Love Good Beer

Kona Brewing and other Hawaii beer stuff

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 | Beer | 3 Comments

I got back from Hawaii last weekend and the euphoria of vacation has just worn off.  Regular life is not nearly as good as vacation life, but at least everyone on Facebook can now look at the pictures and see how much fun I had.  We did have a lot of fun and, while Hawaii isn’t a big beer destination, we did manage to drink (a lot) of good beer.

In Kona on the Big Island, the main draw was Kona Brewing.  They have a cool pub just off the main drag in Kona with a nice outdoor patio.  I recall sitting on that patio sipping a cool beer as one of the few times in Kona that I was not way too hot.  Kona is really hot all the time, but thankfully Kona Brewing brews some wonderfully refreshing beers.  My two favorites were their seasonal release Coconut Brown Ale (available only at the pub) and their limited release Pipeline Porter brewed with 100% Kona coffee (available in stores).  Both were very flavorful and distinctly Hawaiian in their use of ingredients.  Kona Brewing brews many other beers, all of which were good, and were the steady choice at restaurants and grocery stores.

Entrance to Kona Brewing, makers of liquid Aloha

Dad and I getting ready to taste at Kona Brewing

Rachel and I with some tasters

When in the States, I still get a kick out of the fact that you can buy beer pretty much everywhere.  As a Canadian, it was very strange to find beer in Safeway and Costco.  I also found the price of beer (almost half) and how frequently I was asked for ID strange.  Even my Dad was asked for ID, which likely made his holiday.  Speaking of Costco, in the Kona location we came across Kirkland beer!  I had no idea Costco had their own beer brand, but it turns out that this beer is made by the steady national brand Gordon Biersch.  Canadians, note the price for a 24 pack and be jealous.

Kirkland beer at Costco!

Kirkland Beer, so cheap...I think I've paid that for six packs here.

We managed to pick up a few other good beers including:

• Sam Adams Oktoberfest
• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
• Anchor Summer Beer
• Maui Brewing Coconut Porter
• Maui Brewing Bikini Blonde
• Mehana Brewing Volcono Red Ale

Maui Bikini Blonde, Kona Pipeline Porter, Sam Adams Oktoberfest, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Maui Coconut Porter, Anchor Summer, Mehana Volcano Red

The first three in the list are fairly ubiquitous south of the border, but rare up here.  The latter three were solid island choices, with Maui Brewing my favorite Hawaiian brewery besides Kona Brewing.  If you are going to Hawaii, don’t go for the beer (not that anyone would be), but do make sure you try some Kona Brewing and Maui Brewing products.

In other news, it was the Ironman world championships in Kona while we were there.  I’ve never seen so many narcissistic skeletors with shaved legs exercising for ten hours plus in forty degree Celsius heat.  If anyone is wondering, compression socks (think knee socks) and speedos don’t go well together.  I wanted to tackle them and force feed them a beer, would have changed their lives.  To each their own I suppose, but I think my way of enjoying Hawaii was better.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: coconut brown ale, coffee porter, costco, gordon biersch, hawaii, kirkland beer, kona brewing, kona coffee, maui brewing, pipeline porter

Aloha – Beer in Hawaii

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 | Beer | No Comments

By the time this post makes it to the intertubes, I should be on the plane to Hawaii.  My Dad is going to the Ironman Sports Medicine Conference and we are piggybacking on his trip.  It’s the most affordable way to get to Hawaii and I highly recommend it.  On the trip, I hope to find out what kind of beer the Aloha state has to offer.  We are definitely going to Kona Brewing in Kona and we may also make it to Mehana Brewing in Hilo.  I’m also interested to see what the grocery stores have in stock for beer.  I can only hope to reacquaint myself with Maui Brewing, who I’ve previously written about on this blog.  One thing is for certain, I won’t be doing the Ironman, but I may have a beer and watch.

Mahalo,

Chris

Tags: hawaii, Ironman, kona brewing, maui brewing, mehana brewing, sports medicine conference

Maui Brewing company

Thursday, July 30th, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment

Gavin, a coworker of mine, just returned from Hawaii and was thoughtful enough to bring back some of the local beer.  Gavin is a good man.  More of my friends should learn from his shining example and bring me beer back from places.  I just finished a can (labelled as welcoming me to the microcanning revolution!) each of CoConut Porter and Big Swell IPA from Maui Brewing.  They were both quite delicious beers, even after overheating in my car yesterday in the epic Vancouver heat.  Like Erik, I am not a huge fan of fruit beers, but I really enjoy a good Coconut flavor.  The coconut adds a subtle sweetness that really rounds out a porter.  The Big Swell IPA was quite good also, full of fresh hoppy flavor.

I’d never thought of Hawaii as a beer destination and I was surprised to find that Hawaii has some really excellent craft beer.  I am going to Hawaii soon (when your Dad offers you free accommodation and you find cheap flights, you go!) and might have to make some detours to a few of the local breweries.  The BeerAdvocate BeerFly directory for Hawaii will guide me on my quest to find deliciously fresh craft beer in Hawaii.  Me, sea turtles, beer…heaven.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: Beer Advocate, beerfly, big swell ipa, Coconut Porter, Craft Beer, hawaii, maui brewing, microcanning revolution