The beautiful game gets a bold brew

San Diego has no shortage of sports-related beers. Padres fans have Ballast Point’s Swingin’ Friar Ale and AleSmith’s .394 Pale Ale, while Aztecs fans can sip on AleSmith’s San Diego State Ale, and even Gulls fans have their Blue Line Blonde from Second Chance. Business is booming for breweries that align with local teams. Recently, NOVA Kombucha found their own collab team, and filled a void among fans of the world’s most popular sport.

“We were looking to partner with a local team, and when we saw what Wave FC was building in women’s soccer we were fascinated,” explains NOVA Kombucha founder Tiago Carneiro. “They are putting San Diego in the global scenario for women’s soccer and pushing the boundaries in a sport that is normally dominated by men, while driving thousands of new fans. Wave FC is bringing families with their daughters together to watch their games. And that’s what NOVA is about: community, innovation, and sports. Also, NOVA is a San Diego brand with Brazilian roots, and soccer is in our DNA, so it would make a lot of sense for us to partner with Wave FC.”

It was important to NOVA to select the right flavor to represent the club, and so Wave players were involved in the process. Carneiro says that they “tried seven different flavors, including Blueberry Mint, Dragon Fruit, and Paloma. At some point, it was getting hard to choose, so we had to divide the voting process into three parts. The result was very tight, but Dragon Fruit was the big winner.”

Wave FC Kombucha is a bright pink colored brew that matches one of the dominant colors of the team’s crest (as well as Alex Morgan’s iconic headband). But Carneiro adds that the complexion is more significant than just going well with team colors. “The bright and vibrant hue of pink represents characteristics of the team, such as strength, femininity, confidence, and courage.”

The kombucha has the bold, tangy flavor expected from hard kombucha, but it’s still well balanced. The sweetness of dragon fruit and agave works nicely with the addition of tart limes to provide a smooth finish that makes the brew easy to casually sip during a match. The limited-edition release is available at Snapdragon Stadium and NOVA tasting rooms — which also serve as watch parties for Wave away games. In June, it will hit the shelves at grocery stores and more than 100 independent liquor stores around the country.

NOVA will soon be adding another massive tasting room to host those watch parties when it opens its Mission Valley location. Carneiro enthuses, “It will be the most central San Diego branch in a space within Westfield Mission Valley shopping center. The new Novo Brazil brewpub will be a 350-seat restaurant with a full bar menu, onsite brewhouse, and 60 taps of beer and kombucha, as well as an extensive menu including tacos, burgers, empanadas, appetizers, and Brazilian-inspired entrees to bring all the fun and support to sports fans.”