The first weekend in November saw the culmination of months of planning by members of the HIP Fermenters Homebrew Club that meets at Homebrew in Paradise in Kalihi. The second annual competition and festival was held at the store with entries from Oahu, neighbor islands, and the mainland. This year’s competition was the first to…
Author: Alexander Gates
Aloha Beer Company’s Lager Love
Last weekend, Aloha Beer Company held a tap takeover event at Grace in Growlers where they previewed a few new selections coming soon. Dave Campbell has always been one to enjoy drinking traditional styles and he strives to make the best examples of each. For anyone who’s visited their brewery, the love of the craft…
Paradise Ciders: New Taproom Opens in Kalihi
Paradise Ciders is a prime example of what you can do with a dream, opportunity, and a lot of hard work. The cidery is the first in the state of Hawaii. Located in Kalihi, it’s certainly off the beaten path, but well worth the trip for any fan of locally brewed alcoholic fruit cider. Paradise…
Hawaii Beer Fest 2018 and BJCP Exam Class 2
It’s been a busy week for beer! The 2018 Homebrew Competition committee is busy planning and we’re looking forward to a fun event this November. On Thursday, June 14th, the second BJCP Exam preparation class was held at Homebrew in Paradise in Kalihi. The group turnout was smaller, but was met with more discussion and…
BeerAdvocate: “How to Drink Your Way Around Honolulu”
I’m excited to announce that I wrote a city profile for BeerAdvocate Magazine, titled “How to Drink Your Way Around Honolulu!” Look for it in Spring 2018 issue #132, on newsstands and shipping to subscribers now! The hardest part was limiting the featured locations due to space or not fitting on the map area; it’s…
BJCP Exam Classes – Free Beer Judging Seminars
For anyone that’s been stopping by the blog the last few months, there hasn’t been much activity here. Chock it up to being busy; sometimes I just feel like there aren’t huge happenings to talk about. New brewery openings are few and far between (but there are some exciting ones coming soon). In this exciting…
The Hawaiian Craft Brewers Guild & Tap Takeover Event!
For any fan of locally produced beer, it’s important to know how difficult an industry it is. Craft brewers are constantly competing with large entrenched macro breweries, many of which own controlling shares in distributors, which makes it hard or impossible to find shelf space at retail or access to quality ingredients. To combat the…
Stone SALT Pub Crawl & POW! WOW! Hawaii 2018
For anyone who frequents or just visits the area, it’s easy to see that Kaka’ako is flat hot land perfect for warehouses. Decades ago it was salt reclamation land, hence the moniker of the SALT complex. These drab warehouses dominate the architecture of the area, so something had to be done. Instead of boring concrete…
Hawaii Beer & Breweries Map
I’ve been toying with the idea of an interactive map of beer & breweries in the Aloha State for a long time. Every one I can find online is ridiculously out of date or not helpful. I hope this can serve as a guide for locals to hit those places they didn’t know about, or…
New Brewery Opening – Paisley Meadery
After a hiatus due to the busy holiday season, it seemed like the perfect time to ring in the new year with a new post, and about a new brewery opening no less! 2017 was an exciting time for beer in Hawai’i, with the openings of Inu Island Ales on O’ahu and Ola Brew on…