Kona Brewers Fest 2019 – A Weekend of Beer

Tasting Mug & Sustainable Spork

I had an epic weekend of drinking beer from 8am on Thursday until I left for the airport at 7pm on Saturday. There were just too many new things to try! I volunteered to be a judge at the 24^th Annual Kona BrewersFest's Rocket Rod Homebrew Competition a few weeks ago, but didn’t get a call to come until last weekend. I had the whole weekend planned in my head, so I threw the trip together and off I went!

Judging Room

Homebrew Entries

Ribbons Ready

I left Thursday morning and was given a ride from the airport right to Humpy’s Big Island Alehouse in Kailua-Kona. I ended up spending a lot of time there on Thursday and Friday as it was where the judging took place. The restaurant was gracious enough to host us, provide water, lunches, light breakfasts, coffee, and even a keg of Kona Castaway IPA to enjoy whenever. There were around ten judges this year with three judging sessions. 

Best of Show Panel - 17 Beers

 The Best of Show was done on Friday afternoon; it’s always my favorite part to listen to the most experienced people come up with one best beer! I was happy to get some BJCP points and experience from some amazing National level judges and professional brewers. Results can be found here.

One of a Few Flights at Ola

[For this blog post, I’ll link to each of my Yelp reviews for thoughts on the individual places listed, so feel free to click the names if you want to know more!]

Keep the Pint Glass Ola Takeover at Daylight Mind Coffee

Thursday night after judging, and after a much-needed shower, I walked to Ola Brew Co. I had a fantastic time trying every beer on tap and taking a tour with a number of beer and coffee industry people thanks to a friend arranging it. Read more about Ola Brew Co. here.

From there, I walked the roundabout and much longer than I thought route around to Kona Brewing Co., one of my favorite places in Hawaii. It was exactly as I remembered, with cozy lighting including torches, lots of plants, and tons of happy people. I sat at the bar and enjoyed the 25^th Anniversary Hibiscus Brut IPA with a much-needed pizza.  Read more about Kona Brewing Co. here.

Flight at Kona Brewing Co.

On Friday, I was offered a surprise invitation to the Brewers Dinner at Kona Brewing Co., which I happily accepted. After judging finished that day, I had a little time to relax before heading over there. I enjoyed a flight with some other judges while we waited for the party to begin. After the beautiful Hawaiian blessing, we went inside to taste beers from the participating breweries, eat all manner of delicious food provided by the brewery, meet new people, and play party games. Highlights for me were meeting Jeremy Warren, the owner and brewmaster of Revision, one of my current favorite breweries. It was just great to unwind and have fun with fellow judges and people from around the islands I’ve met on occasion before. Huge Mahalo to Kona Brewing for hosting! It was a great party! Mahalo to Bill Carl for the drinks at the Dolphin Spit Saloon after the party!

Kona Brewing 25th Anniversary Booth

Saturday was bittersweet; I was exhausted and ready for rest at home, but still had the beer festival! In the morning, I slept in then walked around the town including visiting the historic sites and having a delicious leisurely breakfast. When 2pm rolled around, I headed into the festival and chatted with volunteers who had also been helping with the competition. There were too many to list, it was wonderful meeting you all! The festival was wonderful: lots of breweries I’d never heard of before pouring great selections. The food was the real draw, I just wish there was more! Read more about the festival here.

As the festival was wrapping down, I headed for the airport and home; I never slept so well! Mahalo for reading, if you’ve never been, I hope you make it next year!

Awesome Volunteers

CRAFT: Hawaii’s Only 100% Local Beer Festival

Just a few short years ago on Oahu there was only a sporadic festival, and even then they featured a lot of mainland offerings as the state simply didn’t support that many breweries. Flash forward to this month and the (hopefully) first annual CRAFT Beer Festival. Essentially a celebration of Hawaii-brewed beer and local adjunct ingredients, this beer festival truly stood out.

CRAFT was planned and implemented primarily by Cindy Goldstein of the Hawaiian Craft Brewers Guild, an organization of breweries in Hawaii that meet a number of requirements including being certified Independent and brewing 100% of their offerings in the islands. With the advent of big beer taking over more and more breweries each day, it’s important to highlight the amazing things our local breweries are doing with the added hurdles of geographic isolation and shipping costs. HCBG seeks to educate local beer drinkers and encourage more people to “drink local.”

