Kové Brewing in Miramar, San Diego

 

 

Kové Brewing offers an alcoholic, lightly carbonated tea using yerba maté.  Yerba maté is a plant native to the region around Paraguay.  It has long been used by indigenous people, brewed as a tea, drunk as a stimulant.  It is naturally caffeinated.  It is now popular across South America and has fans around the world.  It is a common ingredient in energy drinks.

We tried a flight of three: lemongrass/pear, liliko’i (passion fruit/lemon) and carajillo (coffee/citrus).  These were really nice!  The alcohol content is light, like a hard seltzer.  There is a lot of flavor, but they aren’t sweet.  A single taster is $3.  We liked the lemongrass/pear best of the bunch.  Other flavors include dragon fruit margarita, mojito, grapefruit and more.  There are also non-alcoholic drinks and beer.

It appears that the brewing is done in the back.  There is a small bar with a few tables and also outdoor seating.  Although the area looks like mostly warehouses and light industry, there are several breweries nearby.  It would be easy to spend some time visiting several of them.

I’ve had maté before as the original drink and I didn’t love the flavor.  I like what Kové has done with maté.  So, if you haven’t like maté in the past, I would still recommend giving Kové a try.