Chula Vista gets crafty

Inside Chula Vista Brewery. (@cvbrewery Instagram)

May 5, 2017 10:30 AM PT

Less than three years ago, Chula Vista - the county’s second largest city - was a craft beer desert, lacking even a single brewery. That was baffling, considering this South Bay metropolis’ geographic location, with beer-loving Tijuana to the south and beer-loving San Diego to the north.

Now, though, this desert is blooming. Since fall 2014, the city witnessed the opening of Bay Bridge Brewing and Novo Brazil Brewing.

On May 5, the city welcomes its latest craft beer arrival: Chula Vista Brewery. Debuting in the heart of downtown (294 Third Ave.), visitors can expect five beers on tap: Saturation IPA, Beautiful View Pale Ale, Guerita Blonde Ale, Ruby Red Ale and an as-yet-unnamed stout.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSXlg1PF20H/

Craft Beer

Peter Rowe

Peter joined The San Diego Union-Tribune in 1984. A native Californian who grew up in Encinitas, Rowe is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Northwestern University. He is past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a former Fulbright scholar. He has won a few journalism awards, but would trade them all for a chance to avenge his 1994 “Jeopardy!” loss. Married to a terrific woman who has saved him from errors in writing and in life, he has three sons. At the U-T, Rowe writes profiles and features and is even paid to review beers, which hardly seems fair.