Bruder Latin Restaurant & Brewery opens first U.S. brewpub in Oviedo Mall

Bruder Latin Restaurant & Brewery has moved into the former Oviedo Brewing Co. space inside Oviedo Mall, turning an 8,789-square-foot vacancy into its first U.S. brewpub. The project, backed by roughly a $1.5 million buildout, gives the Central Florida mall a new kind of tenant: one built to keep people there for a pint, a meal, and another lap through the property.

That matters in a mall that has spent years trying to reinvent itself. Oviedo Mall first opened in 1998 and is in the middle of a broader $100 million redevelopment plan. Mall leadership said as of early 2025 it had put about $5 million into roof repairs and about $2.5 million into new air conditioning, part of a push to make the property a place where people can “eat, sleep, work, and play.” The strategy has also leaned on nontraditional tenants, including medical offices and arts businesses, as the mall tries to replace one-time shopping trips with repeat visits.

Bruder arrives with a brewing story that reaches far beyond Oviedo. The company says founders Héctor Martínez and Julián Martínez launched the independent brewery in 2009 in just 8 square meters in their grandparents’ home in Boyacá, Colombia. Bruder says it spent 10 years researching and innovating its beers, building a reputation around bold, tropical flavors that travel naturally into a Central Florida market with a large Latin influence.

The brand’s beer credentials are already established at home. World Beer Awards lists Bruder Maracuya as a 2022 Country Winner for Colombia in the flavored beer category, and the brewery says it has earned awards from international competitions dating back to 2014. That background gives the Oviedo location a craft-beer identity that goes beyond a standard taproom format, especially with a full kitchen planned alongside the brewing operation.

The timing also carries extra weight inside the mall. Oviedo Brewing Company said in February 2025 that it would close at the end of that month, citing economic pressure, rising costs, and the lingering effects of the pandemic. Bruder’s arrival fills that same footprint with a different kind of energy, one that pairs beer production with Latin dishes and the kind of hospitality that can turn a former storefront into a destination.

For Oviedo Mall, the opening is another test of whether brewery real estate can be reborn as community real estate. For Bruder, it is a first American outpost built on the same formula that grew the brand in Colombia: a working brewhouse, a distinct food identity, and a place people come back to instead of simply passing through.