CRAFT was held Saturday, February 23, 2019 at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu. Their great lawn was the perfect open-air setting and was further aided by perfect weather including just the right amount of clouds to block a hot sun, but no rain. An army of volunteers aided in set up, helping the participating breweries to their tents and tapping kegs. Each brewery brought two to four selections, with many bringing free swag and information about their products. Non-beer highlights were a selection of free Maui Brewing sodas, Ola Brew’s kiawe bean producer bringing two types of fresh kiawa brownies, and stickers, hats, and other giveaways.

The $55 entry fee included ten tasters in the included commemorative beerglass that featured the fest’s logo designed by Vince Gallo. The glass was larger and despite having a fill line, most breweries filled it to the brim. Even the ten tasting tickets ended up being largely ignored by the pourers; people were just enjoying sharing their beer with people that appreciated it. Many breweries brought limited kegs and Waikiki even brought a gravity keg variant of their Skinny Jeans IPA with fresh whole cone Mosaic hops added. There ended up being more new beers to Oahu that I realized, and I personally missed a few I was hoping to try! Inu Island Ales and Lanikai Brewing Co. each used the festival to debut new beers, which are now available at their respective breweries. For those who don’t travel to the outer islands, Kauai Beer Co., Kauai Island Brewing Co., Kohola Brewery, Ola Brew Co., and Big Island Brewhaus all brought fresh selections not usually seen on Oahu.

The highlight for me beyond the beer was the ability to talk story with the brewers themselves. Each brewery had representatives who knew about the beer, the work that went into it, and the breweries themselves. Most other beer fests seem to cater to the get drunk quick crowd and there’s no one around to ask questions and be proud of their product. This different dynamic was also easy to see in the makeup of the crowd: people were happy to be drinking local beer, and were friendly. I’ve never seen so many people I’ve known personally at a single beer event. Here’s hoping for an annual gathering!

Maui Brewing Co. Restaurant Opens in Kailua!

Mural by Kamea Hadar

Maui Brewing Co. opened their fourth location in the state this weekend at the Lau Hala Shops in Kailua Town on Oahu. The area was formerly Macy's and has since been developed into commercial spaces and a new parking garage and neighboring lot. The opening of the MBC Kailua Restaurant is a welcome addition as it offers local beer at an open air bar and dining area with Hawaii sourced ingredients.

Draft Beer Selection

Special thanks to Cindy Goldstein and owner Garrett Marrero for the invitation for Kristine and I to the private soft opening event. For our dining experience we met Cindy at the host stand and we were all taken to our table for the evening. I believe the entire staff was working as the event was designed to help train the servers, bartenders, and chefs. Everyone was extremely friendly and happy to be open and serving the first customers. Thank you to our server Marissa for the excellent service and always answering our questions, and to Floyd for remembering us from Waikiki and dropping by to chat.

The author and owner Garrett Marrero

The restaurant is modern with exposed concrete and subdued colors. The wood tables are bright and big enough to spread out. I loved the orange and blue bar chairs, they really popped.  As far as art goes, the mural painted by Kamea Hadar highlights the island vibes with a woman holding a bundle of hops and grain. As Garrett pointed out, her tattoo sleeve is a stylized interpretation of the beer ingredients of the Reinheitsgebot: grain on the shoulder, water on the upper arm, hops on the elbow, and yeast at the bottom. The high ceilings give a cool, bright, and airy vibe; I'm sure it'll stay comfortable even in the summer. They offer inside and outdoor lanai seating, but the entire place is open to the outside. The bar seats face the main street and would offer a great place to people watch. For sports fans, they have TVs around,  but they don't detract from ambience. One special note is how much I appreciated the well-designed restrooms, I always privately thought many small rooms is a must for a bar!

As part of the event, we were each given a unique menu to ensure a good mix of orders for the chefs to practice. The three of us opted to order a bunch and share everything. The menu is similar to that of the Waikiki location with some differences. Please see the photos and captions for some of the highlights. As far as beer goes, they will have a selection of 12 MBC beers and 4 guest taps. For our evening, we were treated to their core beers and one special treat: the newly tapped Imperial Hemp Brown ABV 8.7% IBU 25.

With our bellies full, Kristine and I visited Grace in Growler's new expansion including Grandma's Living Room, their bottle selection, and outdoor lanai. It's worth checking out!  We also tried two new beers at Lanikai Brewing Company, we hadn't been there in a while.  It's safe to say, Kailua has a great beer scene all by itself!

Avocado Toast

Loco Moco For Days

Ho Farms Tomato Salad

Buffalo Wings