I’ve been promising this one for a few weeks, and I hope it doesn’t disappoint. I did my damnest to drink a different beer whenever I could, and ended up with 15 different brews. I prefer darker, maltier, sweeter beers, and I dislike strong hops, to give you a sense of where my preferences lie. However, I’ve drank enough high-hop beers to, I feel, give an opinion on the ones I did drink.
Overall, I think the craft beer of Hawai’i is not as varied, or as creative, as the craft beer of Vancouver and the American regions south of it. In some places there seemed to be promise, but it then fell flat.
Kona Brewing
This is the oldest brewery of Hawai’i, and the only one that I knew going in, because I’ve drank their beer on-island before. Their Longboard Lager is, I think, the most well known of their brews. We bought a mixer pack for the house, and I also went to their brew pub in Honolulu, so I got a good sampling of their stuff. They also ship to the mainland, so you may find them at your local store!
https://konabrewingco.com/
Longboard Lager – 20 IBU, 4.6%
As I said a moment this, this is their most well known beer. This lager is simple, but effective. It’s a far cry from the Buds and Kokanees of the world, offering a good body, but it’s not so outlandish as to scare away people who might be wary of strong-flavour. I like this beer, but I wouldn’t drink a lot of it because lagers aren’t my thing. Available in bottles, and in the mixer pack.
Big Wave Golden Ale – 21 IBU, 4.4%
Of the readily available Kona beers, this one was my favourite. It has a good golden body that brought me back time and time again. However, compared to where my true loves lie, it’s still fairly light. It has a good crispness to it, but with enough fullness to be called a “golden ale”. At the same time, I wanted a little more of a honey ale from it. Available in bottles, and in the mixer pack.
Fire Rock Pale Ale – 35 IBU, 5.8%
It starts with a nice copper taste, but then finishes with just hops, which turned me off. Put this in the pile of “I’d drink it, but only if it was the last in the mixer box”. Available in bottles, and in the mixer pack.
Castaway India Pale Ale – 50 IBU, 6.0%
I do not, at all, like IPAs. This one claims a bunch of stuff about citrusy hops and a touch of mango and passionfruit balanced by rich caramel malts, but all I tasted was hopppppppps. At the same time, I opened one after a super hot day and it was refreshing. But it was the last one in the mixer pack. Available in bottles, and in the mixer pack.
Koko Brown – 45 IBU, 5.5%
Now we’re talking. This beer was amazing! Nutty, with a very unique toasted coconut finish. And unlike a coconut beer I’ll review in a bit, this one actually tasted like toasted coconut! I had this one at the brew pub, and the menu said it was only available in Hawai’i, but their web site says it’s available elsewhere!
Maui Brewing
http://mauibrewingco.com/
This brewery looks like the next biggest, as I saw their product in a number of O’ahu restaurants, but it’s still a lot newer than Kona. We went to their brew pub in Honolulu and I got a flight, which added 4 beers to my list.
Coconut Hiwa Porter – 30 IBU, 6.0%
This was a good dark beer, but not at all coconuty by my taste. I found it a disappointment, but only because it tasted like a lot of other dark/malty porters in the world. I wanted coconut, because it says coconut! You can buy this one in a can.
Pineapple Mana Wheat – 18 IBU, 5.5%
This was a decent wheat beer, with a pineapple taste that was a lot more pineappley than the coconut was coconuty. I had it twice, by mistake, because I forgot to write it down the first time! Both times I had the same reaction — it needed a pineapple wedge. I don’t love wheat beers, but I’d drink this one again (and did). Available in cans.
Waimea Red – 50 IBU, 6.5%
I always want to love red ales, like the Parallel 49 Gypsy Tears, and I keep ordering them and keep being disappointed. I feel like the colour should impart a different flavour than a full-bodied hoppy ale, when I don’t like hops, but it does. This was a basic ale that wasn’t bad, but wasn’t exciting. I had it at the brew pub, but you can get it in cans apparently.
Lilikoi Saison – 15 IBU, 5.5%
This was the best of my flight at the brew pub. It was nice and fruity, not to fruity. Bitter, but not to bitter. It was labelled as a sour beer. I liked it.
Barefoot Brew Ale – 23 IBU, 5.5%
I had this in the brew pub. It was labelled as a honey amber ale, which is my brand, but this was a little to light for my tastes. I want more roundness, more honey, and this was innocuous in flavour, in my opinion.
Mac Nut Brown – 20 IBU, 5.1%
I love this style of beer, but this one was disappointing. As with the coconut porter, I wanted more mac nut from it. Without the mac nut advertising, this would have been a decent brown ale. With the mac nut advertising, it didn’t give me enough mac nut. I had this one in the brew pub.
Root Beer
These guys brew root beer, which is awesome. You can really tell it was handcrafted, as it has a taste of not-mass-produced. You can buy in in cans on the island. It has a strong taste of vanilla, and had a decent bite to it, while being sweet enough but not to sweet. Would highly recommend!
Other Breweries
I had 3 other beers, 2 of them local and 1 an import, but not enough from each brewery to justify their own heading. 🙂
Honolulu Beerworks Kewalos Cream Ale – 20 IBU, 5.25%
http://www.honolulubeerworks.com
These cans are available around the island. The only other cream ale I’ve had is the Sleeman one. I didn’t write any detailed notes on this one, but it was pretty good, was exactly what I wanted from it, and would have it again.
Big Island Brewhaus Golden Sabbath – 30 IBU, 8.5%
http://bigislandbrewhaus.com/
Take note of the 8.5%, because I didn’t when I bought it. There’s a craft beer store in Hale’iwa that I bought this in. This was an excellent beer. A Belgian-style strong golden ale, it had exactly the sweet and full flavour I wanted from it. I had the entire 22oz bottle in one sitting, by myself, and was fairly drunk at the end. Thankfully, I was sitting on the couch with Miranda and didn’t need any of my faculties. Highly recommended!
Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale – 26 IBU, 7.0%
http://www.kodawari.cc/?en_home.html
This is my new favourite beer. All the Japanese beers locally are pretty much the same – light and crisp. They’re nice, and I drink them occasionally, but I like different.
The Red Rice Ale is different. First, it’s a malty beer with a full, round flavour. It’s very very sweet. And as it ends, it has a slight taste of sake. It reminds me a lot of Innis and Gunn. I&G was my favourite beer for a long time, I loved the rum finish to it, because it’s aged in oak rum barrels. This one is aged in sake barrels, and you can tell. I don’t super love sake, but I love the combination of sweet into sake.
The End
Those are my Hawai’i beers. I’m sad I ordered the Maui Pineapple twice, because the Honolulu Beerworks Makakilo Brown Ale was in tap at the Beachhouse and I missed it!