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The hard kombucha-focused taproom at 4845 Newport Avenue has shuttered without a public closure announcement from Nova or parent company Novo Brazil Brewing. SanDiegoVille reached out to the company for comment regarding the closure but did not receive a substantive response by publication time.
The Ocean Beach tasting room opened in October 2020 in the space previously occupied by Culture Brewing Company. At the time, the location represented a major step forward for Nova Easy Kombucha, the hard kombucha sister brand of South Bay-based Novo Brazil Brewing. While the space also poured Novo Brazil beers and other company-produced beverages, it was primarily branded around Nova's colorful, health-conscious, gluten-free hard kombucha line.
For Ocean Beach, the arrival of Nova was notable. The neighborhood already had a dense collection of beer bars and brewery tasting rooms, but Nova positioned itself as something different: a beach-community taproom built around hard kombucha at a time when the category was rapidly gaining popularity.
Founded by Brazilian entrepreneur Tiago Carneiro, Novo Brazil Brewing launched in Chula Vista in 2015 and quickly became one of the South Bay's most prominent craft beverage companies. Carneiro, whose background includes brewing and food science in Brazil, expanded the business from beer into hard kombucha after experimenting with fermentation during a period when the company was seeking new growth opportunities. That experiment became Nova Easy Kombucha, a brand that would grow into one of Novo Brazil's most visible product lines.
Nova's rise coincided with a broader boom in hard kombucha, a category that appealed to drinkers looking for alcoholic beverages marketed around gluten-free ingredients, fruit-forward flavors, lower perceived heaviness, and wellness-adjacent branding. Nova leaned heavily into that identity with brightly packaged flavors such as Watermelon Mint, Sexy Piña Colada, Hot Cactus, Strawberry Coconut, and other tropical combinations.
The Ocean Beach taproom helped give the brand a public-facing home outside South County. The venue featured more than 20 kombucha and craft beverage taps, an outdoor patio, game room, kid- and dog-friendly seating, and a colorful design meant to match the laid-back spirit of Ocean Beach.
At the same time, Nova and Novo Brazil were growing well beyond the beach neighborhood. In 2022, Nova was named the Official Hard Kombucha of Snapdragon Stadium, giving the brand a presence at San Diego State football games, San Diego Wave FC matches, San Diego Legion rugby games, concerts, and other major events. The company later partnered with San Diego Wave FC and San Diego State athletes, including a collaboration with SDSU men's basketball players tied to the MESA Foundation.
In 2024, Nova also entered into a major partnership with the San Diego Padres, launching Sunset Slam Mango Lime hard kombucha in City Connect-inspired packaging for Petco Park. The agreement included availability throughout the ballpark, branding inside Petco Park, and sponsorship of Saturday pregame live music programming.
Those high-profile sports partnerships made the sudden closure of Nova's Ocean Beach tasting room somewhat surprising, particularly because the company has otherwise continued expanding its hospitality footprint.
Novo Brazil opened a massive 11,500-square-foot restaurant and sports bar at Westfield Mission Valley in early 2024, transforming the former Tilted Kilt space into one of San Diego's largest game-watching venues. The company also operates locations in Chula Vista, Otay Ranch, and Imperial Beach, and continues distributing beer, kombucha, hard seltzers, and other beverages throughout the region.
The Ocean Beach closure may therefore reflect a strategic consolidation rather than a broader retreat. Smaller tasting rooms can become difficult to justify when a company is simultaneously operating large-format restaurants, stadium partnerships, retail distribution, and multiple production lines.
Still, the closure removes one of Ocean Beach's more distinctive tasting rooms and marks the end of a location that played an important role in introducing hard kombucha to San Diego's beach bar scene.
The shutdown also comes during a volatile period for San Diego's hospitality and craft beverage industries. Rising labor costs, rent pressure, insurance increases, changing alcohol consumption habits, and competition from canned retail products have made small taprooms increasingly difficult to operate. Many brands that once relied heavily on tasting-room traffic are now balancing that model against packaged distribution, stadium placements, restaurant operations, and larger destination venues.
Nova's parent company has also faced legal scrutiny in recent years. In 2023, Otay Lakes Brewery, which markets Nova Kombucha, was named in a federal class action lawsuit alleging that some of the company's health and wellness-related marketing statements on alcoholic kombucha products could mislead consumers. A federal judge later allowed portions of the false advertising claims to proceed while dismissing the plaintiff's request for injunctive relief. The case centered on product labeling and marketing claims, not the operation of the Ocean Beach tasting room.
For now, Nova's Ocean Beach chapter appears to have quietly come to an end.
Nova Easy Kombucha's former tasting room was located at 4845 Newport Avenue in San Diego's Ocean Beach neighborhood. For more information on Nova and Novo Brazil Brewing, visit novakombucha.com and novobrew.com.
Originally published on June 16, 2026.
