiful Horizon), where we were warmly welcomed by the entire community."
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Carneiro says that Brazilian style of brewing is what earned his family the most awarded beers in Brazil and 17 international beer awards just three years after opening their first South Bay spot.
Novo's original location also continues to serve fans on Lane Avenue in Chula Vista.
