Beer in the Aloha State: Beer Lab Hawaii

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

1st Annual Oahu Homebrewing Festival & Competition

with assistance from Homebrew in Paradise hosted the first Oahu Homebrewing Festival and competition the first weekend of November 2017. The main draw was the beer judging competition, which was open to all homebrewers in the state. Drop off days were organized in the weeks leading up to the festival, with the majority of entrants arriving fresh. With almost 90 distinct beers, ciders, and meads, the judges had their work cut out for them!

All day Friday November 3rd, around a dozen Certified Cicerones, BJCP Certified, and brewery industry judges came together to crack open the beers, offer thoughtful feedback, and rate them. It was a long and fun day for everyone involved, starting at 9am and going through to after 6pm. Despite the time and heat of Kalihi, the beers were ready for the awards! I personally enjoyed hearing the insights from Joe Lorenzen of Waikiki Brewing Company and Cindy Goldstein from HOPS Homebrewing Club.

On Saturday, the day of the festival, the top nine beers and six ciders/meads were each taste-tasted for the Best of Show category to be announced that afternoon.

The festival itself had a great turnout of club members, entrants, beer enthusiasts, and curious drop-ins. Food was generously provided by club members as well as fresh hamburgers with a twist from Square Barrels' owner Thomas Ray.

Head-brewer Euler of BeerLab Hawaii also donated a number of fresh crowlers for tasting, see the links below. Tastings were flowing all afternoon, with the leftover submissions offering the perfect variety of beer.

Club members had a number of different homebrewing systems set up and brewing; the smell was the best part!

Awards were conferred around 2pm, with the festival winding down afterward. For those curious of the winners, the complete list can be found here.

I hope the popularity of this event grows; here's looking to next year!

Green Matter

Haunted Plantation

Hamachi

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Beer Lab HI

As an obsessive beer collector, a new brew always gets me to come back. With that logic, I have to go back to Beer Lab HI often. Beer Lab believes in small batches, and as the name implies, experimentation. In business for over a year now, the group of friends that started it put it in an old bank: the brewing room is the vault, bar where the tellers used to be. It's sparse and modern: exposed concrete floors, wooden tables, metal stools, lime green and black coloration, and the original bank ceiling.

The people here are great; the bartenders always friendly. Be sure to look behind the bar for the long list of upcoming and brewing beers; there's always something for which to look forward. All their beers change so frequently you'd never get to try them all - good luck having a favorite, you'll never see the exact recipe again. Each beer is named by the staff while tasting, displayed on chalk board signs above the bar. They usually have eight to ten beers. Recently, they got into sake and kombucha as well (for me, I appreciate the Star Wars named sake and Game of Thrones named kombucha). They have growlers and crowlers, which is the only way to take their wares to go. But it's most fun to have it here; sip, play a game, come to trivia or painting night.

I hadn't been in in three weeks or so, so I knew I was behind. Tonight we tried four new brews: two IPAs, a stout, and a porter. All are excellent. This is a must experience for anyone on vacation and locals alike. Be sure to check out the art wall and bring a brewery sticker to cover the restroom walls!