What's Brewing on Hawaii's "Big Island"?
The Big Island of Hawaii has only 130,000 residents, but appreciates good beer enough to support an annual brewer's festival and two first-class breweries. One brewery is located in historic Hilo town on the island's east coast, the other on the resort-studded Kona Coast.
Kona Brewing Company (corner of Kuakini Highway and Palani Road, Kailua; 808-334-BREW), is located in the North Kona Shopping Center, not far from downtown. It's the older and larger of the Big Island's breweries, and ranks number one in sales among Hawaii's micros. Kona Brewing began brewing in 1994, with two beers: medium-bodied Pacific Golden Ale; and Fire Rock Pale Ale, an amber ale it describes as "Hawaiian style." Today, the brewery turns out eight beers, including strongly-hopped Awa Awa India Pale Ale; smooth Pahoehoe Porter; sweet and malty Longboard Lager; and a wheat beer made with Big Island lilikoi (passion fruit). The beers are made with pure Kona water, filtered through a volcanic aquifier.
A few years back, I visited Kona Brewing when it was still a microbrewery. This year it added a brewpub and restaurant offering pizzas, pasta dishes, sandwiches, and salads. The pizzas, and the focaccia rolls used to make sandwiches, are made with spent grain from the brewing process. Local produce--including macadamia nuts, organic herbs and greens, and Kona limes--are part of many dishes. Snacks includes Hawaii's delicious kettle chips. The menu also suggests which Kona Brewing beers best match the food, and a number of dishes are made using the beers themselves.
Most of the tables are outside, in an area screened from the busy street below by native trees and plants and lit at night by Polynesian torches. Inside, there's more seating, as well as a bar area and gift shop. Before leaving, make sure you take a look at the photo album telling Kona Brewing's story. Brewery tours are offered twice every weekday; weekend tours are by appointment.
On the other side of the island, Mehana Brewing Company (275 East Kawili Street, Hilo; 808-934-8211) has been in business since 1995. Located in a clean, modern warehouse half a mile from downtown, this busy little brewery attracts hundreds of visitors, some from as far away as Argentina and Turkey. The tasting area is a small, glass-enclosed corner of the warehouse, where you can buy Mehana golf shirts and pint glasses, not to mention six-packs and gift baskets of beer, to take home.
This is a family-run operation. On the day I arrived, a woman emerged from a nearby home to greet me and pour samples. While I was tasting the beer, she told a bittersweet story about her grandchildren, who were doing well on the mainland but couldn't return to the islands because good-paying jobs are hard to come by; and expressed her pride in the government's effort to preserve the Hawaiian language by teaching it in the schools.
Dusty Shindo, Mehana's brewmaster, is doing his part to debunk the myth that beer and good food don't go together. He teamed up with Honolulu restarateur Roy Yamaguchi to come up with Roy's Private Reserve, which Yamaguchi serves at his award-winning restaurants. Given several batches of beer to choose from, Yamaguchi picked a complex, fruity-nosed, dark golden beer to accompany what he calls his "Euro-Asian-Pacific" cuisine. Shindo describes it as a Kölsch: the style made famous by brewers in Cologne, Germany. Roy's Private Reserve is brewed at a lower temperature, and for a longer period of time, than a typical ale, giving it characteristics of a lager as well as an ale.
The lineup of beers also includes Mehana Beer, a slightly tart German-style ale; Mehana Red Ale, which has a dark amber color and strong malty flavor; Tsunami Lager, a light-colored, lightly-hopped beer, named for the tidal waves that sometimes wreak havoc on the Big Island; and the newest entry, Mauna Kea Pale Ale. The brewery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. You can call to make an appointment for a tour.
Both breweries' products are available in many bars, as well as most grocery and liquor stores, throughout the islands. Outside Hawaii, the beers are available in selected locations in the western United States.
If you still need an excuse to visit the Big Island, the Kona Brewers Festival takes place every March.